|
4.1 What Information
May be Found on the Customs Passenger Lists - Includes scanned page of passenger
list. 4.2 What Customs Passenger Lists and Index Records are Available - Online, CD-Rom, Microfilm and Books. 4.3 Searching These Records Table 1 - Passenger Lists Indexes on CD-Rom, Online, and on Microfilm Table 2 - Other Indexes to Passenger Lists Online, on CD-Rom, and in Books Table 3 - European Ports & Archives having Emigration Databases to the US) 4.3.1 Searching on the Internet 4.3.2 Using CD-Roms 4.3.3 Using Microfilms Searching Microfilms - a step-by-step example with illustrations Table 4 - U. S. Ports Having Records of the Customs Service, 1820 - circa 1891 ( NARA Record Group 36) 4.3.4 Using books and other published records 4.4 Castle Garden - Information about Castle Garden, the immigration center for New York - 1855 to 1890 Ellis Island Data Base 1892-1924 Click here for information and hints on searching this database |
After 1820, passenger traffic to the U.S. started to increase tremendously, and ships were now being built just for this passenger traffic. Regular scheduled sailing dates replaced the earlier practice where the captain would wait until his cargo hold was full before he sailed. Then.after the 1840's, trans-oceanic steam powered ships started to replace the sailing vessels which reduced the travel time from one-or-two months or more to about two weeks.
Due to the increased number of passengers and the increase in sickness and deaths in transit, the Federal Government passed legislation in 1819 to limit the number of passengers on each ship. The Custom Service was designated to then monitor immigration. Starting in 1820, Customs Passenger Lists were prepared by the ship's captain and were filed with the collector of customs at the port of arrival. These lists were initially meant to serve for statistical purposes. Except for a few ports, most of these passenger lists have survived and have been microfilmed by the National Archives.
Information that may be found on the Customs Passenger Lists | |
|
4.2 What Customs Passenger Lists and Index Records are Available
Step 1
- Find as much information as possible about your
ancestor |
|
As a minimum, you should know: Full name,
alternative names or spellings
Approximate year of birth* Approximate year of arrival* Port of arrival (use emigration patterns) |
Other desirable information
to “weed out” your ancestor from other similar names: Country, province,
state or town of origin*
Occupation Names of traveling companions (including ages) Were they naturalized* |
TABLE 1
- Passenger Lists Indexes Online, on
CD-Rom, and on Microfilm |
|||||||
Click for more Information ----> |
Online |
CD-Rom | Microfilm |
Books |
|||
Port |
Ellis Island |
Castle Garden |
Ancestry.com |
National
Archives (NARA) |
LDS FHL |
||
Misc. Atlantic Gulf Coasts, & Great Lakes Ports |
Majority
online |
N/A | M334 (Rolls 1-188) 1820-1874 |
0418161 | |||
Baltimore | 1820
to 1948 |
CD 259 1820 to 1852 CD 260 1851 to 1872 |
M327 (Rolls
1-171)
Fed Lists 1820-1897 Soundex M326 (Rolls 1-22) City Lists 1833-1866 Soundex |
0417212 0821565 |
|||
Boston | 1820
to 1943 |
CD 256 1821 to 1850 |
M265 (Rolls1-282) 1848-1891 | 0205656 | |||
New Orleans | 1820 to 1945 |
CD 358 1820 to 1850 |
T527 (Rolls 1-32) Before 1900 | 0543443 | |||
New York | 1892 to 1924 (with images) |
1855 to 1890 (with images) |
1820
to 1957 (with images) |
CD 273 1820 to 1850 SKU-4087
1851 to 1891 |
M261 (Rolls 1-103) 1820-1846 | 0350204 | Bentley 1820 to 1832 |
Philadelphia | 1800
to 1945 |
CD 359 1800 to 1850 |
M360 (Rolls 1-151) 1820-1906 | 0419424 |
TABLE 2 - Other Indexes to
Passenger Lists Online, on CD-Rom, and in Books |
|||
Click for more Information ----> |
On-line |
CD-Rom |
Books |
Passenger Lists
Index |
Genealogy.com Ancestry.com 1500's to1900's |
CD-354
1500's to1900's |
Filby's
Volumes 1-3 1981 plus yearly volumes |
Immigrants to America (Incl.
