Posts Tagged ‘Immigration’

Ellis Island has become synonymous with immigration. And it’s no wonder, with over 25 million people who entered America through Ellis Island between the years 1892-1924; it is believed that over 40% of Americans can trace their family back to at least one Ellis Island ancestor.*

But Ellis Island was not the only port available to ships heading for America. In fact, your ancestor may have come through a number of different ports including New Orleans, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Galveston, San Francisco and Seattle. It’s important also to remember that Ellis Island was in operation only from 1892-1954.

So how do you find out which port your ancestor came through? You might want to try these suggestions:
The free website, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild offers 10,000 passenger manifests. Don’t forget to also check out their links to other websites chronicling the immigrant experience. While you are looking at free websites search through the Castle Garden database, for those ancestors who arrived between 1820-1913 and the Ellis Island website at for ancestors who arrived at the port between from 1892-1954.

Don’t forget to check out genealogy subscription sites for immigration records and passenger lists. Ancestry.com has an Immigration Emigration Search. WorldVitalRecords has a large collection of immigration records including Filby’s Passenger and Immigration Index. To browse all of their Immigration records click here.

******
Don’t forget to take advantage of the Immigration Expo on March 18th where you will learn first hand the great many immigration tools available to research your ancestors! For more information, see our website.

Our April Family History Library Retreat in Salt Lake will focus on Immigration Research with personal assistance from our professionals. Join us as we find our ancestors and share in each other’s successes! For more information, see our website.