How to find Immigration Records

1. Where Did They Come From?
Where Did They Go?

3. • Nearly every American can trace their
ancestors to a foreign land
• Between 1607 to the present 35 to 50
million have entered the this country
• Most entered through the US ports:
Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, New
York City, Philadelphia, Minor ports, If
they entered legally there should be a
paper trail

4. • PERSON’S NATIONALITY/PLACE OF BIRTH
• SHIP NAME AND DATE OF ENTRY TO THE US
• AGE, HEIGHT, HAIR AND EYE COLOR
• PROFESSION
• PLACE OF LAST RESIDENCE
• NAME AND ADRESS OF FAMILY THEY ARE JOINING IN THE
US
• AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY ARE CARRYING, ETC.
• NAMES OF PARENTS
• PASSPORT PHOTOGRAPHS!

5.  In ARCHIVES.GOV Access to Archival Databases (AAD), there are 604,596
persons listed who arrived in the Port of New York, from 1846-1851.
In the AAD, under Browse by Category, choose Genealogy/Personal History,
then select the database Records for Passengers Who Arrived at the Port of
New York During the Irish Famine, created, 1977 - 1989, documenting the
period 1/12/1846 - 12/31/1851.
 Castle Garden (http://www.castlegarden.org/) has an online searchable
database of 10 million immigrants from 1830 through 1892, the year Ellis
Island opened. From 1855 to 1890, Castle Garden was America's first official
immigration center.
 Ellis Island has an online searchable database of 22.5 million arrivals to
New York between 1892 - 1924. https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/
 Ancestry.com has indexed the New York Passenger Lists by ships arriving
to New York from foreign ports from 1820 - 1957. Ancestry is a subscription-
based database, but it is available for free public use at all National Archives
facilities and many public libraries.

10. Why did they leave?

18. United States

23. CastleGarden.org is an educational project of The Battery Conservancy.
This free site offers access to an extraordinary database of information on
11 million immigrants from 1820 through 1892, the year Ellis Island
opened. More than 100 million Americans can trace their ancestors to this
early immigration period.
Castle Garden, today known as Castle Clinton National Monument, is the
major landmark within The Battery, the 25 acre waterfront park at the tip of
Manhattan. From 1855 to 1890, the Castle was America's first official
immigration center, a pioneering collaboration of New York State and New
York City.