Your grandparents were very clear about it in the stories told around the family table. Your ancestors came in through Ellis Island. As my grandpa told it, it was true—partially. His father did indeed come through Ellis Island, but that wasn’t his first arrival. On his first trip to America, he arrived at the Port of Baltimore alongside his future brother-in-law. His second trip took him through Ellis Island a few months later, with four other men from his hometown in Hungary, all destined to work in the coal mines of southeastern Ohio.
In several other cases I’ve worked on, I’ve heard the Ellis Island story, but in reality, the arrival ended up being before the famous immigration port was opened, or the arrival in question was through a completely different port.
As the famed entry to the United States within sight of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island has unsurprisingly made its way into many family stories. An estimated forty percent of Americans can indeed trace our ancestry to at least one immigrant entry at Ellis Island, which operated from 1892 to November, 1954 (with the exception of a few years when it was closed due to a fire). But there were many ports of entry—by sea and by land—through which our ancestors arrived.
Prior to the opening of Ellis Island when the federal government centralized control of immigration through the Immigration Act of 1891, immigrants arriving through the port of New York were processed through Castle Garden. Other major ports on the East Coast—not to mention crossings from Canada and Mexico—also formed paths that different branches of our family may have traveled on their way to becoming Americans.
Where your ancestors ended up and when can provide clues to how they arrived in the US. In 1852, the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad’s expansion connected Baltimore to Wheeling, Virginia. This made Baltimore an attractive arrival port for immigrants destined for the midwestern states.
Boston and Philadelphia were other popular northeastern ports that took in large numbers of immigrants. Some settled in those same cities, while others used them as a launching point for points further west.
Philadelphia’s port is unique in that it’s located 100 miles from the Atlantic. Still, more than 1.3 million immigrants made the sometimes hazardous journey around Cape May, New Jersey, up the Delaware River to the port between 1815 and 1895.
The port at New Orleans was attractive financially at times, as exports of cotton and other agricultural products left the South for Europe, and captains offered cheaper passage rates on the return trip to the US. While it was a longer sea route south and around Florida to New Orleans, from there it was easy passage to the interior provided by the Mississippi River.
The port at Galveston, Texas, and other nearby Gulf ports welcomed Scandinavian and German immigrants during the 1830s and 1840s. Later, in the early 1900s, groups of Jewish refugees escaping Russian pogroms arrived in the US via Galveston.
West coast ports welcomed arrivals from Asia and the Pacific Islands, as well as some hardy souls who braved the hazardous water routes from European and other eastern American ports. One route took passengers around the treacherous Cape of Good Hope, while some skilled captains chose to navigate the narrow passages of the Straits of Magellan to get to the Pacific. Another pre-Canal route took travelers to Panama, where they disembarked and traveled by canoe and by foot through the danger-frought Panamanian jungle.
However they arrived, your ancestors’ journey is worth remembering. Passenger arrival lists survive for most ports, as well as other records. Commercial entities like Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FindMyPast have robust immigration collections, and most of these records are also available for free on websites like FamilySearch and EllisIsland.org.
Prior to 1820, ships weren’t required to keep manifests, and any lists that have survived from the earlier years are scattered and not uniform in nature. Look to publications that may have compiled lists from a particular area, time period, or ethnic group.
After 1820, lists were kept, but they were not very detailed. Information provided typically included ports and dates of departure, the ship and captain’s name, immigrants’ names, ages, occupation, and country of origin. Sometimes you’ll see births and deaths on board noted.
Following the Immigration Act of 1891, forms began being standardized and they included more information, with new details added throughout the 1890s and early 1900s.
When searching for your ancestor’s arrival record, try to narrow the time frame using other records and timelines as reference. Gathering as much information as you can on this side of the pond. For more tips on locating arrival records, see the March Upfront article in “Finding Irish Origins.”
