Saving Ellis Island passenger lists for FREE

When the Ellis Island database first became available, you could view an image and then right mouse click on it to save or print it. A few years ago, they disabled that option, probably because they want to sell copies of the original, full-size manifests. If you like the full size manifests that's fine but I have no need for them. I'm perfectly happy with one that fits on 8-1/2x11 paper. I played around with different options and found a solution.

When you're looking at the original ship manifest on the Ellis Island website (same location whether you used the Ellis Island search engine or Steve Morse's search tools), click on the enlarger. A new window will open with an enlarged image. I then open Microsoft Excel or Word (my preferences but this probably works with other programs). Go back to the window with the enlarged manifest image. With your left mouse button, grab the image, drag it down to the tab at the bottom of your screen so the program switches to Excel or Word and then drop the image where you want it in the open workbook/document. It may take a few seconds for it to appear. If you are using Excel, make sure the worksheet tab where you want to drop the image is the active sheet. That's it. Change your print settings (I prefer landscape with zero or close to zero margins) and you can print the image.

Remember that, starting in 1907, ship manifests were 2 pages so make sure to get both. Some of the passenger list books were microfiched from back to front so on the Ellis Island website you may have to click "previous" vs "next" to get from page 1 to page 2.

Steve Morse's search tools

Steve Morse helped many of us when he created his One-Step Tools for the Ellis Island website and for many other databases. You can find them at stevemorse.org. These search tools allow you to enter various search criteria and hit a search button only once. This lets you narrow down your search but can also complicate matters...the more information you enter, the less likely you are to find the person you are looking for if there are inconsistencies in the data or transcription errors.

As with all searches, I recommend started with exact data because you may get lucky and find your person right off the bat. If that doesn't work, try different variations with the data. If you're researching a common surname, use the "year of arrival" to search one year at a time. You can even search using first initial only.

In some cases, you'll find several results for the same person. This has happened to me serveral times. The passenger lists are created at the time a ticket is purchased. If the passenger doesn't make the voyage, a line is drawn through that line. The information can still be useful if it is legible so it's still worth keeping.

As with all searches, if you can't find the person you're looking for, step back from the search and start fresh after a period of time. You find find more information that will help your search. Also, don't assume that his apparently more sophisticated search tool is better than the Ellis Island search engine. Sometimes the simple search engine is better. I'd been trying for years to find the manifest for my ggm Lena Belinsky (Lea Belinki) using the Steve Morse tools and the ancestry.com search engine with no luck. This summer, my cousin tried a search on the Ellis Island site and found it in 2 seconds. I wanted to kick myself for not trying it sooner.

Searching the Ellis Island database

The Ellis Island database contains records for immigrants passing through the New York port from 1892 through 1924. The search engine can be a little tedious to use but if your immigrants entered the US through Ellis Island, it's just something you need to deal with. You may need to register to use the database but no subscription is required...it is free to use.

When you first begin a new search, enter the exact information you have, name spelling, age, date of arrival. In many cases, this may not be accurate but, just in case it is, you can save yourself a lot of time. Personally, I like to start with the last name only to see how many results I get. It there are a lot of results, then I'll enter more information. The more information you enter, the less likely you are to find the person you are looking for due to inaccurate information and transcription of bad handwriting. You may also miss out on discovering family members that you never knew about.

Keep on open mind on spelling and other facts. If you ancestor came from a non-English speaking country, imagine what their surname would sound like with a heavy accent. The given name on the manifest may not be the name the family knew them by in America. In some cases, there are some patterns you can follow for changes in given names. For example, Leib or Eliezer commonly became Louis in America. Some people just flat out changed their names. A young man with a name as long as the entire alphabet might see the name Rockefeller a lot in change his name to Rockefeller to bring himself luck in starting out his new life. Finding his ship manifest may be the only key you have to tracing the family back to the old country.

There are many rumors that people's names were changed by immigrant officials upon arrival at Ellis Island because the immigrant couldn't be understood or the name was too complicated. This is false. Passenger lists were created at the point of departure. In some cases corrections were made upon arrival in the US but, in general, the information on the passenger list was provided by the passenger. That still doesn't mean the spelling is correct. A Polish resident may be sailing from Belgium so there would still be a language comprehension issue.

Once you have your initial search results, start with the exact matches. I like to go straight to the scan of the original ship manifest vs viewing the passenger record. This lets me see who someone was sailing with e.g. family, friends, landsmen. It also lets me see the original information. After you been doing this for a while, you can learn to spot spellings of town names that are familiar but may have been transcribed incorrectly. Next try the close matches and then the alternate spellings. For the "sounds like" option you'll need to enter more information. This is where I find their search engine annoying. If you get to this point, try it a few times. If you're not getting any results, see my post in this section about Steve Morse's search engine.

Be careful with ages. Some older people had long ago forgotten how old they are. Putting food on the table was more important than remembering birthdays. Some young people lied about their ages. They may have been travelling alone and wanted to seem more mature and unlikely to become wards of the government. They might want to seem older upon entry so they could go straight to work and not have to go to school. Some younger children may be listed at a younger age to get the children's fare for the voyage.

By the early 1920s, many manifests were typed so they are easier to read and resulted in few errors when this database was created.

I can't stress this enough so I'll say it again...keep an open mind on spellings and other facts or you may never find the manifests you are searching for. Also, read all of the information provided for that passenger. The given name may not match up but they may be coming to see an uncle that you already have information about.

History of Ellis Island

From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor. Ellis Island is located in the upper bay just off the New Jersey coast, within the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. Prior to 1890, when Ellis Island was designated as the site of the first Federal immigration station by President Benjamin Harrison, the individual states (rather than the Federal government) regulated immigration into the United States. Throughout the 1800's and intensifying in the latter half of the 19th century, ensuing political instability, restrictive religious laws and deteriorating economic conditions in Europe began to fuel the largest mass human migration in the history of the world. It soon became apparent that the Federal government needed to step in to centralize and standardize admission procedures.

The original structure, built of Georgia Pine, at Ellis Island first opened its doors to immigrants on January 1. 1892. Unfortunately, on June 14, 1897, this building burned to the ground, taking with it many years of Federal and State immigration records dating back to 1855. Construction of a new fireproof structure began immediately. On December 17, 1900, the new Main Building was opened and 2,251 immigrants were received that day.

While most immigrants entered the United States through New York Harbor (the most popular destination of steamship companies), others sailed into many ports such as Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco and Savannah, Miami, and New Orleans. The great steamship companies like White Star, Red Star, Cunard and Hamburg-America played a significant role in the history of Ellis Island and immigration in general. First and second class passengers who arrived in New York Harbor were not required to undergo the inspection process at Ellis Island. Steerage (third class) passengers were required to undergo medical and legal inspections.

Despite the island's reputation as an "Island of Tears", the vast majority of immigrants were treated courteously and respectfully, and were free to begin their new lives in America after only a few short hours on Ellis Island. Only two percent of the arriving immigrants were excluded from entry. The two main reasons why an immigrant would be excluded were if a doctor diagnosed that the immigrant had a contagious disease that would endanger the public health or if a legal inspector thought the immigrant was likely to become a public charge or an illegal contract laborer.

During the early 1900's, immigration officials mistakenly thought that the peak wave of immigration had already passed. Actually, immigration was on the rise and in 1907, more people immigrated to the United States than any other year; approximately 1.25 million immigrants were processed at Ellis Island in that one year. As the United States entered World War I, immigration to the United States decreased. Numerous suspected enemy aliens throughout the United States were brought to Ellis Island under custody. At the end of World War I, a big "Red Scare" spread across America and thousands of suspected alien radicals were interred at Ellis Island. Hundreds were later deported based upon the principal of guilt by association with any organizations advocating revolution against the Federal government. In 1920, Ellis Island reopened as an immigration receiving station and 225,206 immigrants were processed that year.
After World War I, the United States began to emerge as a potential world power. United States embassies were established in countries all over the world, and prospective immigrants now applied for their visas at American consulates in their countries of origin. The necessary paperwork was completed at the consulate and a medical inspection was also conducted there. After 1924, the only people who were detained at Ellis Island were those who had problems with their paperwork, as well as war refugees and displaced persons.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson declared Ellis Island part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Ellis Island was opened to the public on a limited basis between 1976 and 1984. Starting in 1984, Ellis Island underwent a major restoration, the largest historic restoration in U.S. history. The $160 million dollar project was funded by donations made to The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. in partnership with the National Park Service. The Main Building was reopened to the public on September 10, 1990 as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Today, the museum receives almost 2 million visitors annually.

Content of Passenger Lists

The content of passengers lists, like the US census, varied over time. Very little information was collected in early years. The lists then expanded during peak immigration periods and then shrank again after the peak when immigration procedures changed. Passenger lists were created at the ticket office at the point of departure (or were copies of these original lists). If someone who purchased a ticket didn't make the journey, they will still appear on the list with a line through their name. These manifests can still be useful depending on where the line cuts through the writing.

Following is an excerpt from Rediscovering Passenger Lists.

The 1819 law required that only six items be recorded: 1) name of the passenger, 2) age, 3) gender, 4) occupation, 5) nationality (country of allegiance), and 6) the intended country of destination. Some lists include detailed information about the passengers, such as their baggage or even if a passenger died during the voyage. However, the law did not require, and the lists did not record, the town from which the immigrants left. This is often a great disappointment to researchers who eventually locate their immigrant relatives in the earlier lists.

