During the 1800s, passenger lists served as a crucial source of information concerning the arrival of immigrants to the United States. New York’s port was particularly popular among Irish, German, and Italian immigrants during the mid-1800s. This database, which is easily searchable and indexed, contains information about roughly 1.6 million individuals who arrived in New York between January 7, 1820, and December 31, 1850.
If you’re interested in learning more about your family’s history, you might find it helpful to check out the passenger lists from New York’s port during the mid-1800s. This database contains information about roughly 1.6 million individuals who arrived in New York between January 7, 1820, and December 31, 1850, and can provide valuable insights into your ancestors’ journey to America. The information for this database was compiled from the National Archives Microfilm Series, rolls 1 through 95, which cover different periods and record different kinds of information. Using this database in conjunction with other resources, you can begin to create a more complete picture of your family’s immigration story.
In 1819, Congress passed a law (3 Stat. 489) to regulate passenger transport on foreign ships arriving in the United States. The main purpose was to prevent overcrowding on these ships. The law required shipmasters to submit a list of all passengers to the local customs collector upon arrival. Additionally, every three months, the collector had to send passenger list reports to the Secretary of State, who would then forward the information to Congress. Most immigrants in the 1800s used the published congressional documents that contained this information to learn about their arrival in America.
On May 7, 1874, Congress passed a bill abolishing a law requiring collectors to send passenger list copies to the Secretary of State. Instead, they were only required to send statistical reports on passenger arrivals to the Department of the Treasury.
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