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One of the most satisfying aspects of my 35 years of family research has been discovering details of immigrant ancestors' journey to
better lives in America. Six of my eight great grandparents arrived in this country between 1885 and 1900. Two of them were married
prior to their journey, the other four came across single and met in the years after arriving.
Over the years I accumulated various data on my immigrant ancestors, but I hit the jackpot when the American Family Immigration History
Center came online a few years ago with indexed images from Ellis Island ship manifest records between 1892 and 1924. In spite of
a few shortcomings at the website (see review on page 2), it was a thrill to be able to see the original manifests with my relatives,
a couple of whom I remember.
Even though the AFIHC website covers 32 years of arrivals, several of my family members came earlier, or as I now know, via different
ports. Enter the Ancestry.com Immigration Collection.
I have maintained a subscription at Ancestry for several years, the quick and easy access to original source material outweighing the
cost in my opinion. With some free time around the holidays, I stopped by Ancestry to work on some searches and discovered that they had
greatly expanded their Immigration Collection. Included in their U.S. records collection, the immigration images available include the
following:
- New York Passenger Lists - 1820 to 1957.
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls); Records
of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New
York, New York, 1897-1957; (National Archives Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls); Records of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
- Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948. Baltimore, Maryland. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, Maryland, 1891-1909.
Micropublication T844. RG085. Rolls # 1-150. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Baltimore, Maryland. Passenger Lists of Vessels
Arriving at Baltimore, Maryland, 1820-1891. Micropublication M255. RG036. Rolls # 1-50. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
- Boston Passenger Lists, 1820-1943. Boston, Massachusetts. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts,
1891-1943. Micropublication T843. RG085. Rolls # 1-454. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Boston, Massachusetts. Passenger Lists of
Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1820-1891. Micropublication M277. RG036. Rolls #1-115. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
- New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945. New Orleans, Louisiana. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans,
Louisiana, 1820-1902. Micropublication M259. RG036. Rolls # 1-93. National Archives, Washington, D.C. New Orleans, Louisiana.
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1903-1945. Micropublication T905. RG085. Rolls # 1-189. National
Archives, Washington, D.C.
- Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, 1883-1945. Micropublication T840. RG085. Rolls # 1-181. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1800-1882. Micropublication M425. RG036. Rolls # 1-108. National
Archives, Washington, D.C.
- California Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1957. San Francisco, California. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San
Francisco, 1893-1953. Micropublication M1410. RG 085. 429 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco, California.
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco from Honolulu, 1902-1907. Micropublication M1494. RG 085. 1 roll. National
Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco, California. Crew Lists of Vessels at San Francisco, 1905-1954. Micropublication M1416.
RG 085. 174 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco, California. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco
from Insular Possessions, 1907-1911. Micropublication M1438. RG 085. 2 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco,
California. Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco, 1954-1957. Micropublication M1411. RG 085. 20 rolls.
National Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco, California. Customs Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco,
1903-1918. Micropublication M1412. RG 085. 13 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco, California. Registers of
Persons Held for Boards of Special Inquiry at the San Francisco, California, Immigration Office, February 1910-May 1941.
Micropublication M1388. RG 085. 4 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco, California. Lists of U.S. Citizens
Arriving at San Francisco, 1930-1949. Micropublication M1439. RG 085. 50 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco,
California. Register of Citizen Arrivals (1943-1947) and Alien Arrivals (1936-1949) by Aircraft at San Francisco, California.
Micropublication A3361. RG 085. 2 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C. San Francisco, California. Registers of Japanese,
Filipinos, and Hawaiians Held for Boards of Special Inquiry at San Francisco, California, September 1928-February 1942.
Micropublication A3408. RG 085. 2 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
- In addition to the major databases listed above, there are dozens of others included in the collection, all searchable collectively
or individually.
Review
Pros
- As with some other databases available at Ancestry, the Immigration Collection is a one-stop opportunity to locate and view
important original records. After a few years of depending on the AFIHC to view records, I was surprised by the breadth of records
available at Ancestry. I would guess the only other way to have access to images from so many different ports and other sources
would be to go to the Salt Lake City FHC.
- The entire collection is searchable by surname and other available information, including port of entry, year of arrival, age of
immigrant and ship name. For ancestors with common names, the ability to use known info can make a huge difference in the number of likely records
returned in a search.
- Besides being able to search for specific names, it's also easy to locate a specific manifest if you know a port, date and name of a ship. That is very useful if your ancestor's name
was mispelled or mistranscribed. I was able to locate an ancestor at Ancestry which had evaded my best searching efforts at the Ellis
Island website. An example of going to directly to a specfic port, date and ship can be seen here.
- High quality images can be saved to your hard drive.
Cons
- The search function can be frustrating. For instance, one of my great-grandparents has a name clearly spelled on the manifest and is
easily found at the AFIHC website. When searching at Ancestry though, she is nowhere to be found. In fact, I could only locate her at
Ancestry by going straight to the manifest using port, date and ship info I found at AFIHC.
Pricing
The Ancestry Immigration Collection is offered as part of either Ancestry's U.S. Deluxe ($29.95 billed monthly or $155.40 billed
annually) or World Deluxe ($34.95 billed monthly or $299.40 billed annually) subscriptions.
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