The keeping of Passenger Lists at US ports of entry becan in 1820. Names of immigrants have been extracted from many of these records and published in passenger lists' indexes. Such indexes normally oidentify passengers by name, age, origin and ship. Some strategies for determining your ancestor's ship: 1) Start with what you know and work backward 2) Are there passport records? (Issued as early as 1797 in the U.S.) 3) Search for Shipping News- newspapers of the period in a location can provide important information about ship's departures and arrivals. Here are some sources which you might look at to get information on your Aitchison family: The Immigrant Transcribers Guild (ISTG) at Rootsweb is an on-going volunteer effort to transcribe passenger lists to America beginning in the 1600's- www.rootsweb.com The microfilmed records from NARA can be ordered through your local FHL (Family History Library)- www/archives.gov/publications/microfilm_catalogs/immigrant/immigrant_passenger_arrivals.html#pubprogram Ellis Island Immigration Information- www.ellisisland.org (arrivals in New York) LDS site-www.familysearch.com-type in the name of the country, then the topic of Emigration and Immigration. You will then get a listing of what records have been microfilmed and the call number to order the film which you can view at your local Family History Center Ports of Entry- www.the shipslist.com/ports- provides a good insight into immigration depots such as Castle Gardens and Ward Island in the U.S. Cyndi's List-www.cyndislist.com/portsdepart.htm-shows some good sites pertaining to Ports of Departure(this is a subscription site) www.ancestry.com/serch/main.htm-from the blue template form, select Immigration from the Record Type pull-down menu. You will be presented with a list of all the current databases. Here you will find passenger list records for emigrations to the US and much more... (paid site) www.Google.com- A sophisticated search engine-search for Passenger Lists and/or Ships Lists and Immigration and naturalization,etc... Good luck...Noreen in US