California, San Diego Passenger Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States CaliforniaSan Diego County

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Diego, California from February 10,1904 to March 25, 1952 from foreign ports. These records correspond with NARA publication A3471 part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The lists are arranged by date of arrival.

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


 * Full name
 * Age
 * Gender
 * Marital status
 * Occupation
 * Citizenship
 * Race,
 * Last permanent residence
 * Birthplace
 * Destination

The records may also contain any of the following:


 * Port and date of departure
 * Port and date of entry
 * Name of ship
 * Names of persons accompanying passenger
 * Birth date
 * Address of last permanent residence
 * Name and address of friend or relative at last address
 * Name and address of friend or relative in U.S.
 * Physical description and distinguishing marks
 * Who paid for passage
 * Purpose of visit

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

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

Compare the information on the image to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several images before you find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Pagethen select the NARA Roll Number - Contents.

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 the information in the record to find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, ship’s manifests, birth, christening, marriage or census records.
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Use the information in each record to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family member’s records 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 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 California, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the California 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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