Montana Manifests of Immigrant Arrivals and Departures - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Montana

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains manifests of vessels arriving for the years 1923 to 1956 at the following locations in Montana:
 * Alien Arrivals:
 * Chief Mountain, June 20, 1936-Oct. 30, 1956
 * Cut Bank, June 6, 1941-July 10, 1953
 * Del Bonita, January 1940-December 1956
 * Great Falls,April 21,1936-August 20, 1953
 * Roosville, November 1, 1929-January 1, 1956


 * Alien Departures
 * Great Falls, December 2, 1944-August 25, 1945


 * Permanent Alien Arrivals
 * Gateway, January 1, 1923-June 30, 1927
 * Gateway, July 1, 1927-April 6, 1939


 * Temporary Arrival Arrivals
 * Gateway, January 1, 1924-April 6, 1939

These records correspond with NARA publication A3447 and are part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The records usually include:


 * Name of passenger
 * Gender
 * Age
 * Marital status
 * Citizenship
 * Race
 * Last residence
 * Place of departure
 * Destination
 * Citizenship intentions

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The age or your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of arrival or departure.
 * The port of arrival.

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.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: Next, Select "NARA Roll Number".

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use this information to find federal immigration records.
 * Use this information to find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, ship’s manifests, birth, christening, marriage, and census records.
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names.
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * [Montana Church Records|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 to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations 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.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * 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 Montana, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Montana Archives and Libraries.

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.

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