I would like to take this opportunity to make an observation about name changes, as the claim has been made that no names were changed at Ellis Island. Since most of the Ellis Island records are manifests, it is probably true that few if any names were changed "at Ellis Island"; - however, as I have observed some of the manifests were not completely legible, and some names spelled as they were pronounced by persons who may not have been familiar with that ethnicity, lastly some of the travelers may have been illiterate. This may not mean that names were not changed, but simply not at Ellis Island. Just as I have found some Matkovic transcribed as Malkovic, or vice-versa in the online data. Human error exists, and in the case of our family surname, originally Matkovic - now Mothkovich, it takes an open and curious mind, sometimes the willingness to be relentless in the pursuit of your ancestor. It is always a pleasure to read the various comments submitted, but I think there are two rules I follow which generally hold true, always is never the truth, and never is not always true either. Better to say probably or generally than never or always. Hope I haven't confused anyone here. Dave M. searching for Bakic, Matkovic and Vuksic On Thu, 16 May 2002 11:13:39 -0400 "Jackie (nee Adamowicz)" <wordsmith@att.net> writes: > I'm sure a lot of you get the e-newsletter from Family History > Magazine. > But this article stuck out as something that might be of interest to > the > members of the list. > Especially the mention of those immigrants who were detained for > whatever > reason. > My Polish grandfather was detained for eight days because he was > just a few > months shy > of the minimum age of 16 (to emigrate alone). I hadn't been able to > find > his exact manifest and > used the "missing manifests" website to page through all the > documents for > my grandfather's > particular ship. I did find him on the listing, and also on the > list of > detained individuals. > From that I also discovered the name of his brother, who apparently > had to > come from Ohio to get him. > The detained list was at the front of the group of documents for my > > grandfather's ship. This article also > indicates it could be at the end. > > Name Changes at Ellis Island > Q: Were names actually changed by immigration officials at Ellis > Island? > A: No documented case proves that any immigrant's name was changed > by Ellis > Island officials. The passenger lists were prepared at the port of > departure, using the papers the emigrant provided. The blank lists > were > provided to the shipping lines by the United States and were to be > filled > in as the passengers boarded the ship. Names were copied from the > documents > carried by the emigrants. On board the ship the officials were > required to > document any births or deaths that occurred during the passage. Once > the > ship arrived in New York harbor, the first-class and cabin > passengers > disembarked at a pier, and the steerage passengers were transported > by > ferry to Ellis Island (or Castle Garden, depending on the time > frame) for > processing. Numerous pictures of immigrants who had slips of paper > bearing > numbers attached to their clothing appear in the many books on > immigration. > These numbers corresponded to the list number that the immigrant > appeared > on. Officials asked the same questions that were asked when the > passengers > boarded the ship. The officials were instructed merely to verify the > > answers and had no need to write any names down—they were already > recorded > on the list. > If an immigrant appeared to be ill or of questionable character, was > a > woman traveling alone, or perhaps gave different answers than what > was > recorded on the list, she might have been detained. Her name would > have > been transcribed onto the list of detained passengers, usually at > the end > of the passenger list (for New York records only), and a record of > all > inquiries regarding that individual was maintained. A woman > traveling alone > was detained until a male relative showed up to get her. Many times > the > detained passenger list states the name and relationship of that > male > relative; in such instances you will have even more information. > > Best wishes, > Jackie > > Researching: > ~~~~~~~Poland~~~~~~~ > ADAMOWICZ - BANASZEK - BURDA > CHOJNACKI / HOJNACKI > MIKULSKI / MIKOLSKY > CIEBIEN~ - MAZIK - KROL / KRUL > ~~~~~~~Croatia~~~~~~~ > OCVIRAK / OCVIREK - SNEPERGER > >