California, San Francisco Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States California  San Francisco 

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of digital images of inbound passenger manifests, crew lists, and related form 1-489 (statement of changes in crew). These records are arranged in chronological order by date of arrival. The passenger lists are form 1-415 (manifest of inbound passengers, alien) and form 1-416 (manifest of inbound passengers, US citizens or nationals). The collection corresponds to NARA Publication M1411: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Francisco, CA, December 1, 1954-February 1, 1957. There is a gap in the original records between September 18, 1955 and November 8, 1955 because roll 9 is missing at NARA. The collection is part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The records may contain any of the following:


 * Port and date of departure
 * Port and date of entry
 * Name of ship
 * Country of citizenship
 * Name of passenger, including maiden name of women
 * Names of persons accompanying passenger
 * Age, gender, marital status and occupation of passenger
 * Date and place of birth of passenger
 * Address of last permanent residence
 * Name and address of friend or relative at last address
 * Final destination
 * 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 one of the following:
 * The full name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of immigration.
 * The age and birth place of your ancestor.

If you do not know this information, check the census records after 1900. Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the "NARA Roll Number, Arrival Date, Ship Name" category which takes you to the images.

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.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: