Passenger List

Why Can’t I Find My Ancestors in the Baltimore Passenger List?

When you are looking at United States passenger arrival records, sometimes you just wonder how complete they really are. Many people don’t think in these terms, but gaps in the records would go a long way to explain why you’re not finding your ancestors. Many researchers just assume the passenger arrival records are all complete – not so!

A case in point, which is always frustrating to me as a professional genealogist are the arrival records for Baltimore, Maryland. Irish immigrant research can be difficult enough, so the positive of knowing there are gaps in records, such as the Baltimore lists, explains a lot. My discussion below comes from the wonderful book by Michael Tepper American Passenger Arrival Records (1993), pp. 83-85, www.genealogical.com A resource book worth consulting for all the ports.

Many early Baltimore passenger arrival records were destroyed in a fire. However, valuable information has been filled in by way of other transcripts or abstracts. Even with this as a positive, what you need to be aware in Irish immigrant research is there entire years which are missing. Among these are 1842, 1844, 1846, 1847, 1851-56, 1864 and 1867. Of course this is right before, during and after, peek Irish immigration.

Some of this information is supplemented by other sources such as City Lists or Quarterly Abstracts. However, don’t assume all information is duplicated. For a major port such as Baltimore, what you need to be aware of is that there are some substitutes, and this includes four categories:

*State Department Transcripts (1820, 1822-27, 1829)

*City Lists (1833-66)

*Quarterly Abstracts (1820-69)

*Original Lists (1820-91)

The Baltimore passenger arrival records are indexed on microfilm as well on Ancestry as “Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948, 1854-1957”: www.ancestry.com

Canadian Passenger Lists (1865-1935)

4 Jun By Dwight Leave a Comment

The Library and Archives of Canada in Ottawa: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html houses the passenger arrival lists beginning in 1865. This group of records has some 2.2 million arrivals. It has been indexed on www.ancestry.com as “Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935.” Microfilm is also available in Ottawa and at the Family History Library.

So what exactly is in this vast collection of passenger lists? From the Ancestry website, the following is listed as the sources:

Quebec Ports (May 1865–June 1908, June 1919–July 1921, April 1925–November 1935)
Montreal, Quebec (April 1925–November 1935)
Halifax, Nova Scotia (1881–October 1922, 1925–1935)
North Sydney, Nova Scotia (November 1906, August 1908–August 1922, 1925–1935)
Saint John, New Brunswick (1900–September 1922, 1925–1935)
Vancouver, British Columbia (1905–September 1922, 1925–1935)
Victoria, British Columbia and Pacific Ports (April 1905–September 1922, 1925–1935)
Eastern U.S. Ports (July 1905–February 1919, 1925–1928)
New York (1906–1921)

Information will include some of the following; name, age, gender, marital status, whether in Canada before, whether intending to reside in Canada, literacy, country of birth, race, destination, occupation, religious denomination, port of arrival, date of arrival, port of embarkation, ship name and shipping line.

Ships would sail from UK and Irish ports, with some immigrants first arriving at US ports, and then to Canada by ship. For passengers arriving in Eastern Canada, but bound for Western Canada, they would travel by train. The train lists were not recorded at that point.

While this is not the only set of arrival lists available for Canada, these are the major set of records. All else would be supplementary to this.

Canada to America Border Crossings

26 Apr By Dwight Leave a Comment

It was common for ancestors to arrive first in Canada and then come to the United States. That’s one aspect of immigration research. There is another aspect sometimes people don’t think about. This is that both Americans and Canadians went back and forth for any number of reasons. Sometimes we forget Irish had family members in any number of countries. In the case of North America, they could visit each other, and often they did.

This archive of records have been indexed and digitize in the database “Border Crossings: From Canada to the U.S., 1895-1956”: www.ancestry.com Don’t let the late date detour you away from this source. Quite the contrary if you think about it. You can have someone who emigrated from Ireland in the 1860s or 1870s, go visit family in either country by the 1890s or after the turn of the century. If they are entering the United States legally, they technically should appear on these border crossings.

The records will provide name, residence, relatives, birth places, age and point of entry. Remember, the border crossings are mainly, but not exclusively, points of entry across land. Points of entry stations were not consistent for the entire span of years. These include:

Idaho: Eastport

Maine: Bangor, Calais, Easton, Eastport, Fort Fairfield, Fort Kent, Houlton, Jackman, Lubec, Madawaska, Van Buren, Vanceboro

Massachusetts: Boston

Minnesota: International Falls, Baudette, Duluth, Mineral Center, Noyes, Pigeon River, Pine Creek, Roseau, Warroad

Montana: Babb, Chief Mountain, Cut Bank, Del Bonita, Gatweay, Great Falls, Roosville, Sweet Grass

New York: Alexandria Bay, Buffalo, Cape Vincent, Champlain, Clayton, Fort Covington, Hogansburg, Lewiston, Malone, Moers, Morristown, Niagara Falls, Nyando, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rooseveltown, Rouses Point, Thousand Island Bridge, Trout River, Waddington

North Dakota: Northgate, Pembina, St. John, Walhalla

Vermont: Newport, St. Albans

Washington: Anacortes, Danville, Ferry, Lynden, Laurier, Marcus, Metaline Falls, Northport, Oroville, Port Angeles, Sumas
I have successfully utilized this resource. Most of my success has come from researching people who were crossing the border decades after they had already emigrated from Ireland.

