Washington, Seattle Passenger Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States WashingtonKing County

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of passenger and crew lists for those arriving in Seattle, Washington. It corresponds to NARA Publication M1383: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Seattle, Washington. and is part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The collection is arranged by ship arrival date.

Sample Images
The passenger lists are digital copies of the original records. The earliest records are handwritten pages. Later records are usually handwritten on pre-printed pages. The records are arranged by the date of entry into port.

Arrival lists was used by legal authorities to gather personal information about immigrants prior to the person being allowed to live in the United States.

The information was supplied by the immigrant or a traveling companion (usually a family member). Incorrect information was occasionally given, or mistakes may have been made when the clerk guessed at the spelling of foreign names.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Passenger lists prior to 1906 generally includes the following information:


 * Name
 * Date of arrival
 * Port of embarkation
 * Name of ship

Passenger lists after 1906 generally includes the following information:


 * Date and port of embarkation
 * Name and age of immigrant
 * Birth place
 * Gender, marital status and occupation
 * Country of citizenship
 * Place of last residence in that country
 * Name and address of relative or friend in that country
 * Name and address of relative or friend in this country
 * Final destination
 * Physical description
 * Date and port of entry
 * Name of ship

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The full name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of immigration.

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

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Pagethen select the NARA Roll Number - Contents.

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

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the information to find other records such as emigrations, port records, ship’s manifests, birth, christening, census, and land records.
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

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

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Washington, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Washington Archives and Libraries.

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:

Record citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image citation: