-----Original Message----- From: baden-wurttemberg-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:baden-wurttemberg-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Jane Glaser Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 7:21 PM Subject: Re: [BW] Immigration Records Thanks, Tonia for that information. Also, if they came to America in 1832, where would they have landed? I think Ellis Island didn't open until 1892, so there must have been another place to go. Thanks so much Jane ======================================= Dear Jane & Baden-Wuerttemberg List Friends, In response to Jane Glaser's question above, I am sharing below excerpts of an earlier BW List message of mine on this subject from 2004. Before venturing into that discussion, allow me to offer a link for some excellent, step-by-step help available online (free) in getting into passenger arrival record research. Have a look at: Arnie Lang's Immigration, Ships' Passenger Lists & Naturalization Research Guide http://home.att.net/~arnielang/shipgide.html And now, for my earlier message below. [Please note that I am neither an expert on immigration/passenger record research nor a professional genealogist or researcher. I am simply sharing information I gathered on my own in the course of researching my European ancestors from Germany, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine to the United States and Canada. Other than the general information presented below, I lack the additional knowledge or resources to answer individual questions or guide someone's personal research efforts. :-) ] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As you research your ancestors' immigration to the U. S., it is wise to be aware that passenger arrival records are NOT filed according to which *processing facility* served an immigrant, but by the *port city* in which the immigrant arrived. The places called Castle Garden and Ellis Island were BOTH *immigrant processing facilities* serving the U. S. port city of New York. The knowledge that an ancestor was processed through Castle Garden or Ellis Island upon arrival is certainly helpful in a general sense, but does not have an impact on where to locate arrival records for research (except to confirm that a person arrived at the port of New York, as opposed to another port). The Castle Garden immigrant processing facility in New York was the *predecessor* to the more famous Ellis Island. Here are a few historical facts on both of these separately-located facilities. For U. S. immigrants arriving *PRIOR* to 1855, there was no official reception *facility.* Until Castle Garden was ready to receive them starting in 1855, disembarking passengers were permitted to leave the ships directly into the Manhattan wharf area where the ships docked. "Castle Garden" was the name given to a circular, fortress-like building located on the tip of Manhattan Island, in an area known as "the Battery." It had originally been a military station some years prior to its conversion to an immigration processing facility, which received its first immigrants 1 August 1855. It continued to receive and process immigrants arriving in the port of New York until mid-April, 1890. >From 19 April 1890 until 31 December 1891, immigrant processing and reception was temporarily transferred to the New York Barge Office, until the newly-built Ellis Island, situated separately within New York Harbor, opened its doors on 1 January 1892. (The Barge Office again temporarily fulfilled this task from 14 June 1897 through 16 December 1900, due to a fire which burned the new, wooden Ellis Island structure to the ground on 14 June 1897.) A more fire-resistant Ellis Island was rebuilt over this 3-year hiatus and reopened 17 December 1900. It officially ceased operations in 1954. Today, the facility at Ellis Island has been completely restored and is open to the public as a historical site. REGARDLESS of the specific *processing facility* through which your ancestor passed, the *research source* for arrival records concerning them is the same. Surviving passenger arrival records can be researched on microfilm made available at the U.S. National Archives (NARA) branches, and in many cases at the LDS (Mormon) Family History Library branches. In other words, whether your ancestor was processed through the port of New York at Castle Garden or Ellis Island, or arrived at another port on the East coast altogether, you would still look for available records on these arrivals through NARA and the LDS Library. To get into more detailed passenger arrival record research, you need to know (or take a reasonable guess about) the specific U. S. port at which your ancestor arrived---on the East coast, these were usually New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore (MD)---and have an approximate date of arrival in mind in order to undertake a search of the records. The arrival records are filed *according to port and in chronological order* by date of arrival. Also keep in mind that immigrants could have arrived at many different port locations in the United States and IN CANADA---not just at New York or other ports on the East coast of the U. S. However, the records for these other ports would still be found at NARA or the LDS FHL. For those who believe their immigrant ancestors landed at the port of New York and were processed at ELLIS ISLAND (1892 and later), you might visit the American Family History Immigration Center Web site at: http://www.ellisisland.org/ and try your luck at an online passenger search. (Note that the data made available at the above site is NOT comprehensive or exhaustive, but it's worth a shot at a search or two. In my own use of the site, I didn't find the family members I was seeking, but found out about others of whom I had not been aware---a nice bonus!) Hope this information is helpful. Good luck! Always wishing you the best family research success, Carla HELLER, Los Angeles, California USA mscarlah@earthlink.net List Co-Administrator, ROOTSWEB's Baden-Wuerttemberg Mailing List