Wisconsin, Milwaukee Passenger and Crew Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

United StatesWisconsinMilwaukee County

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of images of passenger lists. It corresponds with NARA collection A3399 Lists of Immigrants, Ship Passengers, Arrivals at Seaports, Pioneers, etc.; Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 1922-December 1956, and Records of Selected Airplane Passengers, 1956-1963. The collection is part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

What Can these Records Tell Me?
Crew lists contain the following:


 * Name of passenger
 * Immigration date and place
 * Age and estimated birth year
 * Birth Country
 * Ship Name

How Do I Search the Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. To begin your search, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The approximate date and place of naturalization

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

Search the Index
Search by name by visiting the Collection Page.
 * 1) Fill in the search boxes on the Collection Page with the information you have
 * 2) Click Search to show possible matches

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select NARA Roll Number - Contents

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.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the information to find other records such as emigrations, port records, and ship’s manifests.
 * Look for the Declaration of Intent soon after the immigrant arrived, and then look for the Naturalization Petition five years later, when the residency requirement would have been met. Look for naturalization records in federal courts and 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.
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Learn the place of origin and find church and vital records such as birth, baptism, marriage, and death records. Also search for military, land and probate records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members in censuses.
 * 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. Indexes and transcriptions may not include all the data found in the original records. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relatives 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.
 * Try variant 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.
 * Search the indexes and records of Wisconsin, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the FamilySearch Library Catalog

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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