Talk:Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists Index - FamilySearch Historical Records

How to find your relative
The names on each roll are tricky to locate as they are not arranged by date of arrival or even by a person's surname. Each record is arrnged by Soundex code. On image 6 or so of each roll, you'll find two pages of instruction on how to search for a specific person. Instructions are given on how to calculate the Soundex code you need.

The instructions go on to explain that "Divider cards are used to show [the start of] most code numbers, but not all." The code numbers falling between those photographed divider cards are not arranged in numerical order or in surname order - "they are interfiled and arranged alphabetically by given name."

Example:

I am looking for the EWERT family, known to have arrived in Baltimore in the 1890s. Therefore the Soundex code number I need is "E 360". Since Roll 32 covers "E 521 - E 663", that's the one I need. The E 360 section starts on image 3191 and runs to image 3311, containing names like (von) Erde, Erithowa, and Ewertowska.

However, my grandfather, Julius Ewert, who arrived 22 April 1891, is not found among the cards imaged. (He is on the SS Weimar passenger manifest, though.) His brother August, arriving in 1892, is found among the cards early in the run, as his given name is August, image 3198. The last card in the E 360 run is that of Wolf Erdberg, code E 361, arriving 1889.