An Ancestor’s Migration Can Be Traced at a Ship’s Departure Port

Finding the name of the ship that brought your immigrant ancestors to America is probably your No. 1 research priority.

There is good news and bad news for genealogists: The good news is every ship had its passenger list or cargo manifest, so there is a record of every immigrant who came, and when, and on what ship. But the bad news is not all the records have survived.

“Most Americans can discover what ship brought their ancestors to this continent,” writes John Philip Colletta in his new book, “They Came in Ships” (available from Ancestry Inc., P.O. Box 308, Salt Lake City, Utah 84110; $8.45 postpaid).

“The facts of your immigrant ancestor’s life and voyage take on fuller meaning when viewed within the context of the family,” Colletta says. For example, was your ancestor the first or the last of the family to come to America? Did he or she come alone or with siblings and parents? Did he return to the old country? You may be surprised to discover that your ancestor made several voyages back and forth.

“Your family’s migration story represents just a sampling of the numerous ways in which ship list information can be used to expand your research activities and your knowledge of your family’s history,” Colletta says. And in his handy little book, he guides you through the maze of extant ship passenger records and shows how to find your ancestors in them.

To find your immigrant ancestor you need to know: Name--full real name, age at arrival and date of arrival.

Passenger lists were normally prepared in the port of departure, so the names you are looking for will appear as they were in that place and time. So you need your ancestor’s full, formal, legal name of birth in the old country. Many American families go by a surname that was changed--somewhat (as in spelling) or greatly (a totally different name).

Many European women--particularly French and Italian--may be recorded on ship lists under their maiden names. This does not mean they were unmarried, as some researchers have erroneously concluded. So look for your female ancestors under both married and maiden names.

The approximate age of your immigrant ancestor is important to help you distinguish him or her, because while you may think you are researching a rare surname, you may discover it is quite common in a particular ethnic group.

Colletta cautions that you must know the approximate date of your ancestor’s arrival at a U.S. port in order to know where to begin your search. “If you can learn only a year, or the season and the year, or month and year, you can begin your search,” he says.

For researchers there are two distinct periods of ship passenger lists: 1565-1819 and 1820-1954. In the earlier group, if the passenger list still exists, it may be in some archive, museum, courthouse, basement or attic. Lists of this early period are not preserved in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. However, many of these records have been published, so you will need to search in libraries for indexes to published lists.

If your ancestors arrived between 1820 and 1954, a microfilm copy of the passenger list is probably at the National Archives--some, but not all, of which have been indexed. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City and American Genealogical Lending Library (P.O Box 244, Bountiful, Utah 84010) also have microfilm copies of these ship passenger lists.

“They Came in Ships” is a commendable, though not comprehensive, highly readable, guide to locating the name of the ship that brought your ancestors to America.