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We have only discussed a fewforeign sources in this column,and most have been very broadsources that, while they may iden-tify and name the emigrant, alsoinclude thousands of local personswho never emigrated (as are found,for example, in the International

Genealogical Index [IGI], or the

Vital Records Index). Consequently,there is a great amount of research“noise” (as far as the researcher ofemigrant origins is concerned) inthe inclusion of non-emigrants insuch general records. Because of

Research Helps

this situation, it may be difficult todetermine if a person found in suchrecords (civil, church, census, etc.)is really the emigrant sought, orsimply someone with the right ageand name.

There are however, for mostcountries of our ancestors, twobroad types of records that focusspecifically on emigrants. Becausethey identify persons who left thehome country, these variousrecords are often grouped together,under a term such as “EmigrationLists.” While they are indeed listsof emigrants, it is important tounderstand the differencesbetween the two major types ofsuch lists. These two groupsinclude actual lists of departingresidents—notably passenger lists,and lists of those personsrequesting permission to emigrate.

Passenger Departure Lists

by Kory L. Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA

ImmigrationImmigrationSources and Strategies

In most cases, the majority ofthese lists were not made in the firstplace, and often the lists that weremade have not survived over time.However, on occasion, there mayalso be additional, special lists, ofpassengers. For example, if thegroup was chartered by a govern-ment agency, a specific church, oran emigrant aid society, you mayfind a list with the official archivesof the sponsoring organization.Germans arriving in Pennsylvania(from 1727 to 1808) were required totake an oath of allegiance and anoath of abjuration when they landedin Philadelphia, which created twomore “copies” of the arrival list (fora total of three lists), and sometimesonly one has survived.

Some of these were official listsrequired by law; others were privaterecordings. Some would be classedas arrival lists, while others aredeparture lists. That difference mayseem minimal, but for most personscoming to North America, departurelists, where they exist, provide the

APRIL 2004 51

Passenger ListsJust as many ports of arrival, espe-cially in the United States, kept listsof newly arrived passengers, manyports of departure, especially inEurope, kept lists of emigrantpassengers departing from thoseports. Indeed, there may have beenmany other possible passenger listscreated during any specific immi-grant’s travels. Historically, up toseven different passenger lists mayhave been created for some groupsof passengers. These include listsmade and filed with:1. the port (city or country) of

departure2. ports of call along the route3. the port (city or country) of

arrival4. newspapers at the port of depar-

ture5. newspapers at cities of arrival6. or as part of the ship’s manifest,

(usually by the shipping companyitself)

7. notations of passengers in theship’s log

Both of these types of lists arevery important to emigrantorigins research. However,researchers need to understandthe fundamental differencesbetween them. These differencesinclude not only who is listed, butalso the information recorded,and, perhaps most importantly,the manner of finding andsearching such lists. Spacepermits only the discussion of thefirst group at this time. A futurecolumn will introduce and discussthe location and use of permis-sions to emigrate.

Both pages show Ellis Island arrivals, ca. 1910. (Individual people have been colorized.)

Pho

to c

ourt

esy

of t

he N

ew Y

ork

His

toric

al S

ocie

ty.

Montage m

ade up of photos courtesy of the New

York Historical S

ociety and the Library of Congress.

52 HeritageQuestMagazine.com

town of origin much more oftenthan do arrival lists.

For the family historian, the factthat, sometimes, many copies weremade, insures that at least one mayhave survived for most immigrants.The main problem is finding thelists, particularly when seekingdeparture lists.

Departing lists of passengerswere generally kept under the juris-diction of the port city. To use suchlists, you should learn the emigrant’sstate or region of residence, and/orthe port of departure. Often you willfind this information on the passengerarrival records in the New World. Thismakes finding an immigrant in thoserecords a valuable exercise, evenwhen those records do not specifi-cally name the hometown.

Sometimes only knowing thecountry of origin is sufficient to

access these records. However, youalso need to know when theemigrant left that country or port,again something you can calculatefrom arrival lists. Steamships tooktwo weeks or less to cross theAtlantic, while sailing vessels oftentook a month or much more.Generally the earlier an immigrantcame, the longer the voyage lasted.

Foreign departure lists may bedifficult to use, however, a growingnumber are indexed and/orpublished. Remember, only someports made lists of passengers asthey departed. Typically, such listsincluded age, occupation and lastplace of residence or birthplace.This last item is what makes suchlists so valuable in determining yourimmigrant’s place of origin.

Many of these records have notbeen preserved, but many others are

now on microfilm, often at theFamily History Library and otherresearch libraries which specializein emigration records. Of particularinterest are the records of theScandinavian ports and those ofHamburg. Unfortunately, the recordsof Europeans who emigrated throughother ports, such as Bremen, LeHavre, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, andAntwerp have either been destroyedor lost.

