Indexing Passenger Origin and Destination Information in the Ellis Island Database Part 2

Susan Sobel Kishon (susan.sobel.kishon@gmail.com) Ellen Garshick (ellengarshick@yahoo.com) Kremenets District Research Group (http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Kremenets/web-pages/index.html)

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Digitize all available information on passengers from Ukraine who entered the United States through Ellis Island from 1892 to 1924

Objective

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• Information on these passengers is found in ship manifests (passenger lists) in the publicly available Ellis Island Database (EIDB).

• The Ellis Island Transcription Team has already digitized some information from the manifests.

The EIDB

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• Extract the following additional information from the manifests: – Name and address of each passenger’s nearest

relative in the place of origin – Name and address of each passenger’s relative or

friend at the U.S. destination – Each passenger’s place of birth

• Add the information to the JewishGen Ukraine Database and the Ukraine SIG Master Index of Personal Names.

Our Goal

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Why Is This Information Important? It allows researchers to • Search passenger records by these additional data

points • Use these data points to match a passenger record with

a particular family • Identify all passengers naming the same relative in the

country of origin or the United States • Identify how a family name was anglicized (e.g.,

Gelichen -> Geller, Weisblitt -> Wise) • Match U.S. destination street addresses to addresses in

U.S. Census records

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We need volunteers to • Access manifests listing passengers from Ukraine

towns • Transcribe information from the manifests into an

Excel worksheet You’ll need

• Basic computer and Microsoft Excel skills • Fluency in English • The ability to read cursive handwriting • A healthy curiosity about immigration from Ukraine

towns to the United States

How You Can Help

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General Procedure

• Locate records from the EIDB for passengers from your assigned town

• View the manifest page for each passenger on the Ellis Island Web site

• Eliminate records for passengers who obviously were not Jewish

• Type some of the (mostly handwritten) information found there into the worksheet

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Getting Started: Open the Excel File Open the Excel file sent to you. Note that • Each line in the worksheet pertains to one passenger. • As on the ship manifest, family members traveling on

the same ship appear on consecutive lines. Parents’ are followed by children.

(For information on each worksheet column, see the column descriptions at the end of this presentation.)

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Excel Worksheet: Passenger Information This example shows entries for the Relder family of Wisznewic (Vishnevets): • Ginesia, the mother, followed by her three sons, • Jossel (age 11) • Hersch (age 9) • Mottel (age 7) They arrived August 1, 1912, on the ship “President Grant,” which departed from Hamburg.

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Excel Worksheet: EIDB and KDRG • Some pairs of column headings are the same

except for the label “EIDB” or “KDRG” (Kremenets District Research Group).

• You will enter information into the columns labeled “EIDB. ”

Passenger Surname

(KDRG Std)

Passenger Surname

(EIDB)

Passenger Given Name (KDRG Std)

Passenger Given Name

(EIDB)

Last Permanent Residence

(KDRG)

Last Permanent Residence

(EIDB)

• In the “KDRG” columns, either (1) delete the columns, (2) enter your own set of standardized names, or (3) enter KDRG’s standardized names from the files at http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Kremenets/web-pages/images-from-VR.html.

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Worksheet: Columns to Fill

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Images for ship manifests are available on the Ellis Island Web site. • Some manifest pages are stored as one complete

image. • Most are stored as two images: one for the left-

hand side and one for the right-hand side:

Access the Manifest

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• For one of the passengers listed in your worksheet, scroll to column AQ, labeled “Link2Manifest.”

• Click on the link. A page like this will open in your Web browser.

• Press “Click to enlarge manifest.”

Access the Manifest

(Link to the manifest used as an example here.)

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Access the Manifest Look at the heading on the enlarged manifest. • If it reads List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the

United …, you are looking at the left-hand side of the page.

• If it reads … States Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival, you are looking at the right-hand side of the page.

• If both parts of the heading are visible, you are looking at the entire page.

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The two images for split manifest pages are ordered inconsistently in the Ellis Island Database: • If you are looking at the right-hand image, the left-hand

image may be either the previous or the next image. • To figure out which, first click “Close Window.”

Find the Left-Hand Image

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On the reduced-image page, • Click “Previous.” • Look for the heading

List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United ….

• If you see it, click “Click to enlarge manifest.”

Find the Left-Hand Image

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If the image looks like this, Click “Back to original page.” You’ll see the image you began with.

Find the Left-Hand Image

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• Click “next.” This should display the left-hand image.

• When you have located the left-hand image, click on “Click to enlarge manifest.”

Find the Left-Hand Image

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Find the Passenger • Refer to the “Passenger Name” and “Line Number” in

the top corners. • Scroll down to the passenger record. (This example

shows the Relder family entries.)

Line 004

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Check the Names • Check the passenger’s surname and given name

against the entries in your worksheet. • If you believe a name has been transcribed incorrectly,

write your interpretation of the spelling in column T of your worksheet (Notes).

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Transcribe Country-of-Origin Data • Find the column labeled The name and complete

address of nearest relative or friend in country whence alien came.

• Enter the information into columns AJ, AL, AM, and AO of your worksheet.

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Try to infer relationships for passengers traveling with family members. Here, the inferred relationship is “grandfather.”

Country of Origin: Relationship

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• Enter the complete name of the town. • Include any other place designations with the town

name (e.g., Wolin, Wholyn, Wohlyn, Wohlinska, Podelia, Pod).

This information (usually the gubernia, or province) shows whether the town is actually Kremenets, Wolin, for example, or another town, such as Kamenets, Podolia.

Country of Origin: Town

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Occupation • Enter the passenger’s occupation into column U

of your worksheet. • Typical entries are wife, child, joiner, sailor,

seamstress, servant, and laborer.

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Destination Information: Find the Right-Hand Image

• Click “Close Window” in the top right-hand corner to return to the reduced-image page.

• Click “Back to original page” to display the right-hand side of the manifest.

• Click “click to enlarge manifest.”

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Destination: Contact and Address • Find the line number for the passenger (in the top right-

hand corner). • Find this column heading: Whether going to join relative

or friend; and if so, what relative or friend, and his name and complete address.

Line 004

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Destination: Contact and Address Add this information to columns W, Y, Z, AA, AB, and AC in your worksheet.

• Some addresses include a street address, but some include only a city and state (e.g., Tama, Iowa [IA]).

• Sometimes the destination includes an additional c/o (in care of ) name. Record this information in columns AF and AG—even if it consists of only one letter.

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Destination: Relationship Try to infer relationships for passengers traveling with family members. In this example, the inferred relationship is father. Common relationships are father, mother, husband, brother, brother in law (br.il), acquaintance, friend, son, sister, sister in law, father in law, uncle.

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Place of Birth Locate the passenger’s place of birth, and enter it into column L of your worksheet.

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Tips: Names and Addresses • To help decipher hard-to-read or unfamiliar names,

search for the name in the KDRG’s Indexed Concordance of Personal Names and Town Names or the Concordance, Sorted by Surname (available from http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Kremenets/web-pages/master-surnames.html).

• If you can’t read a destination street address, try dong an Internet search for part of the street name and the city. This search will often yield the correct street name.

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Tip: Destination City and State If the address in the Whether going to join . . . column is hard to read, check the Final destination column.

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Tip: Family Relationships To help infer the relationship among passengers traveling together, see the column labeled By whom was passage paid?

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Incorrect Transcription and Crossed-Out Entries • If you believe a passenger name has been incorrectly

transcribed, note this in column T of your worksheet (Notes).

• If a passenger record is crossed out on the manifest, note this in column T, and transcribe all other information as usual.

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Excel Column Descriptions: A–J Column Heading Content

A Sort Number Administrative use B Set Line Number Administrative use C Passenger Surname

(KDRG Std) Passenger surname identified as standard name in the KDRG Concordance

D Passenger Surname (EIDB)

Passenger surname as written on manifest

E Passenger Given Name (KDRG Std)

Passenger given name: corrected/standardized version

F Passenger Given Name (EIDB)

Passenger given name as written on manifest

G Last Permanent Residence (KDRG)

Town name: corrected/standardized version

H Last Permanent Residence (EIDB)

Town name as transcribed by Ellis Island Transcription Team

I Source for Concordance

EIDB (year): Indicates that the record is from the EIDB; data source designation for the KDRG Concordance, the JewishGen Ukraine Database, and the Ukraine SIG Master Name Index

J Passenger ID Unique passenger identification number generated by the Ellis Island Transcription Team

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Column

Heading Content

K Place of Birth (KDRG Std)

Standardized city name only

L Place of Birth (EIDB)

City and country as written on manifest

M Age Age as written on manifest N Year Born Year inferred by Ellis Island Transcription Team

based on the age and date of arrival; approximate + or – 1 year.

O Gender M = male, F= female P Marital Status M = married, S =single, W = widow Q Arrival Date Entered by Ellis Island Transcription Team; recast in

“1912-August-01” format for the worksheet R Ship Ship name as recorded at the top of manifest S Port of

Departure Port of departure as recorded at the top of manifest

T Notes Your comments or observations of inaccuracies U Occupation Joiner, laborer, seamstress, etc.

Excel Column Descriptions: K–U

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Column Heading Content

V Contact @ Destination Surname (KDRG Std)

Surname of relative at destination: corrected/ standardized version

W Contact @ Destination Surname (EIDB)

Surname of relative at destination as written on manifest

X Contact @ Destination Given Name (KDRG Std)

Given name of relative at destination: corrected/ standardized version

Y Contact @ Destination Given Name (EIDB)

Given name of relative at destination as written on manifest.

Z Contact @ Destination Relationship

Most common are father, mother, husband, brother, brother in law (br.il), acquaintance (acq.), friend (fr.), son, sister, sister in law, father in law (fr.i.l), uncle

AA Destination Address (Street Name)

Street name (e.g., 8th Avenue)

AB Destination Address (Street Number)

Street number

AC Destination Address (City, State)

City + 2-digit state abbreviation (e.g., Philadelphia, PA; Newark, NJ; St. Louis, MO)

AD Blank

Excel Column Descriptions: V–AD

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Column

Heading Content

AE Destination Additional Surname (KDRG)

Additional (c/o) surname: standardized/corrected version

AF Destination Additional Surname (EIDB)

Additional (c/o) surname as written on manifest

AG Destination Additional Given Name (KDRG)

Additional (c/o given name: standardized/corrected version

AH Blank AI Contact @ Origin

Surname (KDRG Std)

Surname of relative at origin: corrected/ standardized version

AJ Contact @ Origin Surname (EIDB)

Surname of relative at origin as written on manifest

AK Contact @ Origin Given Name (KDRG Std)

Given name of relative at origin: corrected/ standardized version

AL Contact @ Origin Given Name (EIDB)

Given name of relative at origin as written on manifest

Column Descriptions: AE–AL

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Column Heading Content AM Contact @

Origin Relationship

Most common are father, mother, husband, brother, brother in law (br.il), acquaintance (acq.), friend (fr.), son, sister, sister in law, father in law (fr.i.l), uncle

AN Origin Town (KDRG Std)

Town of origin: corrected/standardized version

AO Origin Town (EIDB)

Town of origin as written on manifest, including province/gubernia if given

AP Blank AQ Link2Manifest Link to passenger’s scanned manifest page

Excel Column Descriptions: AM–AQ

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