North Carolina, Wilmington and Morehead City Passenger and Crew Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States North Carolina New Hanover County United States  North CarolinaCarteret County

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains passenger and crew lists for vessels arriving at Wilmington and Moorhead City, North Carolina from 1908-1958. It corresponds with NARA publication A3481: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Wilmington and Morehead City, North Carolina, 1908-1958. The records are divided into five parts or series.


 * Series 1: Passenger Lists, November 9, 1908-November 2, 1954
 * Series 2: Crew Lists, 1909-1954 (Arranged by Vessel name from 1909 to August 1947 then by arrival date from September 1947 to November 1954)
 * Series 3: Outbound Passenger Manifests, September 16, 1955-November 19, 1956
 * Series 4: Passenger and Crew Lists, December 1, 1954-October 21, 1958
 * Series 5: Passenger and Crew Lists Lists, June 1956-October 1958 (Morehead)

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Passenger lists may list any of the following information:


 * Port of embarkation and departure date
 * Name of ship
 * Port of entry and date of arrival
 * Full name of passenger
 * Age, gender, marital status and occupation
 * Whether able to read and write
 * Passport Number
 * Date and place of birth
 * Description of baggage
 * Nationality or race
 * Last permanent address (city and country)
 * Name of relative or friend at last address
 * Final destination in U.S.
 * Name of relative or friend you will visit in U.S.


 * Position in ship's company
 * When and where joined the crew

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The full name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of immigration.

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

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select the “Browse" link on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the “NARA Roll Number-Contents” category 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.

With either search 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.

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

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor on a passenger list, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?
Use passenger lists to:


 * Request federal immigration record
 * 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.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.

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:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation:

Top of Page