Genealogy.com: Key Resource for Tracing Immigrant Ancestors


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Key Resource for Tracing Immigrant Ancestors
Passenger and Immigration Lists: Boston, 1821-1850
(CD 256)
Reviewed by Marthe Arends

Everyone in the U.S., even people of Native American ancestry, are descended from immigrants; although it's true that Native Americans' ancestors traveled across the Bering Strait many thousands of years ago, the fact remains that all of our ancestors came from somewhere else.

One of the key resources genealogists can use to trace immigrant ancestors are passenger list records. Unfortunately, lists are not available for every ship, every port, and every year. The bulk of immigration records are the passenger arrival lists that were kept by various authorities, including cities, port officials, shipping lines, and after 1820, the U.S. government.

Passenger lists were kept not as genealogical records, but as a record of immigration to the U.S. Generally the passenger lists include the following information:

Ship's name
Captain's name
Arrival date
Name of immigrant
Age
Gender
Country of origin
Occupation

December 23, 1998

Related Data on CD-ROM

•	Germany
•	International Records
•	Ireland
•	Italy
•	Massachusetts
•	New England
•	Passenger and Immigration Records

More Articles

•	European Migration and Your Family Origins
•	Locating Ship Passenger Lists
•	How-To Guide: More About Immigration and Migration
•	Notes on Naturalization

Helpful Web Sites

•	United States
•	Europe

On the Message Boards

•	GenForum: Emigration
•	GenForum: Immigrants

The following are two examples of actual entries from the CD:

The gender of Isabella Hournan is female.

Age: 19

Arrival Date: September 17, 1850

Country of Origin: Scotland

Port of Original Departure: Glasgow

The Ship's Name: Ship Lesostris

This data can be found on National Archive microfilm series number M277, roll 36

The gender of Martin Leonard is male.

Age: 12

Occupation: Laborer

Arrival Date: April 6, 1850

Country of Origin: Ireland

Port of Original Departure: Liverpool

The Ship's Name: Ship John Haven

This data can be found on National Archive microfilm series number M277, roll 33

The information contained on "Passenger and Immigration Lists: Boston, 1821-1850" includes many of the items on the list above, although not all of the items are included for every individual. The CD offers information on approximately 161,000 individuals who arrived at the port of Boston from foreign ports between 1821 and 1850.

Although the information has been extracted from actual passenger lists, the microfilm series and roll number is given so that you may verify the information, or search the passenger list further. As with any index, you should remember that the information you find should be used as a starting point to locating further records. The microfilm source provided for each entry gives researchers the information they need to pursue a person of interest.

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Passenger and Immigration Lists: Boston, 1821-1850
(CD 256)
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About the Author

Marthe Arends has been involved in genealogy for 18 years. She has lectured on computers and genealogy to many groups, has been the SysOp of a Fidonet genealogy BBS, has written articles for a variety of genealogy publications, and currently writes fiction. Marthe has also written Genealogy Software Guide and Genealogy on CD-ROM, both published by the Genealogical Publishing Company.

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