Do you want the passenger lists? Sound methodology of research is to work back in time. Thus, the arrival (which has better records anyway) is the place to look. Because passenger lists are arranged by port and then chronologically, it's important to know when and where your ancestor arrived. This information can usually be found on Naturalization Records after 1906. The U.S. Federal Census (see National Archives) for 1900, 1910 and 1920 lists the year of immigration, and 1920 lists the year of Naturalization. National Archives staff in Washington. DC, will search the immigration passenger lists up to 1954 if there is an index and if an inquirer can give the full names and ages of the passenger and of accompanying passengers, the port of entry, the vessel, and exact date of arrival. Philadelphia Index starts in 1800, Baltimore, Boston etc. in 1820. New York is indexed for 1820-1847 and after 1897. If the passenger list is not indexed you must supply either the exact date of arrival or the name of the ship on which the person arrived in addition to the facts listed above. Requests for searches should be made on NATF Form 81, Order for Copies of Ship Passenger Arrival Records. You can obtain the NATF Form 81 by providing your name and mailing address [email protected] Be sure to specify "Form 81" and the number of forms you need. The fee is $10.00, payable only when the requested records are found. If the records cannot be found, no payment is required. You can do-it-yourself at the local Family History Centers. The FHL has acquired 99% of National Archives passenger records. There are Family History Centers scattered throughout the world, located in the LDS meeting-houses. The FHCs are generally listed in the local phonebook under Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with its own phone number. In some communities, Family Search is in the local public library. No charge is made for using the resources at the local FHC except for a rental fee for microfilm from the Family History Library in Salt Lake. No proselytizing is allowed in the FHC. Go to these urls for more information online. http://www.firstct.com/fv/lds1.html http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/immigration/immigrat.html NARA Record Group Number, Microfilm Publication Number and Roll Number of the film that you want. This information is available at the NARA web site at: http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/immigrant/rg85.html - for years after ca1891 Not all persons who entered the United States appear on the available passenger lists. Some lists were lost. Some ship captains probably did not record all passengers on the lists for one reason or another. Indexers do not always spell names correctly, often because the original version of the name was illegible. Since no index is 100% accurate, the only way to be certain whether or not a name is in the actual record is to search the record itself. Go to these urls for Frequently Asked Questions about passenger lists. http://www.buffnet.net/~mewexler/shipsfaq.txt http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/faq.html#Passenger Here is the url for The National Archives, with links to information available on all ports and the appropriate microfilm series. http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/immigrant/immpass.html#portindex Visit the Research Guide to Immigration and Ships Passenger Lists at: http://home.att.net/~arnielang http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlwat/hist.htm is a discussion of passenger lists. Ellen [email protected]