Daily AncestorRead both pages of a manifest
Find one ancestor who arrived at New York in the Ellis Island years and read the full line on the ship's list, across both pages if it has two, plus the lines around it.
Later manifests run across two sheets, so one passenger's entry is split in two. Copy only the first page and you miss half the columns. Read together, the two pages can give a hometown and the relative being joined in America.
Your steps this week
- Check the arrival year: for a New York arrival before mid-1897, search the customs passenger lists; from mid-1897 on, the Ellis Island manifests.
- Search a free database, try spelling variants, and open the image, not just the index entry.
- Copy the sheet and line number, then follow that line onto the facing page and copy every column.
- Read the lines above and below for family or neighbors from the same place.
- Look in the margin for N.O.B., cross-references or notes of detention.