A Lou Alfano Tutorial On Immigration Passenger Lists
bobbybats
Perhaps this info from my hopmepage will shed a little
light:
INFORMATION ABOUT IMMIGRATION PASSENGER LISTS
There are basically two groups of New York arrival passenger
lists:
1. Those prepared for the Collector of Customs (1820 -
1897), and
2. Those prepared for the Commissioner of Immigration (1897
- 1957).
The Customs lists are only indexed up to 1846, after that
you must
either know the ship name and arrival date or "reel thru the
years"
until you find your ancestor. The Immigration lists are
indexed through
1948.
To be more precise, the Customs lists go through June 17,
1897, and the
Immigration lists begin with June 16, 1897.
My paternal great-grandparents all arrived between May of
1896 and March
of 1897, so they are on Customs lists. I found them by
diligent
"reeling" after getting some idea of their arrival year from
Census
records. My maternal grandparents arrived in 1902 and 1904,
and are thus
on Immigration lists.
The Customs Lists
The Customs lists of the late 1890s period have the
following columns:
1. No. - The passengers are listed numerically, I guess as
they got on
board.
2. Name in Full.
3. Age - Years, Months. - Months shown only for those under
a year old.
4. Sex.
5. Calling or Occupation.
6. Country of which they are Citizens. - For cabin
passengers.
7. Native Country. - For steerage passengers.
8. Intended Destination or Location, State or Territory.
9. State of Passengers other than Cabin whether Citizens of
the U.S.
10. Transient, In Transit, or intending protracted sojourn.
11. Location of Compartment or Space occupied forward,
amidships or aft.
12. Number of pieces of baggage.
13. Port of Embarkation.
14. Date and Cause of Death.
Notice that the information is not as extensive as on the
Immigration
lists (see below). The closest that you get to the home town
is the port
of embarkation (generally for Italians this was either Genoa
or Naples
or Palermo - not much help).
"Protracted sojourn" (abbreviated as P.S.) - coming for an
extended
visit - was the status for those immigrating.
The Immigration Lists
The Immigration Passenger Lists were more detailed. One day
I went to
the National Archives and was fortunate enough to be able to
get to use
one of the microfilm readers after a wait of only about 15
minutes. I
picked a random reel of passenger lists which turned out to
be from 1906
and made a copy of the pertinent part of the BACK of a page
(the side we
almost NEVER copy because it doesn't pertain specifically to
our "Nonno
Giuseppe").
The bulk of the instructions pertain to the definition of
"Race" for
Immigration Service purposes under the laws and regulations
in effect at
the time, and seem to indicate an official or bureaucratic
obsession
with "RACE-ism."
It might be worth remembering that at the time, the Civil
War was barely
over 40 years in the past, and that women couldn't yet
vote. Here's the
entire text transcribed for your information:
EXTRACT FROM DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND
LABOR
CIRCULAR NO. 43
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING ALIEN
MANIFESTS
The information returned on the manifest [Forms 500, 500
A,and 500 B],
so far as it relates to alien arrivals (including those in
transit and
tourists), should be made in accordance with the following
classifications. The number of the column on the manifest is
given in
these special instructions and is followed, in parentheses,
in all
cases up to and including column 16, by a descriptive title
indicating
briefly the subject to which it relates.
Column 3 (Age) - The return of age in column 3 should be
expressed in
years or months, the latter applying only to those under 1
year of age.
Column 4 (Sex) - The entry in column 4 should be either M
(male) or F
(female).
Column 5 (Married or single) - The entry in column 5 should
be either M
(married), S (single), Wd (widowed), or D (divorced).
Column 6 (Calling or occupation) - The entry in column 6
should describe
as accurately as possible the occupation, trade, or
profession of each
alien arrival, as for example: Civil engineer, stationery
engineer,
locomotive engineer, mining engineer, brass polisher, steel
polisher,
iron molder, wood turner, etc., and not simply as engineer,
polisher,
molder, turner, or other indefinite designations. A
distinction should
be made between farmers and farm laborers, regardless of the
amount of
money shown, as follows: A farmer is one who operates a
farm, either for
himself or others. A farm laborer is one who works on a farm
for the man
who operates it. Steamship companies should make this
distinction on the
manifests, and corrections should be made, if necessary, by
inspectors
and registry clerks, during the personal examination of
alien arrivals.
Column 7 (Able to read and write) - Column 7 is subdivided
and the
entries therein should be either Yes - Yes (can read and
write), No - No
(can neither read nor write), or Yes - No (can read but not
write).
Column 8 (Nationality) - Column 8 should be construed to
mean the
country of which immigrant is a citizen or subject.
Column 9 (Race or people) - The entry in column 9 should
showthe race or
people as given in list on reverse side of alien manifest.
