New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The collection consists of images of passenger arrivals in New York Harbor, corresponding to NARA microfilm publication T715: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1925 to 1957. Passenger arrival records do not exist for the following periods: U.S. citizen arrivals, January 1-May 20,1944; Alien and citizen arrivals, January 1- September 17, 1949; Alien and citizen arrivals, December 1- December 31, 1954.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Passenger and Crew lists
 * Name of ship and port of departure
 * Ship's arrival date and port of entry
 * Names of immigrants
 * Immigrants' age, gender, marital status and occupation
 * Country where immigrant has citizenship
 * Last place of residence in that country
 * Name of relative or friend living at last residence
 * Name of relative or friend to be visited in this country
 * Final destination
 * Physical description
 * Birthplace

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

The passenger arrival list was used by legal inspectors 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.

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. The lists usually consist of large sheets of paper divided into columns and rows. The lists usually occupy two pages.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of the immigrant
 * Date of entry into the United States.

If you do not know this information, check the federal census records for 1930 or 1940.

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details and lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * 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
 * If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct
 * Continue to search the passenger lists to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who may have immigrated at the same time
 * If your ancestor has an uncommon surname, you may want to obtain the passenger list of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname if they lived in the same county or nearby. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors
 * 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

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings. Realize that the indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings and misinterpretations
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes of other port cities
 * Consult the New York Record Finder to find other records

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of New York.
 * Beginning Research in United States Immigration and Emigration Records
 * New York Guided Research
 * New York Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step New York Research, 1880-Present

Other FamilySearch Collections
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.