New York Passenger Arrival Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This information pertains to ships’ passenger lists created from 1892 to 1924.

Record History
The first official emigration station for New York was Castle Garden, located at the tip of lower Manhattan. Passenger arrival lists known as customs manifests date back to 1820. 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 in the New York Harbor, east of Manhattan. From 1892 to 1924, almost all immigrants entered the United States through the port of New York.

Why This Record Was Created
The passenger arrival list was used by legal inspectors at Ellis Island 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.

Record Reliability
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.

Record Description
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.

Record Content
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. Passenger lists, particularly later lists, include the following genealogical information:




 * Names of immigrants and close relatives
 * Age
 * Sex
 * Birthplaces, former residences and intended destinations
 * Marital status
 * Nationality and race
 * Occupations
 * Date of arrival
 * Port of departure

How To Use This Record
Use passenger arrival lists primarily to identify an immigrant ancestors’ birthplace or last residence in his or her country of origin. This is the place to begin searching for foreign genealogical records. Please note that 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.

Related Websites
An additional site for these records may be found at http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/EIDB (in spite of it's name, includes the same images, only you have advanced search tools and access to lost manifests that cannot be viewed on the EllisIsland.org site).

To see live footage of passengers arriving at Ellis Island click here.

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Related Wiki Articles
New York Emigration and Immigration

Sources of This Collection
Passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York (Ellis Island). From URL, date accessed or downloaded. Digital identification number (if any), ship name, date of arrival, port of departure, line number. Example: Passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York (Ellis Island). From Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island (www.ellisisland.org), September 29, 2006. Page 0817, S.S. Finland, December 7, 1920, Antwerp, line 13. Passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York (Ellis Island). Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1944, 1956–. Microform or item number, ship name, date of arrival, port of departure, volume number, page number, line number.

How To Cite Your Sources
An example of citing these records is: United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. Arrival list page. From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org), April 23, 2010. Stephen Murphy, residence: Kerry, Ireland, ship name: City of Chester, arrival port: New York, arrival date: 14 Nov. 1892.

Instructions for citing this source can be found at: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections