Passenger lists

Ellis Island - New York 1892-1924
Castle Garden - New York 1820-1913
Massachussetts 1848-1891
Worldwide 1890-1960 (Free to search then pay-to-view)
The Ships List - Worldwide Transcribed lists 1760-1917
Immigrants Ships Transcribers Guild - Worldwide Passenger Lists
Galway to New York 1851
Quebec 1906-1910
The Titanic - 1912
The Mayflower - 1620

Wherever they travelled to and from, whatever their reasons, and whatever the regulations (if any) in force at the time, the majority of voyages were recorded, in one way or another.

There are 3 types of passenger records, but in practice, very often just 1 list served all 3 requirements:

Passenger Departure Lists - customs officials were obliged to keep records of persons leaving the UK.
Ships Manifests - shipping companies kept a list, called a manifest, recording passengers, crew, and often cargo. Manifests were made up from booking records, and their purpose was to ensure that only fare-paying passengers boarded.
Passenger Arrival Lists - Immigration officials at ports of entry required lists of passengers before allowing them to disembark. There were strict conditions to be met before immigrants were allowed to enter a country. These lists are considered the most accurate - if immigrants didn't meet the criteria, they would be returned to the home countries at the expense of the shipping companies.

What information will I find on the lists?

In the early days passenger lists consisted of not much more than names, ages, country of origin and country of destination.

Over time the information required by immigration authorities grew, and by the early 20th Century would include age, physical description, marital status, purpose of visit, the address they were going to, the address they had left in their home countries, and more - a substantial amount of information for family researchers to feast on.

America

There are over 300 ports of entry in the US, some receiving a mere handful of immigrants, others receiving many millions.

By far the most popular choice of destination was New York, followed by Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

In 1790, the year of the first US Census, 80% of the American population lived in and around these major sea ports, most people choosing to settle close to where they had ended their long and arduous voyage.

The choice of port depended on a number of things. The price of passage was often a major consideration - during the height of the Irish Potato Famine Boston was a favourite destination for the Irish immigrants because passage there was relatively cheap.

For travellers headed for the mid-West during the mid-19th Century, Baltimore became the port of choice following the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and the relatively fast links to the major mid-Western cities.

It wasn't compulsory to keep Passenger Arrivals Lists until 1820, when Congress required the regulation of transport of passengers in ships arriving from foreign ports. The legislation was introduced in part to control the overcrowding of ships, but ultimately was used for statistical purposes for immigration control.

All ports after 1820 had some kind of immigration station, but the best known, and the busiest, were those of New York - Castle Garden, and Ellis Island.

Castle Garden

Situated at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, Castle Garden was originally built as a fort during the 1812 war, and has also seen life as an opera house, beer garden, exhibition hall and theatre.

Prior to 1855 immigrants were dropped at the docks over a 3-mile stretch of the Hudson River bank, and because of the size of the area it was difficult to inspect, control and protect them from thieves.

It was clear that a processing station was needed, and despite objections from nearby residents, Castle Garden was eventually established as the first immigration processing centre on 1st August 1855, processing more than 8 million immigrants until 1890, when it finally closed its doors, unable to cope with the increasing numbers of people passing through.

For the following year immigrants were processed through the Barge Office, a temporary measure, until Ellis Island was ready to take over where Castle Garden left off.

Ellis Island

On 1st January 1892 Ellis Island, just outside of New York harbour, became the major processing centre for immigrants to America, and from its opening until 1954 (its closure) saw 12 million people pass through its gateway.

As ships docked in the harbour, tugs were sent to bring the passengers to Ellis Island where they were interviewed and held until relatives or friends came to collect them.

At its height, Ellis Island was processing 30,000 immigrants each week.

Immigrants could find board and lodging on the island, receive medical attention, use the services of interpreters if required, were afforded protection from theft, and were generally looked after.

More than 98% of arrivals to Ellis Island passed immigration. Those considered dangerously ill, or undesirable, were returned to their homes at the expense of the shipping company that brought them.

Why did Ellis Island close?

In 1924 The National Origins Act was introduced, and immigration to America was drastically reduced. Foreigners had to go to US consulates to apply for immigrant visas before travelling, and revisions to the Origins Act reduced immigration to a trickle. There was no longer a need for a processing centre, and in 1954 it was finally closed.

Today, Ellis Island is being restored as a monument to the millions of people who passed through. In 1990 the Immigration Museum was opened, and projects are underway to restore some of the buildings that have fallen into disrepair, to create the site as the 'American Family Immigration History Centre' and the 'American Immigrant Wall of Honour'.