While the federal government passed laws dealing with immigration in 1819, 1847, 1848, and 1855, these laws had little effect on the keeping of passenger lists other than to mandate that they be kept. When the Supreme Court decided in 1876 that states could not tax or regulate immigration (since issues of foreign commerce are reserved to the federal government), interest in federal legislation grew. Immigration and passenger acts in 1882 provided the foundation for the later more detailed lists. Indeed, even the 1882 Passenger Act called for lists to include native country and intended local destination (such as the state) in addition to the names, ages, genders, and occupations of passengers. Previous lists had only recorded the country of allegiance, which is not always the native country.

The 1891 law required the lists to report last residence of each alien. Two years later, another act that was designed to improve enforcement of the existing law required more than twice as much information on the passenger lists. Hence, the number of columns on the ships’ manifests had increased from five or six columns on the older lists to twenty-one columns in 1893. For the first time, laws required significant information about the passengers and proscribed the nature of the lists, including the limit of thirty names per page. In addition, passenger arrival lists were to indicate marital status; last residence (supposed to have been added in 1891, but not always done); previous U.S. residence, if any; if joining a relative, that person’s name, address, and relationship; amount of money (thirty dollars was required); condition of health; and social detriments, including history of prison, poorhouse, insanity, and polygamy.

A 1903 law made minor modifications, including the race of each immigrant, but it was the 1906 Naturalization Act with 1907 amendments that required a physical description of the immigrant. The law required place of birth (country and city or town), height in feet and inches, complexion, color of hair and eyes, marks of identification, and name and address of nearest relative in the country from which the alien came. (Note: around this time, ship manifests were 2 pages wide so make sure you print/save both pages)

History of Passenger Lists

Following is an excerpt from Rediscovering Passenger Lists.

Since 1820, over 60 million persons have arrived at more than 100 different ports in the United States, bringing with them unique cultures, histories, and family stories. Fortunately, the United States (and to a much lesser degree, Canada) has an excellent collection of documents about this pivotal event in history. Passenger lists, the first tangible evidence of many families in America, exist for probably 90 to 95 percent of immigrants.

For about two hundred years, from 1607/20 to 1820, colonists and other immigrants arrived at the shores of North America with few requirements to register their arrival. Most immigrants were citizens of the country to whose colonies they were migrating (e.g., British to English colonies, French to Quebec, Dutch to New Netherlands, Spanish to Florida, etc.). In 1819, Congress passed a law regulating the number of passengers, based upon the total tonnage of the ship. Although this did little to improve the living conditions for passengers, the law mandated the keeping of a list of arrivals, which has been a godsend for family historians. The Bureau of Customs was charged with keeping the passenger lists. Therefore, the lists from 1820 through about 1891 (the ending dates vary by port) are called the "Customs Passenger Lists." The Bureau provided blank forms to the shipping companies, which the captains or their mates prepared onboard. The forms were then submitted to the collector of customs at the port of arrival.

Although passengers arrived at about 100 different ports over the years, most ports saw only infrequent traffic. Sometimes just a couple of ships would arrive in a given year. And during the course of these early years, most of the immigration traffic tended to be directed to one of five major ports: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans. Although Philadelphia had been the most popular of these ports during the colonial era, within the first two decades of federal immigration regulation, New York emerged as the preferred port of arrival. By 1850, more immigrants arrived in New York than in all other ports combined.

New forms were instituted at different times in different ports depending upon various factors, such as who was in charge of the port. Some ports were immediately regulated by federal immigration officials (in 1891 when the Immigration Bureau, now the INS took over), while other ports were regulated by local officers contracted by federal officials. Typically, any lists created under the authority of the Immigration Bureau are considered Immigration Passenger Lists, even though ports may have begun keeping them at various times.

The pre-1891 lists that survived the ravages of time eventually became the custody of the National Archives, where they were microfilmed for preservation and improved access. Thus we have a fairly complete collection of documents that identify more then 18 million persons who arrived in the United States during the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Customs. Virtually all of the post-1890 lists survived and were eventually acquired by the National Archives after its creation in 1935. Studies show that about 6 percent of the lists are difficult or impossible to read, with that number reaching as high as 15 percent for the pre-1902 lists.

Passenger Lists Introduction

Passenger lists, also known as manifests, are a list of passengers who purchased tickets for the voyage. Many of our ancestors arrived by ship but some of the online databases will include airline manifests and other means of transportation across our borders.

Most of my experience is with arrivals into New York, specifically during the Ellis Island years. Whenever possible, I'll try to include links to websites that provide a more general overview of US immigration.

What passenger lists are online? See:
http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/onlinelists.html
Access to some of the databases requires a subscription, like Ancestry.com. Others, like the Ellis Island Records database is free to search but if you want copies of the original ship manifests, you'll have to purchase them or learn the trick for saving them for free (can't just right mouse click). Databases are being updated on a regulars basis...thank goodness, I have yet to sit in front of a microfiche machine.

Another useful link is Finding Passenger Lists & Immigration Records 1820-1940s
arrivals at US ports from Europe at:
http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/passengers.html
This website lays out resources for all major US ports for online databases, microfiche, CD, and books.