North Carolina, Wilmington and Morehead City Passenger and Crew Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection contains passenger and crew lists for vessels arriving at Wilmington and Moorhead City, North Carolina from 1908-1958. It corresponds with NARA publication A3481: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Wilmington and Morehead City, North Carolina, 1908-1958.

For a list of records by dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

Record Content
Passenger lists may list any of the following information:


 * Port of embarkation and departure date
 * Name of ship
 * Port of entry and date of arrival
 * Full name of passenger
 * Age, gender, marital status and occupation
 * Whether able to read and write
 * Passport Number
 * Date and place of birth
 * Description of baggage
 * Nationality or race
 * Last permanent address (city and country)
 * Name of relative or friend at last address
 * Final destination in U.S.
 * Name of relative or friend you will visit in U.S.


 * Position in ship's company
 * When and where joined the crew

How to Use the Record
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.

Search the Collection
To search the index fill in your ancestor’s name in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person.

If you did not find the person you were looking for, you may need to search the collection image by image. ⇒ Select the “Browse" link on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the “NARA Roll Number-Contents” category which takes you to the images

Look at the images one by one. Again you will need to compare the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor.

Be aware that with either search you may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.


 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line video at FamilySearch Search Tips.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example, you can use passenger lists to:


 * Request federal immigration record
 * Learn an immigrant’s place of origin
 * Confirm their date of arrival
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, or ship’s manifests.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct.
 * Continue to search the passenger lists to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who may have immigrated at the same time.
 * If your ancestor has an uncommon surname, you may want to obtain the passenger list of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname if they lived in the same county or nearby. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Check for variant spellings of the name.
 * Search the indexes of other port cities.

Related Websites

 * National Archives Immigration Records
 * The Olive Tree Passenger Lists of Ships to South &amp; North Carolina

Related Wiki Articles
North Carolina

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.