Well, Diane is certainly correct that Ellis Island was not a processing station in 1880. However, NY was a very busy port and LOTS of immigrants went through that port in the 1880s. In fact, last year I found a passenger list for a friend of mine whose family settled in the same area as Houtzdale, and they did indeed come through NY in, I believe, 1884. We found them via the Hamburg indexes. By all means, check Philadephia, since there is an index. But don't rule out NY. Jill > >Casmer Swidersky went from Poland to Houtzdale, PA in 1880. I found him in > >1910 census. > >Trying to trace him back to Poland (Poznan I think) > >If he came through Ellis Island, and was Naturalized where do I find the > >paperwork? Ellis Island? INS? In the county he lived? > > He probably did not come through Ellis Island, which didn't become a > processing station until the late 1890's. If he ended up in > Pennsylvania, I'd look in the Passenger Index for Philidelphia. > > Naturalization often takes place years after immigration. The > paperwork will most likely reside in the county court that he lived in > at the time. > > >Are there pther documents I might look for to helptrace him to Poland and > >find his parents? > >Marriage license? Death certificiate? SS# (not sure if he had one) > > Marriage licenses sometimes have parent's names. Death Certificate > might as well. The SS-5 will definitely. You can write to the SSA to > have them search their records, but it will definitely go faster (and > is cheaper) if you have the SSN. > > >Anyway THANK YOU for taking your precious time to answer my questions. > > That's what the ng is all about... > > > > > > > > > Adio, Diane > boet@omeganet.es > Searching for: BOETTCHER, VOSIKA, BOHN, MITCH