His name was Nicholas Schermerhorn Bastion (usually just NS), b 1808 in Schenectady NY). His last name is sometimes spelled Bastian. I believe in the story, so far as I have it, because many actual documents came down in the family, or I was able to get copies of them (i.e. the letters in his handwriting from the Methodist Archives to prove when he was in NYC). It's the holes that bother me. One of those holes is how did he get so quickly from NY to Dubuque, and where did he land? He might have hopped a train, in which case I'll never know. He might have taken a ship directly to Dubuque. Cleveland's another obvious stopping source. One of his obits suggests he had met his prospective father-in-law (Moses Jewett, an early settler) before he went off to Liberia in 1849, suggesting Cleveland as a first stop, since Jewett spent most of his life there but I have no evidence and tend to discount that. I can't find the file with the name of the ship but someone suggested he sailed on the "Empire Queen." I tried to track that but there were too many ships of that name at that date plying the Great Lakes, the St. Laurence, and the Atlantic Seaboard. Thanks for your info on ships manifests. It clears up a lot of confusion. I've tried to track a Waggoner ancestor in the 1730s w/o luck. There the problem is names and I've gone on to more fruitful ventures. If you could help with Bastion, I'd be very grateful. I have so much on him, that I want to fill in the rest. I only last week, for instance, found out that there was a church fight where he died because he'd only been there two weeks as interim preacher and it cost the church a lot for his keep because he was "dangerously ill" the whole time he was there. Old newspapers going online with people's help are a godsend. I hadn't known for sure why he was away from home. Doris -- Robert Jerin <rjerin26@yahoo.com> wrote: Ship manifests include anyone who traveled aboard that ship, including ship's crew (at least alien members of the crew), US Citizens, aliens and non-immigrant aliens (that is an alien who had been in the US prior to this trip and was returning). And forget the part about avowing aliegence to anyone, that was not a requirement. Also forget about the King of England as up until about 1820 people traveled feely to the US and simply walked off the ship at the dock and into the US, no inspection required. So the reason you are not finding him could be: 1) a manifest that is difficult to read and the name has been mis-transcribed, 2) the manifest for his ship has not been transcribed at all or.. his page has been missed by transcribers.... or 3) the family story is simply a story... So the question ... who was this person and what was his birth year? Robert Jerin Croatian Heritage Museum Cleveland Ohio "doriswaggoner@juno.com" <doriswaggoner@juno.com> wrote: I'd love to come, but I live in Seattle... Here's my question, though. I have an ancestor I know from letters was in New York City in June 1850. He turns up, though, late in that month or in July, in the census in Dubuque. I'm sure it's the right person because all the stats are right. Question is, how did he get there? He had been a Methodist missionary in Liberia, and I have some artifacts that have come down in the family but can't find him on any ships lists. He was a US citizen. Is this why? Did the lists only show immigrants who disavowed allegiance to former countries and avowed allegiance to the King of England or US, depending on the date? If only non-citizens are shown, how do I start looking for his mode of transportation? I don't know he came thru Cleveland, but I'm suspicious. He married a Cleveland girl in 1851 in Dubuque. Doris Waggoner ____________________________________________________________ Rock Solid Web Hosting. Click Here. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3nBPXN8UY6ylYqBfHFVQueklmUVqAsY58el2CgqcVypevEnF/