“Dreams
are voices of ancestors” –
African Saying
Whether your ancestors came over to America
from England aboard the Mayflower, or if they came twenty years ago, we all
come from those who have immigrated from other lands in search of a better life
and the American dream.
As a researcher, it is fascinating to think
about your ancestor leaving their homeland and the tough circumstances they
went through to have a better life.
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| Ellis Island website Home webpage |
The Ellis Island website (linked below) is a
great place to start searching for your immigrant ancestors. Over 65 million passenger records are housed on the website. The screenshot to
the right shows the homepage of the website. On the right hand side, you are
able to create a free account and perform a passenger search. You can enter the
name of your ancestor and choose whether the search results will bring back the
exact spelling or similar spellings. As with census records, some names have
been transcribed incorrectly, so I would recommend searching the exact name
first. If no results are returned, then search for similar spellings.
Another option on the website is to do a ‘ship
search’. If you know which ship that your ancestor
travelled on, you are able to search the name of the ship and find each
passenger manifest associated with the ship, along with information about the
vessel itself.
Passenger manifest records can be very valuable
to genealogy research. I was able to find my 2nd great-grandmother, Anna
Fedczak’s passenger record on the S.S Batavia, when she
immigrated in 1906. From the passenger manifest record, I found that she had
$10 when she immigrated and that she was going to live with her stepsister,
Maria Petryk, in Philadelphia, to be a handmaid (female servant). IF not for
the passenger manifest record, I would never have known about Anna going to
Philadelphia, or the existence of a stepsister.
I recommend starting with the Ellis Island website
to search for your immigrant ancestors. You never know what you may find out
about your family!
Ellis Island Website - https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/
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