arrivals in US 1819-20, 1821-23, to Baltimore1820-34, to Rhode Is. 1820-71 plus 16 other works) |
Genealogy.com 1600's to 1800's |
CD-352
1600's
to 1800's |
Various |
Immigrant Ship Transcribers
Guild (ISTG) Searchable Transcriptions of mostly 1820 to 1897 arrivals |
ISTG
(free) About 11,000 ships 1800's |
||
Germans to America | Genealogy.com 1850 to 1888 |
CD-355
1850 to 1874 CD-356 1875 to 1888 |
Glazier
67 Volumes 1850 to 1897 Series II 1840 to 1849 |
German & Swiss Immigrants
in America |
Genealogy.com 1700's to 1800's |
CD-267 1700's to 1800's |
Various -
Includes Zimmerman German Immigrants 1847-1871 |
Wuerttemberg Emigration Index | Ancestry.com 1808 to 1890 |
Item
#2134 (Ancestry) |
Schenk
8
Volumes 1808 to 1890 |
Irish to America |
Genelogy.com 1846 to 1886 |
CD-357
1846
to 1865 CD-264 1846 to 1886 CD-257 1803 to 1871 |
|
Irish - Famine Immigrants |
Ancestry.com NARA ADD (Free) 1846 to 1851 |
Glazier
7
Volumes 1846 -1851 |
|
Irish & British to
America |
Genealogy.com |
CD-362 1860's
to 1870's CD-365 1870 to 1872 CD-366 1873 to 1879 |
|
Italians to America |
Free
Online
source 1880 to 1893 |
CD-353
1880 to 1893 |
Glazier
16 Volumes 1880 - 1902 |
Russians to America |
Genealogy.com 1850 to 1896 |
CD-360
1850
to 1896 |
Glazier
4 Volumes 1850 to 1896 |
Dutch Immigrants to America |
Genealogy.com Ancestry.com 1820 to 1880 |
CD-269
1820
to 1880 |
Swierenga
2 Volumes 1820 to 1880 |
Dutch Immigrants to NY |
Genealogy.com Ancestry.com 1881 to 1894 |
||
Scottish Immigrants to North
America |
Genealogy.com 1600's to 1800's |
CD-268
1600's to 1800's |
Various |
Scotch-Irish Settlers in
America |
Genealogy.com 1500's to 1800's |
CD-276
1500's
to 1800's |
Various |
NY City Immigrants
(Austria. Galicia, Poland) |
Ancestry.com 1890 to 1891 |
Table 3 - European Ports &
Archives having Databases for Emigration to the US - Click Here for
Information & Instructions |
||
On-Line |
Other/Archives
|
|
Hamburg Passenger Lists 1850 to 1934 |
Ancestry.com |
NARA LDS FHL |
Denmark 1869 to 1940 | Danish Emigration
Archives |
|
Norway Digital Archives 1867 to 1930 | Arkivverket
Digitalarkivet |
|
Norway Heritage Passenger
lists 1825 to 1925 |
Norway Heritage | |
Finland 1890 to 1950 |
Finnish
Institute of Migration |
|
Sweden Emigration Records 1783 to 1951 |
Ancestry.com |
|
Data Banks on Italian
emigrants to the United States, Argentina and Brazil |
Cerca
le
tue radici |
|
England 1890 to 1960 |
Ancestors on Board |
Kew |
French Lines 1864 to
1936 |
French
Lines |
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG) (Free) The ISTG is a group of volunteers who transcribe ships passenger lists which are then placed on the ISTG web site. As of this time, more than 7,500 transcriptions of passenger lists from the colonial days up to the 1900's have been uploaded to that site. The passenger lists are searchable by: (1) Date, (2) Ship's Name, (3) Port of Arrival, and (4) Surname.
National
Archives & Records Administration (NARA)
ADD (Free) Records for Passengers Who Arrived at the Port of New
York during the Irish Famine - 1846 to 1851
The Irish Famine Immigrants is fully searchable. This is one
of about 400 on-line databases available on NARA's Access to Archival Digital
Databases (ADD) web site.
Microfilm copies of the passenger lists are available at
the National Archives (NARA), the LDS FHC, and at some
libraries. The original customs passenger lists and the
indexes generated by the WPA (in the 1930's) were microfilmed by
NARA (in the 1940's) and are now archived as NARA Record Group 36.
Searching Microfilms in Indexed Years.- Contains a step-by-step example with illustrations
As illustrated in
Table 4, many of the passenger lists have been indexed.
There are four steps in searching the indexed
records:
1) Starting with
the port of arrival, use a catalog for the index to find the
microfilm roll that has the immigrants name
2) Search that microfilm to find the index card with the
immigrant's name, and take note of the ship name, arrival
date, and other information
3) Locate the microfilm containing that date of arrival using
the catalog
4) Search that microfilm to find the date and that ship's
manifest and then locate the immigrants listing
Click here to link to a step-by-step
example illustrating this procedure.
This example contains samples of catalog pages and scans
of actual index cards that you may find in your
research. (Reminder
- You may want to review Section
2.0
of this Guide for general research guidelines
and for further information on using the National
Archives, the LDS FHC, or a library for research.)
