Introduction
Every ship that arrived in the United States with passengers had its passenger list or manifest.  Many of these lists have survived. This Section 2.0 provides general guidelines to prepare you for your search and to help you find and use these records.   It is best to use a methodical approach in searching these records.  It is recommended that you first find all of the data as defined by Section 2.1. Then, scan the rest of Section 2.0 to see generally how to locate the passenger lists and how to use the various resource facilities in researching these lists.  Finally, jump to either Section 3.0 (before 1820), Section 4.0 (1820 to 1891), or Section 5.0 (after 1891), as applicable, for detailed guidance and examples for researching the passenger lists in the time period that your ancestor arrived in the United States.

• Section 2.1 defines what information you need to start your search.  Lacking any of this information, or having erroneous information could greatly extend your search time or very possibly cause you to miss finding your ancestor's record.

• Section 2.2 shows you how to find the required information using census and naturalization records.  Even if you "know" all of this information from family records, you should substantiate any information that you have by using other sources wherever possible.  The are too many occurrences where people have used their family history, only to find that it was not exactly correct.  Thus, they search in the wrong years, look for ships having incorrect names, etc.

• Section 2.3 defines what records are available and indicates how to use the World Wide Web, the National Archives, LDS Family History Centers,  Libraries and other resources to find the passenger list records.

• Section 2.4 is a guide to the Soundex coding system which you will need to search many of the indexes.

• Section 3.0 - Pre 1820 - Prior to 1820, most of the sailing ships were primarily cargo ships and the passengers were listed on the ship's cargo manifest. These lists vary broadly in the amount and type of information they contain.  There was no central depository for most of these records, and they have since generally become lost or scattered.  However,  indexes of many of these records have been compiled and are available for research.

• Section 4.0 - 1820 to circa 1891 - The Federal Government began to "control" immigration in 1820 as part of the Customs Service. Customs Passenger Lists, which were required to be filed with the collector of customs at the port of arrival, were mainly used for statistical purposes.  These lists generally contain the following information for the passenger:
• Country, province, or exact town of origin
• Date of arrival in the U.S.
• Family members or others who immigrated on the same ship
• Destination in the U.S.
• Occupation, age, and sex
• Ship's name, its master, its port of embarkation, and its port of arrival
• Section 5.0 - Post circa 1891 - In the 1890's, the control of immigration was shifted to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Immigration Passenger Lists were begun at that time.  These lists contain substantial data about the passenger and may be of great genealogical value.  They were continued until about 1957

• Sections 8.0 and 9.0 provide guidance on using Naturalization Records and Passport Records to help in your research.

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2.1.1 - The Ancestor's Full, Original Name

• Many European surnames were misspelled, and/ or changed for various reasons such as language difficulties between the immigrant and the person making the list.  Sometimes the immigrant wanted to "Americanize" the name.
• Many Europeans commonly used their middle names rather than their first names.
• Consider all possible spellings when researching records.  This is especially true when researching the indexes. These indexes were made by the WPA during the depression and the person making the index may have had difficulty reading the poor handwriting on the original passenger lists. Also, some of the of the original lists are in very poor condition and hard to read.
• The family surname may have been changed since your ancestor immigrated to the US.
• EXAMPLE:     I encountered most of these problems in my own research.
• Our family history said that my grandfather was Charles Lang.
• Research uncovered that his original name was Claus Heinrich Lange
• Further research showed that he had "Americanized" it about 25 years after he arrived to Charles H. Lang.
• I finally found his name on the passenger lists as Henry Lange
• He had used an "Americanized" - middle name and his original last name.  I probably would never have found his listing if I hadn't known his full original name.

• This date should be known to within at least one year of the actual date of arrival, especially if the name is a common name. You may be successful in your searches, even if you don't know the exact date to within a dozen years or more. But, your research time can be greatly reduced by knowing a more exact date of arrival.
• If you think that you know the exact date for your ancestor's arrival, but you don't find the passenger list for the ship on that date, search the lists for other days.  Your immigrant ancestor may have left the ship on that date, but, if that date was on a weekend or a holiday, (or if the Customs Officer was off fishing :-) ), the filing of the passenger list may have occurred on the following work-day.  Therefore, it may be dated a few days later than your "known" date.

• Most lists include the age of the immigrant. This can be important information to differentiate your ancestor from others with similar names.
• The age appearing on the passenger list may be incorrect for a number of reasons.
• A child may be listed at an age such as 10 years old when in reality he may be much older. Remember that the fare for young children (e.g. less than 12 years) was much less than for an older child, and many of our ancestors may have lied to save on the fare.
• The person making the list may have had language difficulties with the emigrant when he was making the list.
• The person making the index may mistake the numbers on the passenger lists, such as the number 3 for an 8, or the number 1 for a 7.
• EXAMPLE:    When I was searching for my grandfather, Claus Heinrich Lange, I could not find any Claus Lang(e) on any passenger lists for the year of his "known" arrival.  But there were twelve possible Henry and Heinrich Lang(e) passengers at that time.  After a preliminary review, three of these could possibly have been my grandfather.  I was only able to identify the correct person by using the age as shown on the passenger list.  This search was made even more difficult since the Henry Lange as shown in "Germans to America" was listed as 11 years old.  On the actual passenger list, his age was correctly listed as 17 years old.  The person typing the "Germans to America" index incorrectly read the 7 as a 1.

