| What
are the Ellis Island On-Line Records? |
| ● New York
passenger lists for the period from 1892 to 1924 - These
were the years that immigrant passengers were processed at Ellis Island. ● A project of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Family History Department ○ 12,000 Church members volunteering more than 5.6 million hours to extract the information for 22 million passenger arrivals. ● It was turned over to the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation who placed it on-line on April 17, 2001 ○ Provides FREE on-line search of all records ○ NOTE: Some errors and missing information still exist with these records ● The one-step search site, developed by Stephen Morse, greatly enhances those “difficult searches” |
|
Use the Ellis Island Web Page (
generally
use where the full name and other information is known) Use "Searching Ellis Island Records in One-Step" - the Stephen Morse Web Site ( for those difficult searches -No Matches Found"/Receiving Too Many “Hits”/Don’t Know Name/etc. ) |
| Using the Ellis Island Web Page http://www.EllisIslandRecords.org |
|
Procedure:
1. Use this URL to go to the Ellis Island site, and enter the name of
your
immigrant ancestor on the first page. It is IMPORTANT that you
enter
the EXACT name with the EXACT spelling as your ancestor would have used
on
the passenger list. If it is not exact, you will not get any
correct
matches. (If you do not know the exact spelling, use the
“one-step”
search procedure.)2. It may take some time for the search to be completed, then the next screen appears. If the next screen says "No Matches Found", use the “one-step” search procedure.. 3. You can save your searches in progress. This may save you time, especially if you get booted off the site and need to go back. 4. Initially, the names, ages and dates of arrival are displayed with every passenger having the name that you entered. 5. After you locate the passenger from that list which you believe to be your ancestor, click on that name. 6. You will be asked to log-in. Enter ANY name and password you desire (make a note to remember it) 7. The Passenger Information resulting from the search is displayed 8. If that information looks correct, or if you want to check the manifest to find further confirmation that it is the correct passenger, you can also view: • A typed extract of other passengers on that ship if you want to see who else was traveling with your ancestor and/or, • An image of the actual ship's manifest To do this, click on the "Ship Manifest" link to display a thumbnail view. Then, click on the image of the manifest to see a magnified view of the manifest. 9. You can also view a photo and information of the ship Instructions are also displayed to purchase copies of the manifest and the ship photo. |
| This is an outstanding web site that can greatly
enhance
your search and expedite locating an Ellis Island record. It
permits
you to broaden your search by entering only minimal data (e.g. only
part
of a name), or narrow your search by entering different parameters
(e.g.
a date of arrival or an immigrants ethnic city). Many times this
can
directly lead to locating your ancestor's record. Thus achieving a
"one-step"
search of the database. Procedure
Use the above URL to go to the “Searching Ellis Island Records in
one-step”
web site. On that site you will see many choices. For now
only
look at:White Form: The original generic form for searching the Ellis Island Database in One Step Blue Form: Searching the Ellis Island Database in One Step for Jewish Passengers Gray Form: Short Form for Searching the Ellis Island Database in One Step There's a lot of overlap between these forms, but each form provides some unique search capabilities. Search Hints: Start with the White Form unless your search involves a town name (if so, go to the blue or gray forms) or the passenger was Jewish (then go to the blue form) (See More Search HINTS below) Ellis Island Database -- white form 1. Start with entering the last name and fill in some of the other known information (do not enter guesses for the search options at this time) and start the search. 2. If you get too many “hits” go back and add the first name (or first initial) and possibly add or narrow some of the other search options (using guesses if appropriate) 3. If you get few “hits” and/or do not find the correct passenger, try entering just the first few letters of the surname. The white form will search with names “starting with” or “sounds like”, so some experimentation with more-or-less letters, or different letters may prove successful. (Note that the “sounds-like” search in the white form is not as robust as that in the blue and gray forms) 4. If you still are unsuccessful, try other possible surname spellings or alternative names. Ellis Island Database (Jewish Passengers) -- blue form 1. If you are searching for Jewish passengers and you have reason to believe that they were identified as such in the database, then the blue form is the preferable one to use. (This form only searches for those passengers listed as Jewish on the manifest) 2. Enter both the first and last names. The blue form allows you to do sounds-like searches on both the last name and the first name. 3 Enter other optional search parameters such as marital status, year of birth, month/day of arrival (white form supports year of arrival only), or parts of ship names (this form searches for a specified string of characters - the white form requires exact spelling of ship name) 4. Ports starting with a specified string of characters or containing a specified string of characters 5. Enter the town name as you know it - This form allows you to search for towns that sound like the one listed in the Ellis Island database. You do not need to know exactly how it is spelled (white form generally requires exact spelling) Ellis Island Database (Short Form) -- gray form 1. Use for all passengers, and especially where the search involves a town name. (This town search is the same as the blue form, and should be used whenever possible for searching other passengers) 2. Use general search procedure as for the white form except you may want to enter both the first and last names. (The gray form allows you to do sounds-like searches on both the last name and the first name - The gray form is somewhat limited in that it does not have as many optional search parameters as the white form) |
| Missing Manifests |
| If the manifest is missing on the Ellis Island
records,
or if there is an incorrect manifest image shown for your ancestor’s
ship-
use “Missing Manifest” button. Enter the date of arrival, and
then
enter the page number displayed on the Ellis Island "manifest" page to
display
the applicable manifest page containing your ancestor. (In
some
instances, a search of the entire “roll” containing that manifest may
be
required to find the correct ship and the correct page of the manifest) |
| Viewing
and
Printing Ship Manifests |
| Once you locate your ancestors record, you may
view
an image of the actual ship's manifest. To do this, click
on
the "Ship Manifest" link to display a thumbnail view. Then, click
on
the image of the manifest to see a magnified view of the
manifest.
For arrivals prior to 1906, there is one page to the manifest.
However,
after 1906, there are generally two manifest pages for each
passenger.
Click on "previous" or "next" to see both pages. (You have to
experiment
whether to use “previous” or “next”; each manifest can be different) The “Missing Manifest” feature can be used to save and print the image of a manifest. Locate and display the correct manifest page using the “Missing Manifest” feature. The displayed manifest image may then be saved by clicking the right mouse button on the image and selecting "save picture as". Then, select the folderwhere you want to save it and enter a file name such as ShipManfest.GIF and then clicking "save". |
| More
Search HINTS: |
| Still Having Problems- Try the following:
(Also
see previous Search HINTS) • Broaden your search by entering only initials or part of surname - Very useful if you are not sure of name spelling (need to only enter the first part or the first letter of the surname) • Narrow your search by entering: range of year(s) of arrival, the age, or a range of ages upon arrival ship name ethnicity port of embarkation • Search by ship name (use correct spelling for ship and enter at least one letter in Last Name window) • Search by origin town name (best in gray or blue forms) • If you get "NO Matches” - did your ancestors arrive between 1892 and 1924? The database only covers that period. - Is the spelling of the name correct? Have you tried alternative and shortened names? - Was the name changed? Many immigrants changed names to make it easier to pronounce or to Americanize it. Generally, there was no court record of these changes. (Look for naturalization records if applicable for name on passenger manifest) - Did your ancestors possibly come into another port? Passengers arriving at other ports, including those in Canada, would not be on the New York lists. |
E-MAIL arnielang@worldnet.att.net