I thought this might answer several questions that have been sent to me recently. Thanks, Martha Wooten Solomon List Owner/Host EXPERT GENEALOGY Editor: Jeannette Holland Austin Series: Immigration Subject: Ellis Island Date: August 21, 1999 One of the reasons you might be having trouble locating passenger lists, ship manifests and other immigration records is because immigration laws were not passed in the US until 1819. Even then, they only required the maintenance of limited immigration records. It wasn't until 1882 that all immigration regulations were made uniform. >From approximately 1900 to 1914, 5,000 persons or more were processed through Ellis Island. However, as early as 1855, Castle Garden was an Immigrant Receiving Station. Actually Castle Garden was an old fort which was located on the lower southern tip of Manhattan, operating under the auspices of the state. Clerks recorded names, nationalities and designations of immigrants, thus enabling US Government to keep track of immigrants. In 1882 (when the new law was passed), Castle Garden continued to operate under a contract with the US Government, however, by 1890, due to demand, the facilities had to be expanded. So it was that 27 acres (Ellis Island) was chosen as the new site for a US Immigration Station. The Ellis Island site (Ellis Island.org) offers a museum, publications, as well as other interesting facts about it. You can search the American Immigrant Wall of Honor at http://www.ellisisland.org/. This is a search engine. Just click on Wall of Honor on the homepage of Ellis Island.org. Also, should you have an immigrant to add, it needs to be done before Labor Day. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. Is developing an exciting new family genealogy facility which is to be housed in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. The American Family Immigration History Center will use state-of-the-art interactive computer technology to bring the immigration records on ancestors who came to this country as long as a century ago to one's fingertips. Here is where you can do research on your Ellis Island immigrants.