Yesterday was a wonderful day ... I apologise ahead if this gets a little long I have been searching for the passenger list for my ggrandfather's immigration to the US for at least 15 years. In the meantime I have been able to help countless others find their ggrandfather &c. through this email list and TheShipsList website, but I kept coming up empty for myself and had become resigned to never being able to find it. A couple of years ago, my cousin in Australia who has been a tremendous family researcher, beginning in the days when we had to do all our genealogy research with letters, money orders and self-addressed envelopes, had heard me talk about Ancestry.com so decided to subscribe when she spotted the links on my website, TheShipsList. What a happy day that was. She is retired, so has been able to find some fabulous stuff for us, and checks out the "new" databases regularly. About 6 weeks ago she found ...Selected U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1966 (Indexed in World Archives Project)... and popped Charles Tapscott name into it ... bingo! It said he Naturalized in Portsmouth NH in 1868 and so she sent for the Certificate and kept it secret until it arrived, two days ago. It did not add any real new information, however it did say he was from Devonshire and included his signature (with which we are very familiar), so that confirmed that he was OUR ggrandfather. What puzzled us was that it said he arrived in the US Dec 22 1854 (no port of arrival indicated). I said that the day-month was so very precise, that probably it was correct and remembered because it was only 3 days before Christmas, but I said we couldn't be sure of the year as the actual year is often the most misremembered part of the date. While in the US he married in 1860, and raised a family in the New England states, so I plugged through all the small east coast ports thinking if he came into Portsmouth in 1854, then those passenger lists from 1853-1856 are missing, in fact, after I checked all the small ports Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut and there was no 1854 surviving for any, except Bristol & Warren RI, but December was missing. So then I spent a long time checking Boston Dec 1854, list by list and was feeling very resigned to going back to no record surviving, when I decided to try New York and simply typed in ..... Cha* b. 1832 English 1854 Imagine my shock and delight, when up he popped, hiding in plain sight, on the EXACT date 22 Dec 1854 aboard the LADY FRANKLIN from Liverpool. He was indexed as ..." Charles Sapscot "... and I wondered how I could have ever missed that before. I thought I had tried every imaginable combination, but obviously I hadn't. New York passengers lists 1820-1957 has a red - Updated! notation, which may account for him showing up now, but probably it had more to do with not thinking he could have arrived that early ** and the port of arrival was unexpected. ** I wasn't planning on mentioning this, but I don't think my ggrandfather's reputation deserves to be protected anymore. We didn't think he arrived that early because he had married in Devon on 19 Jul 1853 and they had a son on 05 Apr 1854 ... they did NOT accompany him. Well, if there is any moral to this story, it is that just when you think you know most of the facts about your ancestor(s), they are sure to surprise you. ;-} Sue -- TheShipsList Website http://www.theshipslist.com/

How fantastic Sue, it must be so nice being able to answer those questions. I have reached the same conclusion about my gt grandmother - I think I may never find anymore out about her and its so frustrating! If I did, it would be truly amazing! Just incase her name was Minnie Nelson born 1873, Shanghai, China, father Andrew Nelson, who was deceased at the time of her marriage in 1896. She appears in Anglesey on the 1891 census staying with her Aunt Mary Thomas. I have tried every avenue possible to trace her birth and failed and had no luck finding her leaving Shanghai or arriving in the UK. The fact she is listed as niece to Mary Thomas in 1891 might suggest her mother was Welsh & had the maiden name Thomas but it also might be a red herring as this 'aunt' Mary Thomas has 4 nieces Mabel & Ada Pearson, & Lillian & Mary Williams (all half sisters, brought up in Shanghai) with her. Possible Minnie travelled over with them, their mother Mary Pearson & brother Arthur John, who are both at the port of London hospital in 1891, where Arthur John is a patient. Knowing all this but not getting any further is frustrating beyond belief! I have my gt grandparents marriage certificate but it only confirms what I know. I had hoped her sailing info might of provided more insight, but no luck (so far, as Sue has proved, never give up hope :) ) Vicki > Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:26:34 -0300 > To: TheShipsList@rootsweb.com > From: swig@ns.sympatico.ca > Subject: [TSL] Sue's Success story > > Yesterday was a wonderful day ... I apologise ahead if this gets a little long > > I have been searching for the passenger list for my ggrandfather's > immigration to the US for at least 15 years. In the meantime I have been > able to help countless others find their ggrandfather &c. through this > email list and TheShipsList website, but I kept coming up empty for myself > and had become resigned to never being able to find it. > > A couple of years ago, my cousin in Australia who has been a tremendous > family researcher, beginning in the days when we had to do all our > genealogy research with letters, money orders and self-addressed envelopes, > had heard me talk about Ancestry.com so decided to subscribe when she > spotted the links on my website, TheShipsList. What a happy day that > was. She is retired, so has been able to find some fabulous stuff for us, > and checks out the "new" databases regularly. About 6 weeks ago she found > ...Selected U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1966 (Indexed in World > Archives Project)... and popped Charles Tapscott name into it ... > bingo! It said he Naturalized in Portsmouth NH in 1868 and so she sent > for the Certificate and kept it secret until it arrived, two days ago. It > did not add any real new information, however it did say he was from > Devonshire and included his signature (with which we are very familiar), so > that confirmed that he was OUR ggrandfather. > > What puzzled us was that it said he arrived in the US Dec 22 1854 (no port > of arrival indicated). I said that the day-month was so very precise, that > probably it was correct and remembered because it was only 3 days before > Christmas, but I said we couldn't be sure of the year as the actual year is > often the most misremembered part of the date. > While in the US he married in 1860, and raised a family in the New England > states, so I plugged through all the small east coast ports thinking if he > came into Portsmouth in 1854, then those passenger lists from 1853-1856 are > missing, in fact, after I checked all the small ports Maine, New Hampshire, > Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut and there was no 1854 surviving > for any, except Bristol & Warren RI, but December was missing. So then I > spent a long time checking Boston Dec 1854, list by list and was feeling > very resigned to going back to no record surviving, when I decided to try > New York and simply typed in ..... > > Cha* b. 1832 English 1854 > > Imagine my shock and delight, when up he popped, hiding in plain sight, on > the EXACT date 22 Dec 1854 aboard the LADY FRANKLIN from Liverpool. He > was indexed as ..." Charles Sapscot "... and I wondered how I could have > ever missed that before. I thought I had tried every imaginable > combination, but obviously I hadn't. New York passengers lists 1820-1957 > has a red - Updated! notation, which may account for him showing up now, > but probably it had more to do with not thinking he could have arrived that > early ** and the port of arrival was unexpected. > > ** I wasn't planning on mentioning this, but I don't think my > ggrandfather's reputation deserves to be protected anymore. We didn't > think he arrived that early because he had married in Devon on 19 Jul 1853 > and they had a son on 05 Apr 1854 ... they did NOT accompany him. > > Well, if there is any moral to this story, it is that just when you think > you know most of the facts about your ancestor(s), they are sure to > surprise you. ;-} > > Sue > -- > TheShipsList Website > http://www.theshipslist.com/ > > > ------------------------------- > visit TheShipsList Website > http://www.theshipslist.com/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to THESHIPSLIST-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/