Main contributors: Devon Noel Lee and Ken Seifert

Passenger lists, also known as ship manifests are an excellent resource for genealogical research, providing information about individuals who traveled to the United States and can provide valuable genealogical information and can be an important tool for tracing your ancestors’ immigration journey. However, these lists not just contain information about immigrants as travelers also included military servicemen, crew members, politicians, ambassadors, diplomats, doctors, and vacationers.

History of US passenger lists and ship manifests

The Titanic passenger list
The Titanic passenger list

While individuals crossed the ocean as early as the late 1500s,  the United States Congress passed the Steerage Act in 1820, requiring ship captains to submit a manifest of all passengers on board to the collector of customs at the port of arrival. This act attempted to generate accurate records of all immigrants entering the country.

Ship captains or other crewmembers handwrote the earliest passenger lists and submitted them to the customs collector; the customs collector kept the first copy at the port of arrival, with the Department of State receiving the second copy. The ship's captain retained the final document. The lists created between 1820 and 1891 are incomplete and illegible, and they recorded few biographical details about the passengers.  

Following the creation of the Bureau of Immigration in 1891, passenger lists became standardized on typed forms to comply with new regulations. The Bureau required more details about each passenger, such as their birth year (or birthplace), occupation, last place of residence, final destination in the US, and names of relatives in the US, if any. The US Congress passed the Immigration Act in 1903, requiring the inspection and processing of all immigrants at federal immigration stations. In addition, the passenger manifests expanded the biographical requirements to include marital status, occupation, and literacy.

By the early 20th century, passenger lists had even more detailed information, such as the physical description and the name and address of the person who paid for their passage. Additionally, as technology improved, passenger lists became easier to read as ship clerks substituted handwritten records with typed or printed forms.  

Immigration to America

Arriving at Ellis Island.
Immigrants Arriving at Port

Immigrants came to America in various waves:

  • The first explorers and settlers came to North America in the 1500s.
  • In the 1600s, immigrants from England came to the area that became the 13 colonies.
  • Immigration to the 13 colonies increased after 1700 with a wave of 450,000 immigrants.
  • From 1825 – 1880 almost 7.5 million immigrants entered the United States during this second wave. The majority came from northern and western Europe.
  • From 1881 to 1920, more than 23 million people arrived at immigration ports, such as Ellis Island in New York.
  • According to the Population Reference Bureau, “the United States admitted an average 250,000 immigrants a year in the 1950s, 330,000 in the 1960s, 450,000 in the 1970s, 735,000 in the 1980s, and over 1 million a year since the 1990s.”

Major U.S. arrival ports for immigration

Castle Garden
Castle Garden.

The five major U.S. arrival ports for immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries were: New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. Out of these, New York was by far the most commonly used port by the immigrants, with more than 70 percent of all immigrants to the US entering through New York City.

Throughout the late 1800s, most immigrants arriving in New York entered at the Castle Garden depot, located near the tip of Manhattan; better known today as Castle Clinton, and located in the Battery of Manhattan, it was the nation's first immigrant processing facility and served as the New York State (city-run) immigration station from 1855 to 1890.

Ellis Island in 1905
Ellis Island in 1905.

The Federal Government assumed control of immigration in 1890 by opening the first federal immigrant processing center at the Barge Office in Battery Park. This office served as the first federal immigrant processing center from April 19, 1890, to December 31,1891. The first Ellis Island Immigration Station officially opened on January 1,1892 ,but was destroyed by fire on June 15, 1897. All Ellis Island records dating back to 1840 and the Castle Garden era were destroyed. The immigration process was returned to the Barge from June 15, 1897, through December 16, 1900. The new Ellis Island facility officially operated between December 17, 1900 and November 29, 1954.

Where to find US passenger lists and ship manifests

Before 1820, any passenger list, if it still exists, could not be found in a central repository. Most of the existent lists are likely found in archives, museums, or courthouses, as well as complilations curated by professional genealogists from institutions like The New York Genealogical and Biographical Board.[1][2]

After the 1820s, many online resources have searchable passenger list indexes and images. Many genealogy services like MyHeritage have searchable passenger list collections. For those with ancestors who entered the United States through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1957, the Ellis Island Foundation website offers free access to passenger lists and other resources, such as ship histories and photographs.[3] Researchers can access the most extensive collection of passenger lists in the United States available at federal institutions like the National Archives and the Library of Congress. These records include lists from the 1800s to the mid-20th century, covering many different ports of entry.

Information found in passenger lists and ship manifests

Passenger lists are valuable resources for genealogical research, providing a wealth of information about individuals who traveled to the United States. Unfortunately, the older the list, the fewer details recorded on the records. Modern records have more distinguishable information about travelers. Details about passengers may include:

  • Name
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Occupation
  • Birth date and place
  • Marital status
  • Nationality / ethnicity
  • Port and date of departure
  • Port and date of arrival
  • Ship name
  • Literacy level
  • Relatives or traveling companions
  • Physical description
  • Ticket fare (first class, second class, steerage)

The manifest header also contains the following information:

  • Ship Name
  • Departure Port
  • Date Set Sail
  • Arrival Port
  • Date of Arrival
  • Passenger Class

These details may help researchers document their ancestor’s travelers and catch a glimpse into their lives and experience crossing the ocean.

Where to find international passenger lists and ship manifests

Ship Manifest of Alien Passengers of the United States
Ship Manifest of Alien Passengers of the United States.

Passenger lists can be found on many online genealogy and historical websites. MyHeritage provides a large selection of passenger lists under the Immigration and Travel research tab. These lists can be refined to limit topics by region or year. Passenger lists are also available on sites such as the National Archives[4] and the Ellis Island Passenger Search database[5]

The US census from 1900 forward asked responders for the year of a person’s immigration to the US. This can be a great help in locating and identifying immigrant ancestors.

Search for passenger lists and ship manifests

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References

  1. Colonial Immigration Records. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Board
  2. The Great Migration Study Project. New England Historic Genealogical Society
  3. Ellis Island Foundation
  4. Passenger Arrival Records. National Archives
  5. Ellis Island Passenger Search database. The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation
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Contributors

Main contributors: Devon Noel Lee and Ken Seifert
Additional contributor: Maor Malul