Steve Morse’s Ship-Lists Project

Steve Morse’s team of over 50 volunteers went through every one of the 3700 rolls of Ellis Island microfilms from 1892 to 1924. For each arrival they found, they recorded the roll, volume, frame, date, ship-name, and ports.

Now that it is complete, this is the first searchable list of every ship arrival along with links to the associated manifest pages. The list consists of a total of 84,000 ship arrivals.

The searchable list can be accessed by clicking on the “Ship-Lists” link in the Ellis Island section of Steve’s website at http://stevemorse.org/

Jewish Families

First American Jewish families: 600 Genealogies, 1654-1977. by Malcolm H Stern. Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1978.
Stern’s book contains family trees of Jewish families that arrived in the United States between 1654 and 1838.

• Not at UD
• Last published in 1991 and now out of print
• The American Jewish Archives has posted the entire text online
• Added an index you can browse or search by last name and optional first name
• Click on a name in the search results to see a digital image of the page on which the person appears

Ship Passenger List — Example

Peter Pfister or Pfester or Phister (Feaster) who was traveling with his son Jacob. Arrived in the Port of Philadelphia before the American Revolution. Go to:

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (PILI). 3 vols. and supp. Edited by P. William Filby. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1980.
Location: Morris Library – Reference (Ref CS68 .P36 1981 and CS68 .P362)

The most important source for ship and immigration list information. It is a name index to thousands of passenger lists which have been published in books or articles. Covers passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The cumulated supplements contain thousands of additional records:1982-85 Supplement, 4 vols.; 1986-1990, 3 vols.; 1991-1995, 3 vols.; 1996-2000, 3 vols.; 2001-2005, 3 vols. Use the index and supplements to identify a published source. Then use DELCAT to see if the source is available in this library. Note: the UD Library does not receive the annual supplements.

Vol. 3, in the First edition, found:

• Pfister, Jacob n.a; Philadelphia, Pa, 1754 9041 p611, p613
• Phister, Jacob 22; Philadelphia, Pa, 1754 9041 p609
• Phister, Peter 46; Philadelphia, Pa, 1754 9041 p609

n.a. = no age; Port of arrival; Year of arrival; Number designating published source; Page

Consulting the list of sources, 9041 is

Strassburger, Ralph Beaver. Pennsylvania German Pioneers; A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808. By Ralph Beaver Strassburger. Edited by William John Hinke. Norristown, Penn.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1934.
Location: Morris Library F 146 .P45 v.42-44

The ship was named Brothers.

In Strassburger, I found 3 different lists for the ship Brothers in 1754.

• List A: kept by the captains of ships;
• List B: signers of the oath of allegiance;
• List C: signers of the oath of abjuration. p. viii.
• Sometimes the captains give the total number of freights, children being counted as “half freights.” p. xxiii
• Ship Brothers lists 7 Roman Catholicks, 23 Mennonites, 250 Souls, 210 Freights. 101 Qualified. [From the] Palatinate & Mentz. p. 612.
• Note: “Qualified” indicates the number of adult males who signed the oaths.

Additionally, I found that someone had transcribed the lists and posted them on the Internet.
3 Lists from Brothers, 1754

Ships / Immigration

Sources for Learning about Immigration Records

“Passenger List Launch—70 Million Names from U.S. Ports Added.” Ancestry Daily News 11/1/2006

“Rediscovering Passenger Lists.” Ancestry Magazine Vol. 19 No. 6, November/December 2001.

The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing Company, 1997. Location: Morris Library – Reference (Ref CS49 .S65 1997) See pages 441-519.

Finding Immigration Records

Library Research Guides: Naturalizations and Passenger Lists

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (PILI). 3 vols. and supp. Edited by P. William Filby. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1980.
Location: Morris Library – Reference (Ref CS68 .P36 1981 and CS68 .P362)

The most important source for published ship and immigration list information. It is a name index to thousands of passenger lists which have been published in books or articles. Covers passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The cumulated supplements contain thousands of additional records:1982-85 Supplement, 4 vols.; 1986-1990, 3 vols.; 1991-1995, 3 vols.; 1996-2000, 3 vols.; 2001-2005, 3 vols. Use the index and supplements to identify a published source. Then use DELCAT to see if the source is available in this library. Note: the UD Library does not receive the annual supplements.

Ships & Passenger Lists (Cyndi’s List)