New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957

Source Information

This database is an index to the passenger lists of ships arriving from foreign ports at the port of New York from 1820-1957. In addition, the names found in the index are linked to actual images of the passenger lists, copied from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm, M237, rolls 1-675 and T715, rolls 1-8892.

Castle Garden served as a processing station for immigrants from 1855 to 1890. Likewise, Ellis Island served as a processing station for immigrants from 1892 to 1954. This database includes both the Castle Garden and Ellis Island passenger lists.

Information contained in the index includes:

• Given name
  
• Surname
  
• Age
  
• Gender
  
• Arrival date
  
• Port of arrival
  
• Port of departure
  
• Ship name
  

If a place of origin or place of nativity was provided, that information is included in the index as well. Many of these items may be used to search the index in the search template above.

Many passenger list forms, especially those from the twentieth century, were two pages long. Be sure to click the "Previous" and "Next" buttons in order to see all the images pertaining to a particular manifest.

It is important to note that the port of departure listed on these passenger lists is not always the original port of departure for these individuals. A ship could make several voyages throughout the year, making several stops along way. Oft times the port of departure found on these lists is the most recent port the ship was located at prior to arriving at the port of New York. Therefore, if your ancestors emigrated to the U.S. from Germany, they could be found on a passenger list coming from Liverpool, England (if, in this case, the ship left from Bremen, Germany then continued on to Liverpool, England before arriving in New York).

The microcopies of the passenger lists found at NARA are arranged chronologically by arrival date of vessel. If you do not wish to search this database using the search template above, the images may be browsed following this chronological arrangement. To browse the images first select the “Year” in which you would like to search, followed by the “Month”, and finally the “Ship Name”.

To learn about researching in passenger records consult John P. Colletta’s book, They Came In Ships (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993).