New York Passenger Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The collection consists of passenger lists of vessels arriving in New York City from 1820 through 1891 consisting of 580 microfilm rolls from NARA microfilm publication M237: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897 part of Record Group 36 Records of the U.S. Customs Service. For arrival years 1892 through 1897 microfilm rolls 581 through 675 see | New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924

The content of earlier lists, known generally as “customs manifests,” was not regulated. Formats varied widely and a specific place of origin was not always listed. In 1883, the federal government mandated the creation of ship manifests, which included columns for an exact birthplace or last residence. This information was also kept on passenger arrival lists of later periods.

The collection also include a card index to passengers arriving in New York City from 1820 through 1846 from NARA microfilm publication M261 Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1820 -1846 also from Record Group 36. For searchable index see |New York, New York, Index to Passenger Lists, 1820-1846

General Information About These Records
Passenger arrival lists known as customs manifests date back to 1820. However, the first official emigration station for New York was Castle Garden, located at the tip of lower Manhattan. Congressional action in 1891 resulted in federal immigration officials recording the immigrants’ arrival. After January 1892, passengers arriving in New York debarked at Ellis Island, located east of Manhattan in the New York Harbor. From 1892 to 1924, almost all immigrants entered the United States through the port of New York.

The passenger arrival list was used by legal inspectors to cross-examine each immigrant during a legal inspection prior to the person being allowed to live in America. Only two percent of the prospective immigrants were denied entry.

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.

The lists consist of large sheets of paper divided into columns and rows. Earlier lists are handwritten, while most after 1917 are typewritten. Lists after 1906 usually occupy two pages.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Card index
 * Full name of immigrant
 * Name of person accompanying immigrant
 * Age, gender, race and occupation of immigrant
 * Nationality of immigrant
 * Last permanent residence (town, country)
 * Destination
 * Port of entry and date of arrival
 * Name of ship

Passenger lists
 * Name of ship and port of departure
 * Ship's arrival date and port of entry
 * Names of immigrants
 * Immigrants' age, gender, marital status and occupation
 * Country where immigrant holds citizenship
 * Last place of residence in that country
 * Name of relative or friend living at last residence
 * Name of relative or friend to be visited in this country
 * Final destination of immigrant
 * Physical description
 * Birthplace

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The full name of your ancestor
 * The birth year and birth place
 * The approximate date of immigration

In order to help you locate records, you can check the US census records for and after 1900 to find immigration or naturalization information.

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. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
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 and lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * 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
 * 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

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

 * Check for variant spellings. Realize that the indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings and misinterpretations
 * Try a different index if there is one for the years needed. You may also need to search the passenger lists year by year
 * Search the indexes of other port cities

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in the state of New York.
 * New York Guided Research
 * New York Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step New York Research, 1880-Present
 * New York Record Finder
 * Beginning Research in United States Immigration and Emigration Records
 * Searching Passenger Lists

Other FamilySearch Collections
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research.

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Register of vessels arriving at the Port of New York from foreign ports, 1789-1919
 * Irish Emigrant Society, Emigrant Savings Bank records, 1841-1945
 * Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. List of immigrants recorded at New York, 1802-1814

Publications
 * Michael Tepper, American passenger arrival records: a guide to the records of immigrants arriving at American ports by sail and steam Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, c1993 FS Library 973 W27am 1993
 * John Philip Colletta, They came in ships: a guide to finding your immigrant ancestor's arrival record. 3rd ed. Orem, Utah: Ancestry Publishing, c2002 FS Library 973 W27c 2002
 * Michael J. Anuta,Ships of our ancestors Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1993, 2006 FS Library 973 U3an 1993
 * Robert Greenhalgh Albion ; with the collaboration of Jennie Barnes Pope, The rise of New York Port, 1815 - 1860,Boston, Massachusetts : Northeastern University Press, 1984, c1967 FS Library 974.71 H2ar
 * Ira A. Glazier, editor ; Michael Tepper, associate editor, The Famine immigrants : lists of Irish immigrants arriving at the Port of New York, 1846-1851 7 volumes. Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, 1983-1986, c1983-1986 FS Library 974.71 W3f
 * Michael Tepper, ed. Immigrants to the middle colonies : a consolidation of ship passenger lists and associated data from the New York genealogical and biographical record Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, c1978 FS Library 973 W3te
 * Elizabeth P. Bentley, transcribed, Passenger arrivals at the port of New York, 1820-1829 : from customs passenger lists Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, c1999 FS Library 974.71 W38b
 * compiled by Gary J. Zimmerman and Marion Wolfert, German immigrants : lists of passengers bound from Bremen to New York, with places of origin 4 volumes. Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985-1993 FS Library 974.71 W3g Arrivals from 1847-1871

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * compiled by Harold Lancour ; with a list of passenger arrival records in the National Archives by Frank E. Bridgers. A bibliography of ship passenger lists, 1538-1825 : being a guide to published lists of early immigrants to North America.New York, New York : New York Public Library distributed by Readex Books, 1975
 * Adler's directory: a compilation of passenger steamships sailing from European ports and arriving in the Eastern ports of the United States from 1899 to 1929, inclusive New York, New York: Steamship Directory Publishers, 1940
 * Morton Allan directory of European passenger steamship arrivals: for the years 1890 to 1930 at the port of New York and for the years 1904 to 1926 at the ports of New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore New York, New York : Immigration Information Bureau, c1931
 * Forrest R. Holdcamper, comp. Preliminary inventory of the records of the Bureau of Customs, record group 36 Washington, D.C. : National Archives & Records Administration, Central Plains Region, 1968

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.