MyHeritage has Ellis Island Passenger Lists

MyHeritage announced that it has added Ellis Island and other New York passenger lists to its SuperSearch. It includes unique content that has never been seen before. Passenger lists are a good resource for genealogists who want to know exactly when their ancestor immigrated to the United States.

The Ellis Island and other New York Passenger Lists records are from 1820-1957. The collection contains millions of records of individuals arriving at the port of New York between 1820 and 1957. The collection includes individuals who arrived at three well-known immigrant processing stations: Castle Garden (1855-1890), the Barge Office (1890-1892) and Ellis Island (1892-1957).

MyHeritage points out that the primary immigration station between 1855 and 1890 was in New York City at Castle Garden. Later, the Barge Office was used as an immigration station. That started on April 19, 1890, and ended on December 31, 1891. The Barge Office was used again between June 15, 1897, and December 18, 1900. Both of these offices were located in Lower Manhattan.

Passenger lists may contain the following information: name, age, gender, occupation, dates, destination, physical descriptions, and information regarding place of origin (for example, native country), citizenship status, race, nationality, birthplace or address of family members and friends. The forms used to record all this information were standardized over time, and additional questions were added.

For example, starting in 1897, immigration officials started asking passengers for the name and address of the relative or friend whom they were joining in the USA. Beginning in 1907, they asked passengers for the name and address of their closest relative or friend in their home country. This information can be help genealogists to identify ancestors that they did not know about.

MyHeritage has made a change that will help genealogists who are searching passenger lists. They discovered that genealogists are generally able to find the first page of a passenger list that has their ancestor’s name on it – but fail to locate the second page of that list.

To fix this problem, MyHeritage has “stitched” the first and second pages together. Both will come up together in a search.

Genealogists can search the Ellis Island and New York Passenger Lists collection on MyHeritage for free. However, a subscription is required to view records and scanned images, and to access Record Matches.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* NYC-Ellis Island Photos–1902-1913

* Your Family Name Didn’t Change at Ellis Island

* ‘Peopling of America Center’ On Ellis Island