Shipping Lists- a valuable source of information for genealogical research
Long before the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) and Social Security Death Records (SSDR) were established in the nineteen hundreds, there were shipping lists. These records of the many thousands who came to America can be very helpful in establishing the identity of ancestors and relatives who were born in other countries.
Vital Records such as birth and marriage certificates will have to be searched for in overseas archives for those who arrived on our shores already wed.
Unless you are a Native American, your geneology research will unavoidably take you to another country. Up until the latter half of the last century, most who were immigrating to the USA came by ship, entering into the ‘lucky’ country via Ellis Island.
One group of volunteers, the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG), has transcribed over 6900 ships manifests into 7 volumes. Access to this data base is available free of charge. http://www.immigrantships.net/
Here is a useful list of shipping records databases
- http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/Passengers/passengers.php
- http://www.immigrantships.net/ Indexed and cross referenced, this is one of the most comprehensive shipping data bases available.
- Irish Immigrants: New York Port Arrival Records, 1846-1851 600,000 plus entries: Surname, Given Name, Age, Gender, Literacy, Native Country, Residence, Destination, Transit Type, Compartment, Port of Embarkation, Ship, Number of Passengers on the ship, Arrival Date, and Occupation
- New York City to California Lists of passengers published in the New York Times-searchable index of names
- Index to Mennonite Immigrants on United States Passenger Lists 1872-1904 indexed by surname and ship. http://www.odessa3.org/collections/ships/link/mindiv.txt
- Passenger Arrivals in the U.S., 1819-20
- Ships Passenger Lists on the Internet Review of websites containing links to over 4,200 passenger lists complete with passengers names from 1700s to 1890s
- Immigrant Passenger Arrivals at the Port of New York Vol 1-6 By Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
- Irish Passenger Lists 1803-1854 (over100 ships passenger lists mostly with New York as destination)
- Ship Arrivals of German immigrants in US ports Indexed by ship
