California, San Francisco, Immigration Office Special Inquiry Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States CaliforniaSan Francisco County

What Is in the Collection?
The collection consists of registers of persons held for Boards of Special Inquiry at the San Francisco, California, Immigration Office, February 1910-May 1941. This collection corresponds to NARA Publication M1388 and is part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The collection is arranged by arrival date, and by ship

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The records may contain any of the following:


 * Name of ship
 * Port of embarkation
 * Date and seaport of entry
 * Final destination
 * Whether or not ticket to final destination
 * Name of passenger
 * Birth place
 * Age in years and months
 * Gender
 * Civil status
 * Occupation
 * Whether or not can read and write
 * Nationality
 * Last permanent residence
 * Destination
 * Who paid for passage
 * Declaration of money in possession
 * Whether or not has been in U. S. before
 * Whether or not passenger has been in prison
 * Whether or not passenger is a polygamist
 * Name and address of relative or friend passenger plans to join
 * Whether or not under contract to labor
 * General condition and statement of health
 * Description of passenger

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know at least some of the following:


 * The name of your immigrant ancestor.
 * The approximate age or date of immigration.

If you do not know this information, check the census records after 1900.

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page. br>
 * 1) Select Volume and Year Range

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
Indexes and transcriptions may not include all the data found in the original records. Look at the actual image of the record, if you can, to verify the information and to find additional information.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Copy the citation below, in case you need to find this record again later.
 * Use the information found in the record to find other records such as emigrations, port records, and ship’s manifests.
 * Use the record to learn your ancestor’s foreign and “Americanized” names, if they were different.
 * Use the record to learn the place of origin and find their church and vital records such as birth, baptism, and marriage records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find land and probate records.
 * Use the record to see if other family members who may have immigrated with the person you are looking for are listed and have additional information or leads; you may also find additional information on new family members in censuses.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records were kept years before counties began keeping records. They are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you find possible relatives.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby town or county.
 * Try different spellings of your ancestor’s name.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Look for the Declaration of Intent soon after the immigrant arrived. Then look for the Naturalization Petition five years later, when the residency requirement would have been met. Look for naturalization records in federal courts, then in state, county, or city courts. An individual may have filed the first and final papers in different courts and sometimes in a different state if the person moved. Immigrants who were younger than 18 when they arrived did not need to file a Declaration of Intent as part of the process.
 * Check other possible ports of entry
 * Check the info box above for additional FamilySearch websites and related websites that may assist you in finding similar records.

Citing This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Image Citation

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