Knowing the port of arrival in America is very important.   The passenger lists are first filed by the port of arrival, then by date.  When searching in the years after 1820, having this information will greatly reduce the research time by limiting the search to only one port.  Additionally, knowing the port of arrival is absolutely necessary if you request the National Archives to perform a search of the Ships Passenger Lists for your ancestor.

2.1.5 - Additional Useful Information

Other information that may reduce your research time, provide alternative approaches to the research process, and/or provide a more positive identification of the name that you may find in the passenger list includes:

• The Port of Embarkation
• Origin of Passenger (Country, Province)
• Destination in the United States
• Name of Ship
• Names of Traveling Companions

2.2 - Where You Can Find the Required Information

2.2.1 - Family History and Previous Research

Your family history as obtained from relatives, ancestors, etc., and previous research may provide much of the required information. This information may also include other useful data; such as the port your ancestor(s) arrived at, who they may have traveled with, the time of year that they arrived, the name of the ship, or the name of the ship line. You should make note of all such related information. It may help you to narrow your search.

2.2.2 - Census Records

If your immigrant ancestors were alive and in the United States during the census years of 1900, 1910, or 1920, the census records may provide the age, place of birth, immigration date, whether naturalized or naturalization applied for, and the naturalization date.

Click on image for an example of a census record showing Immigration and Naturalization information.

CAUTION: The census records, like many other records, should not be trusted without confirmation. Remember that a child, or other person may have given the information to the census taker.  He may not have had first-hand knowledge regarding your ancestor, and therefore you can spend many fruitless hours of searching the passenger lists when that research is based on incorrect information from a single census record. You should check the census records for as many different years as possible.

• EXAMPLE:   The arrival date for grandfather Claus Lang as listed in the various federal and state census are:
• 1900 Census    -    1863
• 1905 Census    -    1866
• 1910 Census    -    1860
• 1915 Census    -    1861
• 1920 Census    -    1857
• His actual date of immigration was June 28, 1865. (NONE OF THE ABOVE)

For more information about the US census, you may look at the following Web sites:

http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/census/ -- This is an online catalog of microfilm census records held by the National Archives from 1790–1920

http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/census/1790-1890/part1.html --An introduction to the 1790-1890 Federal Population Censuses by the National Archives

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~haas/censusrecords.html   "Census Records: History - how to use them"

 http://www.kuhnslagoon.net/cybertree/howto/census.html  —Lists what information is available on each of the census from 1790 to 1920.

http://www.amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/uscensus.html —The use and background of the U.S. Federal Census.  It may be valuable to you to look at the part concerning "Glitches found in the Census".

http://www.genealogy.org/census/contents.shtml   —This is an online catalog of microfilm census records held by the National Archives from 1790–1890 plus a lot more.

http://www.ancestry.com/research/census.htm - Ancestry's Census Records page includes:  Information found in the U.S. Federal Census, Requesting Records, Information Required for Requesting Records, and Alternative Approaches

Census on CD's and the Web

Heritage Quest previously only had the Census Microfilms available.  Now you can read the U.S. population censuses on your computer, using CD-ROMs that are becoming available.  Called Family Quest Archives Digital Microfilm,  Heritage Quest has now imaged all of the federal census schedules from 1790 to 1920.   Heritage Quest Research Club members may also rent the CD-ROMs or microfilm for a small fee..  For more information, visit the Heritage Quest home page at: http://www.heritagequest.com/html/censushq.html

Ancestry.com has been adding a census database to their existing collection of  finding aids.    This database now includes all census schedules and indexes from 1790 through 1870 and many up through the 1920 census.  This effort is scheduled for completion in 2001.  You can perform an initial search to determine what records may exist for your ancestor by following the procedure below.  However, only members who subscribe to Ancestry.com can access the actual census data.   The overall database includes census indexes such as the AIS Census Indexes and a mixture of federal and state census indexes, mortality schedules, veterans schedules, pensioners lists, slave schedules and a few other types of records.  For a complete list of the records available at the Ancestry.com site, visit:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/main.htm
Then:  Click on "Search", and then "Search by Record Type".  On the next screen click on "Census Records"

2.2.3 - Naturalization Records - See Section 8.0 of this Guide for finding Naturalization Records

If your immigrant ancestor arrived in the 1800's and was naturalized, you should search for the Declaration of Intentions. From this document, you can obtain:

• The country of origin,
• The date of naturalization,
• The port of arrival,
• The port of embarkation, and
• The date of arrival in the United States.
• Again, remember that the information on these documents may not be exact, but this information can be the most valuable in locating your ancestor on the passenger lists.

HINT  Knowing what port your ancestor arrived at can be extremely helpful in narrowing your research of passenger lists in the 1800's where no indexes are available.  It is advised that you search for the Declaration of Intentions to obtain this information.  If you cannot find the "Declaration" and you still do not know the exact port, you should investigate internal migration patterns within America. There are a number of reference books that describe these migration patterns.

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2.2.4 - Passport Records - See Section 9.0 of this Guide for finding Passport Records

Passport applications also may help resolve the problem of locating your ancestral home.  Naturalized immigrants may have applied for passports when they may have returned to visit their native countries.  If they did apply for a passport, their passport records would generally provide information regarding:

• family status,
• date and place of birth,
• naturalization information,
• occupation or business, and physical characteristics.

Continue to Section 2.3 - General Approach to Research

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