There are also published tran-scripts and indexes for some portsand countries. Significant and repre-sentative published departure listsfor Europe and Great Britain arefound near the end of this article.

Hamburg Passenger ListsBecause of their value, size, andscope, it is useful to single out thepassenger departure lists from the

Port of Hamburg, Germany ca. 1900.

Photo courtesy of Jam

es A. D

erheim, E

uropean Focus, Inc.

German port of Hamburg for specialdiscussion. They are the largest andmost significant collection of depar-ture lists for immigration research.These lists contain the names ofmillions of Europeans (mostlyGermans) who emigrated throughHamburg between 1850 and 1934(except 1915 through 1919). Studiesshow that about 30 percent of thepeople who emigrated from Centraland Eastern Europe during this timeare on these lists. If your ancestorsemigrated from these areas, theHamburg passenger lists couldprovide important information aboutthem, including their hometowns, orat least their last town of residence.

As with all foreign records, thelists are in the language native to thecountry where they were created, inthis case, they are in German.Complicating their use is the oldGerman handwriting (called theGothic script) in which letters areoften written much differently thanin most English handwriting.However, these are really just lists,kept in columns, consisting mainlyof the person’s name, age, occupa-tion, and origin. Thus, they areeasier to read than most otherGerman language records.

Extensive indexes make theserecords easier to use than mostother passenger lists. These listsand indexes are on 486 rolls ofmicrofilm at the Family HistoryLibrary. Articles in genealogicalperiodicals have described a searchservice in Hamburg that providesinformation on emigrants from thisport. The same records this serviceuses are available to any researcherat the Family History Library (FHL)in Salt Lake City, or locally at one ofits Family History Centers.

The Hamburg passenger listsconsist of two sections: The Direct

Lists include passengers who leftHamburg, Germany and sailed

directly to their destination withoutstopping at other European ports.The Indirect Lists identify passen-gers who stopped at anotherEuropean port (often in England)before sailing to their final destina-tion. About 20 percent of the immi-grants leaving from Hamburg tookindirect routes, as they were lessexpensive.

Most of the Hamburg passengerlists have been indexed. The onlyones not indexed are the lists from1850 to 1854, which are arrangedalphabetically by first letter of thesurname. There are three sets ofindexes: the Fifteen-Year Index to

the Direct Hamburg Passenger

Lists, 1856-1871; the Klüber Card

File, and the regular indexes.The Fifteen-Year Card Index

arranges many of the names on thedirect lists from 1856 to 1871 in onefully alphabetical index. Though itis convenient to use, this index isnot complete. After checking theindex, you may still need to use theregular index for the same timeperiod. The regular indexes aremore complete, but they are moredifficult to use.

The Klüber Card File is actuallytwo separate card indexes, on 48microfilms, covering parts of boththe direct and indirect lists from1850 through 1871. Although notfully complete, these alphabeticalindexes do include complete infor-mation from the list for eachpassenger indexed. However, if animmigrant does not appear in thesecard files, you should then searchthe regular indexes.

The Regular Indexes, for boththe direct passenger lists and theindirect list are divided intosegments that cover one year or partof a year. The direct indexes begin in1854 and end in 1934. The indirectindexes begin in 1854 and end in1910. To use the index, find the year

the emigrant departed and the firstletter of the surname. Names arearranged by the first letter of thesurname only; you may need to searchthe entire section to find the personfor whom you’re looking. This is whyknowing the date of emigration (oreven arrival in North America) is sohelpful in this research. Sometimesthe index pages for one letter werecontinued on blank pages underanother letter. Watch for a notationreferring you to the proper letter forthe continuation.

Within each initial letter, theindex is chronological for that timeperiod. Each ship is listed separatelyin the index, with a header showingthe name of the ship, the departuredate, the ship’s captain, and thedestination port. After this informa-tion, the index lists the passengerswhose surnames begin with thatletter, and the page on the actualpassenger lists with this informa-tion. Arranged in two columns, it isfairly easy to skim down the list ofpassengers seeking the name of theemigrant.

Often the index only gives thehead of the family, with a notationsuch as “wife and three children.”Again, knowing as much as possibleabout the emigrant(s), including thefather of the family, is important toidentifying the right persons in theselists. The entire family is listed, withages, on the actual list, so you canconfirm that you have the rightperson. Further, if you learn howyour emigrant’s surname looks inthe Gothic handwriting, it will beeasier to recognize it in the index.