Leaving Ulster in the 1700s: The Newspaper Trail

25 Apr By Dwight Leave a Comment

One question I’m asked as a genealogist is about passengers lists leaving Ulster in the 1700s. Usually, the reference is for Scots-Irish research. The simple answer is they don’t exist! The more complex answer is some do if you think creatively. This doesn’t mean your ancestors were listed, but you do have a few resources when you normally would ignore the topic.

One source is the “letters of thanks” published in Ulster newspapers. Between 1737 and 1772 the major newspaper was the Belfast Newsletter which published notices regarding ships from ports throughout Ulster. During the 1700s the passengers on a ship customarily signed a “letter of thanks” to the ship’s captain for a good trip. This was basically free advertising for the captain.

John C. Greene’s Belfast Newsletter Index, 1737-1800 is online at the University of Louisiana Lafayette website: www.ucs.louisiana.edu/bnl/ This database indexes every significant word and date in the 20,000 surviving pages. There are some limitations. For example, only one-quarter of the newspaper survived from 1737-1750. Yet it is nearly complete from 1750-1800. The database contains 300,000 items of news and advertisements.

The same type of emigration material may be found in the Londonderry Journal,which began publication in 1772. This material and other items dating 1772 to 1784 were abstracted in Donald M. Schlegel’s Irish Genealogical Abstracts From the Londonderry Journal, 1772-1784 (Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield Company, 1990). This book is now a database: www.ancestry.com

My rule of thumb is to not expect to find a published passenger’s list from the 1700s, but when you do consider yourself very fortunate. This can open up many previously closed avenues for reconstructing your family history.

Passenger Lists Leaving Ireland and the UK (1890-1960)

24 Apr By Dwight Leave a Comment

I am often asked about passenger lists leaving ports in Ireland and the United Kingdom. These begin in 1890. However, this has to be placed in context.

If the people I am researching left Ireland prior to 1890, then you may not find them in a record leaving Ireland. However, consider many people or their children went back and forth. This was more common as families climbed the social ladder in their emigrant country. So you may find family members in these records.

When considering these records, remember, all of Ireland was part of the UK until 1921. After then the Northern Ireland ports only are part of the UK collection. The original records are housed at the National Archives at Kew, outside of London (cataloged as BT27). I remember using originals there several years ago. This amazing collection is now online as “Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960” at: www.findmypast.co.uk This is a pay for view website, and well worth your funds. It’s a professional and reputable website which I use all the time in my client research.

Which Irish ports are in this collection? The main ports where records were generated are Belfast, Dublin, Galway, Londonderry/Derry and Queenstown/Cobh. While ships were bound for ports worldwide, the majority were headed for Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.

This collection is well worth your time. Just make sure you place it in context and remember to look for people who may have gone back and forth.

The Coffin Ships

23 Apr By Dwight Leave a Comment

Coffin Ships” were infamous vessels which brought immigrants from Ireland to Canada (not America) during the Potato Famine (1845-52). These were death ships. The death rate could easily be 30% for some of these voyages. Although there was technically British regulation for passenger ship standards, these were often ignored by the shipping lines and the captains. British regulations were much better by 1867. The American shipping industry had tightly regulated standards.

The plight of the passengers was due to poor sanitation, overcrowding, lack of food and water. When people died, burial was at sea. The logical question is why people would take a British ship over an American bound ship. The answer was costs. The British ships were all these people could afford.

I took a tour of a reconstructed Coffin Ship known as the Dunbrody Famine Ship docked at New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland a few years back: www.dunbrody.com it’s a full scale reproduction of an 1845 sailing ship. I can still get the shivers. Then the tour guide described the crowded sleeping bunks. Someone on top bunk would get dysentery, and the sickness would run all the down to the bunks below. I understood!

I understood what these people went through, and caught a glimpse of what they became upon immigrating. So many valued education, were active in politics, and pushed their way up the social ladder. Perhaps, this is the real legacy of the Coffin Ships. The survivors clawed their way to become anything other than what they had been reduced to on the Coffin Ships.

I Can’t Find My Ancestor’s in the Passenger Arrival Lists

25 Mar By Dwight Leave a Comment

Since the North American Passenger Arrival Lists are scanned and indexed, you would think you would find your ancestors. These are on www.ancestry.com with some on other sites, such as www.ellisisland.org The point is, if you are like me, your still asking the question, “Which Mary Kelly is mine?” What a nightmare, because Mary Kelly’s are everywhere.

It’s important to remember, that unless a family came intact to North America, or has an unusual last name, then you may never know which Mary Kelly is yours! Frankly, as a professional genealogist, sometimes the passenger’s arrival lists are about the last source I consult.

The lists I am talking about are a nineteenth century creation. Ports kept records of ships and passengers arriving. Do not be mistaken, they are not always complete. The port of Baltimore is a well-documented example.

If I could offer a few helpful hints to this source, it would be the following:

The date of arrival as listed on a US citizenship paper may not be correct.
Many people came to Canada first, then boarded another ship to America.
Don’t expect ages in the lists to match exactly your ancestor’s age. Seriously, many Irish didn’t know how old they were anyway.

My advice on passenger’s lists is to keep them in perspective. Don’t expect too much when you are looking for my symbolic Mary Kelly. However, also do not close off the possibility you may actually find her. This is all part of typical Irish family research.

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