Table 4 - U. S. Ports Having Records of the Customs Service, 1820 - circa 1891 ( NARA Record Group 36) | ||
RECORD | NARA PUBLICATION NUMBER |
LDS FHL NUMBER |
PORT
OF
BALTIMORE Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists 1820 to 1897 Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists 1833-1866 Passenger Lists 1820-1891 Passenger Lists (Quarterly Abstracts) SEE NOTE 1 BELOW for discussion on researching Baltimore records |
M327 (Rolls 1-171) Federal Lists M326 (Rolls 1-22) City Lists M596 (Rolls 1-6) M255 (Rolls 1-50) |
0417212 0821565 0417383 |
PORT OF BOSTON
Index to Passenger Lists 1848-1891 Passenger Lists 1820-1891 SEE NOTE 2 BELOW for discussion on researching Boston records |
M265 (Rolls 1-282) M277 (Rolls 1-115) |
0205656 0205656 |
PORT OF NEW ORLEANS |
M527 (Rolls 1-32) M259 (Rolls 1-93) M272 (Rolls 1-17) |
0543443 0543403 0200235 |
PORT
OF
NEW YORK Index to Passenger Lists 1820-1846 Passenger Lists 1820-1897 |
M261 (Rolls 1-103) M237 (Rolls 1-675) |
0350204 0002246 |
PORT OF
PHILADELPHIA Index to Passenger Lists 1820-1906 Passenger Lists 1800-1882 |
M360 (Rolls 1-151) M425 (Rolls 1-108) |
0419424 0419424 |
ATLANTIC, GULF, AND
GREAT LAKE PORTS Index to Passenger Lists 1820-1874 Passenger Lists 1820-1873 |
M334 (Rolls 1-188) M575 (Rolls 1-16) |
0418161 0830231 |
The Quarterly abstracts of Baltimore passenger lists were first compiled in 1820. Beginning in 1820, U.S. Customs collectors were required to send quarterly copies of the customs lists to the U.S. Secretary of State who published transcripts for Congress. These quarterly abstracts or copies give the time of an individual's arrival and sometimes the port of embarkation. The passenger's given names were usually shortened to the initial letter, but otherwise the information is the same as that found in the original lists. The abstracts should only be used when the original list is missing. Note that the abstracts also have many gaps and some years are missing. Abstracts exist for 1820 - 45, 1848 - 50, 1857 - 69.
NOTE 2 - BOSTON - The only index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at Boston prior to 1848 is included as part of the Supplemental Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports (Excluding New York), 1820-1874, National Archives Microfilm Publication M334 (188 rolls) (This index is listed under Atlantic, Gulf, and Great Lakes Ports in the table above). Note that the Boston indexes include errors since no original U. S. Customs passenger lists survive for Boston prior to 1883, and these indexes were extracted from copies of the lists, many of which no longer survive.
In addition to the U. S. Customs passenger lists for Boston (M277) included in table 4, there exist Massachusetts State Lists for 1848 to 1891. These were compiled in accordance with a Massachusetts state law requiring a bond of indemnity or the prepayment of $2.00 for each passenger who landed from abroad. They are often easier to read and more accurate than the U.S. Customs lists. They are not Federal records, they have not been microfilmed, and are consequently not available at NARA nor at the LDS Family History Centers. If you find any of your ancestors in the Boston index (M265), you can obtain a photocopy of the "State List" Passenger Manifest pages by writing to: (Give the name of the vessel, and the date of the manifest that you want).
Archives of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
220 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125
There are a number of private indexes that have been compiled by nationality and published in books (Some are now also online and on CD-Rom). They are available at larger libraries and libraries having a larger genealogical collection. If you find your ancestor's name in the indexes, the date and the ship name and other information is generally listed. Then, go to the NARA (or LDS) passenger list catalog and find the microfilm roll number that refers to the Passenger List for the date found in the index. Then get that microfilm and search for the applicable passenger list.
4.4 Castle Garden - Port of New York
Castle Garden located at the Battery in lower Manhattan was the immigration center for the Port of New York prior to Ellis Island opening in 1892.
By all accounts, the most exciting part of the journey was its end, the day of arrival, when ships made port and at long last the weary travelers could land. New York City was the principal port of entry for immigrants, their path to America determined by well-established shipping lanes across the Atlantic Ocean. The nation's largest seaport since the 1820's, New York was also a major railroad hub that offered access to nearly every part of the country.
Because of the waves of newcomers entering the city, New York was the first port to open an immigration depot - Castle Garden, a massive stone structure built in 1808 as a fort. It later served as an opera house until 1855, when New York State authorities transformed it into a landing station. Castle Garden's primary purpose was not to inspect, but to protect hapless newcomers from the crooks, prostitutes, and swindlers, that prowled the piers looking for easy marks. Within Castle Garden's walls, immigrants could exchange money, purchase food and rail tickets, attend to baggage, and obtain information about boarding houses and employment.
By the time it closed in 1890, the old depot, run-down and shabby from hard use, had registered over eight million immigrants. It then was used as the New York Aquarium for a period of time. Castle Clinton is now a National Monument.
Sources:
Castle Clinton National Monument The National Park site describing the present National Monument and including pictures of this facility
Castle Clinton: The Fort, Show Business, a Landing Place for Immigrants Includes a further history of Castle ClintonLouis Alfano's web page - The Immigration Experience , provides pictures and a detailed history and other information about Castle Clinton, Ellis Island, and Angel Island (Processing Station at San Francisco)
Return to Table of Contents
Copyright © Arnold H. Lang 2002