Texas, Laredo Arrival Manifests - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in the Collection?
This article covers multiple collections.

The collection "Texas, Laredo Arrival Manifests, 1903-1955" contains 520,000 arrival manifests at Laredo, Texas from 1903-1955. It corresponds to NARA Publication A3437: Manifests of Statistical and Nonstatistical Alien Arrivals at Laredo, Texas, May 1903 – April 1955 and is part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The records are arranged chronologically then numerically by manifest number.

Collection Contents
These records generally contain the following information:


 * Date of arrival
 * Name, age and gender of arrival
 * Physical description
 * Birth place
 * Marital status and occupation
 * Nationality and race
 * Ability to read and write?
 * Place of last residence
 * Final destination
 * Who paid for passage
 * Reason for entering the U.S.
 * Name and address of friend or relative in U.S.
 * Name of nearest relative in native country
 * Intent to naturalize
 * Names of those persons accompanying the immigrant

Searching The Collection
To browse by image: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links:⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "Date Range" ⇒Select the "Manifest Numbers" which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

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. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example, you can use passenger lists to:


 * 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

 * When you select an image to view, sometimes the manifest includes more than one page, and when you use the "click to enlarge manifest" link, the image that appears is not always the first page of the record. You may need to click on the "previous" or "next" links to view the remaining pages of the full manifest.
 * When using this collection, be aware that both fronts and backs of the records were imaged. There are some records with writing on the back. However, most of the backs were blank so what you see is bleed-through ink from the front of the document and is unreadable.
 * 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.

What If I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For?

 * Check for variant spellings. Realize that the indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings and misinterpretations.
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes of other port cities.

Related Websites

 * National Archives Collection Description A3437
 * National Archives Immigration Records

Related Wiki Articles

 * Texas Emigration and Immigration
 * United States Emigration and Immigration

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: