Down to the Sea in Ships: How did They Get Here? by Bev & Ken Rees

1. Down to the Sea in Ships: How did They Get Here? by Bev & Ken Rees

2. Agenda • Some definitions • Arrival Records • Departure Records • Ship’s Logs and Company Records • Printed and Secondary Sources • Research tips and Strategies

4. What is a Ship's Passenger List? • A ship’s passenger list is a list of passengers and crew on a particular ship. • A ship’s passenger list substitute is a list of passengers and crew on a particular ship reconstructed from other sources.

5. The Migration Process • Obtain permission to leave • Travel to the port of departure • Obtain passage • Travel to the destination port (may have been several stops) • Obtain permission to enter

6. Travel Document

7. Types of Ship's Passenger Lists • Records kept at the port of departure • Records kept at the port of arrival • Records kept at ports of call along the route • Records kept by shipping companies

8. Arrival Records • Canada • United States

9. Some Statistics

10. Canada • Halifax, Nova Scotia (1881–1935) • Saint John, New Brunswick (1900–1935) • Sydney, Nova Scotia (1906–1935) • Quebec and Montreal, Quebec (1865–1935) • Vancouver, British Columbia (1905–1935) • Victoria, British Columbia (1905–1935) • via New York (1906–1931) • via Eastern US Ports (1905–1928)

11. Canadian Immigration History • Prior to 1865, there was no requirement to retain ship’s passenger lists. • Passenger lists were generated but in general were not retained. • Therefore, no organized collection of lists exist in Canada prior to 1865. • There are scattered and limited lists for individual ports and individual ships.

12. Library and Archives Canada • Library and Archives Canada is responsible for preserving all records of national importance. • http://www.collectionscanada.ca/

14. Provincial Sources (all periods) • Some provincial archives hold material that relate to ship’s lists. • Usually, these will be a type of ship’s list substitute. • Some of this material may be useful in determining date and port of arrival. • http://www.collectionscanada.ca/genealogy/022-802-e.html

15. Canada Prior to 1865 • French Regime • British Regime

16. French Regime • French Colonial Records Passenger Lists • 1717–1760 • 1786 • Colonial Archives At Library and Archives Canada

17. British Regime • Miscellaneous Immigration Index • From British Isles • To Quebec and Ontario • 1801–1849 • Irish Assisted Immigration to Peterborough early 1820s

18. Canada 1865-1919, 1925-1935 • ‘Large sheet’ ship’s manifests • Fairly complete • Arranged by port and date of arrival • Library and Archives Canada (microfilm) • Filmed in 1949, but not up to today’s standards

19. Canada 1919 to 1924 • Individual Form 30a • Various ports changed to/from Form 30a at various times • Microfilmed • Arranged in ‘quasi-alphabetical’ order

20. Early Canadian Ship’s List Contents • Name • Age • Sex • Country of origin • Occupation • Place of destination

21. ‘Large Sheet’ and Form 30A Contents • Name of ship • Date of sailing • Port and date of arrival • Name • Age • Occupation

22. ‘Large Sheet’ and Form 30A Contents continued. . . . . . • Birthplace • Race • Citizenship • Religion • Destination • Name of the nearest relative in the country from which the immigrant came.

23. Canada Form 30A

24. Canada RG 76

25. Finding Aids - Canada • French Regime - http://www.collectionscanada.ca/genealogy/022-908.002.01-e.html • Colonial Records -http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/020112_e.html • RG 76 - http://www.collectionscanada.ca/genealogy/022-908.003.02-e.html

26. Library and Archives Canada

27. Specific Search

28. Results

29. Armenia arriving in Halifax 1903

30. Indices - Canada • British Regime - http://www.ingeneas.com/ • Quebec City (1865–1869) - http://www.collectionscanada.ca/genealogy/022-908.003.01-e.html • Halifax (1881–1882) - http://www.collectionscanada.ca/genealogy/022-908.003-e.html • On-line database - RG76 -(1925-1935) - http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/020118_e.html

32. But There are So Few Canadian Indexes! • Pressure our government for more funding <smile> • Volunteer to transcribe, index, abstract, or extract some of the many ship’s lists available from LAC or other sources • Visit http://www.immigrantships.net/ (The Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild)

33. But There are So Few Canadian Indexes! continued. . . . . . • Many, many ships have been partially or fully transcribed. Start to gather links to those you find while searching the web. • Start a new project (see http://www.afhs.ab.ca/registry/index.html) • Cooperate with others in indexing the existing transcriptions.

34. US Immigration History • Prior to 1820, there was no requirement to document immigrants into the United States. • Between 1820 and 1891, the Bureau of Customs was tasked with keeping such records – the Customs Passenger Lists. • After 1891, the Immigration and Naturalization Service kept Immigrant Passenger Lists.

35. National Archives and Records Administration • The US National Archives and Records Administration (similar to Library and Archives Canada) is charged with the custody and preservation of records of national import. • http://www.archives.gov/

37. Customs Passenger Lists • Prepared in duplicate on board. • One copy was filed by the master with collector of customs. • Other copy was kept with the ship’s papers. • Copies and abstracts sent to the Secretary of State • Transcriptions of the copies were also made.

38. Customs Passenger List Contents • Name • Age • Sex • Occupation • Nationality • Destination country

39. Immigrant Passenger Lists • Immigrant passenger lists were kept by the Immigration and Naturalization authorities (and their predecessor organizations). • They contained basically the same information as the old Customs passenger lists. • The amount of information was increased as time went on.

40. Immigrant Passenger Lists Contents • Name • Age • Sex • Occupation • Nationality • Destination country

41. Immigrant Passenger Lists Contents continued. . . . . . • (after 1882) native country, local destination, • (after 1891) last residence, • (after 1893) marital status, if joining a relative and if so name, address, and relationship, amount of money, health and social conditions, • (after 1903) race, • (after 1907) physical description.

43. Titanic Survivors Filed by mistake with June 12, 1912 arrivals. (The “Carpathia” rescued these survivors)

44. Records Before 1820 • Are not filed nationally • May be filed at the Port of Entry • May be called ship’s cargo manifests • Consult the state archive for additional information -http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/state-archives.html • Except….

45. Records Before 1820 continued. . . . . . • Arrivals at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1813-1819 • Arrivals at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1800-1819

46. United States Major Ports • Galveston, Texas (1846–1948) • New Orleans, Louisiana (1820–1900) • Baltimore, Maryland (1820–1948) • New York, New York (1820–1938) • Boston, Massachusetts (1820–1943) • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1800–1945) • Others (many others)….

47. Finding Aids • By port - http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/passenger-arrival.html#film

48. Galveston Indexes • 1844 – 1848 - http://www.tsm-elissa.org/immigration-login.htm • 1846 – 1871 – Ancestry.com • 1896 – 1952 – NARA microfilm

49. New Orleans Indexes • 1853 – 1899 - NARA microfilm • 1900 – 1952 – NARA microfilm • 1820 – 1850 – Ancestry.com

50. Baltimore Indexes • 1820 – 1897 – NARA microfilm • 1833 – 1866 – NARA microfilm city lists • 1897 – 1952 – NARA microfilm