In a message dated 98-10-27 12:02:34 EST, someone wrote: > I have just learned that the Church (LDS) now has a CD-ROM listing the > immigrants arriving at Ellis Island. I visited Ellis Island this past summer and they were very adamant that there was no master index of immigrants available anywhere. In fact, due to a fire many of the earliest registers have been destroyed (which is why my husband's grandfather immigration record no longer exists). I suspect this CD is a collection of the "roll of honor" -- lists of Ellis Island immigrants who were enrolled by descendants or relatives in return for a contribution made to the restoration project. > through this list I may at last be able to identify the parents of my great- > grandfather, John Francis Appleby, who was born on 23 May 1840 of parents just > recently arrived from England Even if the CDROM did contain a complete list of immigrants through Ellis Island, your ancestors would not be included. Ellis Island did not open as an immigration station until 1892. Certainly, there were millions of immigrants through New York prior to 1892, but they did not come through Ellis Island. Just prior to Ellis Island, the immigration station was at Castle Garden in Manhattan.