Lisa, Any of your speculations are possible. As are about skatey-eight other iteneraries. They could have caught the first ship out, regardless of it's destination at any of the major or minor points of entry. Many of the ships were cargo vessels and having off-loaded, returning to their home port carrying passengers rather than returning empty. Fares to Canada were usually cheaper and many took that route and simply walked across the border and continued their journey from there. Tho many of the passenger manifests have been transcribed and put on-line, they are but a smattering of all the manifests which exist. Then there are ships for which no manifest are available or manifests were never reported. Your best bet is obtaining the first papers, or petition for application for citizenship. They may, and I emphasize may, contain the year and port of immigration . Another aid is a publication by P. William Philby called "Immigration and Naturalization Lists" It is a large tome with six or seven supplements so it's kind of hard to go thru. It is a name index that lists where the source documents can be obtained for the individual. My San Antonio library has the set but as to availabilty elsewhere, I don't know. Good luck in your pursuit for the Hollis Holy Grail. Dick May you live to be a hundred, with an extra year to repent! (Irish proverb) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lisa L. Jones" <lljones@teleport.com> Subject: [Dub'que] Emigrants to Dubuque Co., circa 1855 . > > I've done some looking for ship's passengers list, but have yet to turn > up anything. > > I am wondering if someone could help me speculate on their emigration > path: Would they have been most likely to have debarked in New York? > If so, how did they get from New York to Iowa -- train? Could they have > come by boat as far as the Great Lakes? How about through New Orleans > and to Iowa via the Mississippi river? --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.443 / Virus Database: 248 - Release Date: 1/10/03

Dick and others: Thanks to everyone who has responded so far! I find this question endlessly fascinating. I should have mentioned in my original posting that I have indeed found a few of the pertinent naturalization papers , and they are, of course, vague. Joseph, the father of my Hollis brood, died in 1863, apparently before applying for citizenship; his two English-born sons didn't apply for another 10 years or so. They answered almost all questions "don't know". One specific question I'm trying to answer is whether any kind of train service was actually possibly in 1855-1857. I found, on the Dubuque Co. USGenweb site http://www.rootsweb.com/~iadubuqu/townships.html , township histories that state in part that the Dubuque & Pacific railroad to Dyersville was completed in 1857. Did this then provide contiguous service to New York or other Atlantic ports? Again, thanks for your help! Lisa -----Original Message----- From: Dick Tague [mailto:dicktague@devtex.net] Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 8:05 AM To: IADUBUQU-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Dub'que] Emigrants to Dubuque Co., circa 1855 Lisa, Any of your speculations are possible. As are about skatey-eight other iteneraries. They could have caught the first ship out, regardless of it's destination at any of the major or minor points of entry. Many of the ships were cargo vessels and having off-loaded, returning to their home port carrying passengers rather than returning empty. Fares to Canada were usually cheaper and many took that route and simply walked across the border and continued their journey from there. Tho many of the passenger manifests have been transcribed and put on-line, they are but a smattering of all the manifests which exist. Then there are ships for which no manifest are available or manifests were never reported. Your best bet is obtaining the first papers, or petition for application for citizenship. They may, and I emphasize may, contain the year and port of immigration . Another aid is a publication by P. William Philby called "Immigration and Naturalization Lists" It is a large tome with six or seven supplements so it's kind of hard to go thru. It is a name index that lists where the source documents can be obtained for the individual. My San Antonio library has the set but as to availabilty elsewhere, I don't know. Good luck in your pursuit for the Hollis Holy Grail. Dick May you live to be a hundred, with an extra year to repent! (Irish proverb) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lisa L. Jones" <lljones@teleport.com> Subject: [Dub'que] Emigrants to Dubuque Co., circa 1855 . > > I've done some looking for ship's passengers list, but have yet to turn > up anything. > > I am wondering if someone could help me speculate on their emigration > path: Would they have been most likely to have debarked in New York? > If so, how did they get from New York to Iowa -- train? Could they have > come by boat as far as the Great Lakes? How about through New Orleans > and to Iowa via the Mississippi river? --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.443 / Virus Database: 248 - Release Date: 1/10/03 ==== IADUBUQU Mailing List ==== ----------> ALL CAPS or UPPER CASE Letters Permissible Use <---------- When typing a surname? YES! Absolutely! A must! For general text? NO! It's shouting, bad manners (Netiquette) and hard to find surnames. ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237