Special
attention should be paid to the distinction between race and
nationality, and manifests should be carefully revised by
inspectors and
registry clerks in this regard. For instance, "France"
appearing on a
manifest does not necessarily mean "French" by race or
people, and
similarly "French" appearing on a manifest does not
necessarily mean
"France" by nationality. An alien who is Irish, German, or
Hebrew by
race might properly come under the heading of United Kingdom
or any
other country by nationality. In this connection the
following
distinctions should be especially observed:
Cuban - The term "Cuban" refers to the Cuban people (not
Negroes).
West Indian - "West Indian" refers to the people of the West
Indies
other than Cuba (not Negroes).
Spanish-American - "Spanish-American" refers to the people
of Central
and South America of Spanish descent.
African (black) - "African (black)" refers to the African
Negro, whether
coming from Cuba or other islands of the West Indies, North
or South
America, Europe, or Africa. Any alien whose appearance
indicates an
admixture of negro blood should be classified under this
heading.
Italian (north) - The people who are native to the basin of
the River Po
in northern Italy (i.e., compartments of Piedmont, Lombardy,
Venetia and
Emelia) and their descendants whether residing in Italy,
Switzerland
Austria-Hungary or any other country should be classed as
"Italian
(north)." Most of these people speak a Gallic dialect of the
Italian
language.
Italian (south) - The people who are native to the portion
of Italy
south of the basin of the River Po (i.e., compartments of
Liguria,
Tuscany, Marches, Umbria, Latium, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania,
Apulia,
Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and Sardinia) and their
descendants should
be classified as "Italian (south)."
Column 10 (Last residence) - The entry in column 10 should
show the
country, and city or town of last permanent residence,
instead of the
province, city, or town.
Column 11 (Final destination) - The entry in column 11
should show
definitely the place (city or town) of final destination.
Column 12 (Whether having a ticket to such final
destination)- The entry
in column 12 should be either Yes (ticket) or No (no
ticket).
Column 13 (By whom was passage paid) - the entry in column
13 should
show definitely by whom passage was paid, as self; husband,
father,
brother or other relative; friend; steamship company, etc.
Column 14 (Whether in possession of $50, and if less, how
much) - The
entry in column 14 should give in each case (individual or
family) the
exact amount of money shown.
Column 15 (Whether ever before in the United States; and if
so, when and
where) - The entries in column 15 should show whether or not
(Yes or No)
in the United States before; and if so, the year (or period
of years)
and place; as 1894-97, Philadelphia.
Column 16 (Going to join relative or friend; and if so, what
relative or
friend) - The entry in column 16 should show whether going
to join
either a relative or friend; and if so, what relative or
friend, with
name and complete address.
Columns 17 to 22 - The answers in these columns are subject
to revision
by any inspection officer in the examination of immigrants.
LIST OF RACES OR PEOPLES
African (black)
Armenian
Bohemian
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Chinese
Croatian
Cuban
Dalmatian
Dutch
East Indian
English
Finnish
Flemish
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Herzegovinian
Irish
Italian (North)
Italian (South)
Japanese
Korean
Lithuanian
Magyar
Mexican
Montenegrin
Moravian
Pacific Islander
Polish
Portuguese
Roumanian
Russian
Ruthenian (Russniak)
Scandinavian (Norwegians, Danes, and Swedes)
Scotch
Servian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Spanish-American
Syrian
Turkish
Welsh
West Indian
VIVA LA FAMIGLIA!!
Lou Alfano
alf...@erols.com
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1709/Alfano.htm
P.M. Anfiteatro wrote:
>
> Dear Cheryl,
> I did nothing special to obtain the information
posted....it was included
> in the information
> of the passenger list. It has been my experience that NOT
ALL PASSENGER
> LISTS ARE
> created equal. And your experience that your ggf's
passenger list only
> provides minimal
> information concurs with my statement. I'm just curious,
what ship did
> your ggfather
> come in on and what date? What kind of information does
your passenger list
> offer? I would be most interested.
>
> Ciao,
> Pamela, Pointer #1707
> p...@bestweb.net
>
> ----------
> > Dear Pamala,
> > I was scanning my PIE and saw that information about a
passenger. How did
> you
> > obtain it? I have my ggf passenger list (two pages of
it) and the
> infmormation
> > contained therein is minimal. Does not give any of the
information that
> you
> > stated.
> > I am unable to find where in Italy my ggf came from.
> > Ciao,
> > Cheryl
> >
Dan and Sharon
bobbybats
Remember that list of helpful sites I posted yesterday?
There was the best for New Orleans on it:
Bobbybats
Vitt
<012301c071c8$71fa4980$0200a8c0@sharonspc> ha scritto:
>How about some info on Immigration Passenger List to New Orleans????????????
Thank you for quoting 377 lines of the original message!
Everybody appreciated it.
--
Bye
Vitt