Passenger and Immigration Lists: New Orleans, 1820-1850
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Passenger lists are important primary sources of
arrival data for the vast majority of immigrants to the
United States in the nineteenth century. Indexed and
easy to search, this database includes extensive
arrival information on approximately 258,000 individuals
who arrived in New Orleans between 1820 and 1850.
Partly in an effort to alleviate overcrowding of passenger
ships, Congress enacted legislation (3 Stat. 489) on March
2, 1819 to regulate the transport of passengers in ships
arriving from foreign ports. As a provision of this act,
masters of such ships were required to submit a list of all
passengers to the collector of customs in the district in
which the ship arrived. The legislation also provided that
the collector of customs submit quarterly passenger list
reports to the Secretary of State, who was, in turn, required
to submit the information to Congress. The information
was then published in the form of Congressional documents.
These passenger lists are important primary sources of arrival
data for the vast majority of immigrants to the United States
in the nineteenth century.