For more information on theHamburg Passenger Lists and howto use them, brief instructions areavailable online at www.familysearch.org.The lists are also being slowlyindexed online, but currently mostof the indexing covers just twentiethcentury lists.

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54 HeritageQuestMagazine.com

Other Port of Departure ListsAlthough the Hamburg departurelists are by far the largest and mostimportant, there are highly usefullists for other ports, notably inScandinavia.

SwedenSwedish passenger lists were keptfor the Swedish police authorities(Poliskammaren) and includepeople from other countries, as wellas Sweden, who left from ports inthat country. Most Swedishemigrants left from the port ofGöteborg. However, emigrants fromsouthern Sweden often left fromMalmö. Only a few left fromStockholm and Norrköping.

The Family History Library hasmicrofilm copies of both the indexesand the original passenger lists. Thelists do not begin until about 1869,and end at various dates (dependingon the port) in the first third of thetwentieth century. Most Swedishemigration records have recentlybeen released as abstracted infor-mation on CD-ROM, available eitherin Swedish, or in an English version.Covering Swedish emigration from1869-1930, it is based on passengerlists, and comprises the approxi-mately 1.3 million emigrants,embarking from the major Swedishports Göteborg 1869-1930, Malmö1874-1930, Stockholm 1869-1930,Norrköping 1859-1919, Helsingborg1899-1930 and Kalmar 1880-1893. Theabstract includes information onname, relationship, age, birthplace orplace of residence, destination, dateof emigration, and other information.

NorwayPassenger lists for Norwegian portsbegin with 1867. Earlier, emigrantgroups made private arrangementsfor transportation, and left fromalmost any of Norway’s many ports.

After the beginning of official lists,most Norwegian emigrants leftthrough the ports of Kristiania(Oslo), Bergen, Trondheim, andStavanger. The information in theselists usually includes the emigrant’s

name, age, relationship to familymembers traveling together, occupa-tion, last place of residence, anddestination. Passenger lists areavailable for most ports used byNorwegian emigrants.

Stockholm, Sweden waterfront.

The Family History Library hasmicrofilm copies of these handwrittenrecords for the following ports:• Kristiania (Oslo), 1867 to 1902• Bergen, 1874 to 1925• Trondheim, 1867 to 1926

DenmarkMost Danish emigrants left throughthe port of København (Copenhagen).The departure records begin in 1869.The information in them usuallyincludes the emigrants’ names, ages,occupations, and destinations.Relationships and last residence orbirthplace may also be given. Theoriginal records of Copenhagen canbe found at the national archive. TheCopenhagen departure lists, like thoseof Hamburg, are divided into directand indirect lists. The Family HistoryLibrary has microfilm copies of theserecords dating from 1869 to 1911.

Great BritainPassenger departure lists are rarebefore 1890. After 1890 they arearranged chronologically by port ofdeparture. These lists usually givethe emigrant’s name, age, occupa-tion, address, and sometimes desti-nation. They are kept at the PublicRecord Office, and are not availableon microfilm.

In earlier years, England didkeep some lists of passengers forbrief periods of time, such as athree-year period just before theAmerican Revolution. Generallythese lists have been published, andsome examples are cited below.

FranceDuring the 1800s most French aswell as south German emigrants leftthrough the port of Le Havre.Unfortunately, there are only a few,incomplete passenger lists for thisand other ports in France, and theyhave no indexes.

The only lists available for theport of Le Havre are very incom-

plete lists of crews and passengerson some commercial cargo vessels.Note that very few passengers sailedon cargo ships, and there are nopassenger vessels among this unin-dexed collection. The Family

and others sailing from Le Havrefrom 1780 to 1840. The origin of theindex is unknown, and it is surelynot comprehensive. The passengercards usually show name, maidensurname of the spouse. birth date or

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European Passenger Departure Lists at the Family History LibraryListed in the FHL library catalog under the name of the port city

and the topic “Emigration and Immigration”

Port Lists Indexes CommentsAntwerp, Belgium 1855 Book index by Charles Hall

Bergen, Norway 1874-1924 1874-1924 Transcripts, with given

and surname indexes.

Bremen, Germany —— 1904-1914 Originals may no longer

be extant.

Copenhagen, Denmark 1868-1911 1868-1940 Indirect and direct

lists and indexes.

Gothenburg, Sweden 1869-1920 1869-1951 Most Swedes left from

this port.

Hamburg, Germany 1850-1934 1854-1934 Card indexes cover

1850-1871.

Le Havre, France 1750-1887 1750-1775 Commercial cargo

vessels only.

Liverpool, England 1697-1707, In publications Published lists1773-1776

Malmo, Sweden 1874-1939 1874-1939

Oslo (Kristiania), Norway 1867-1902 1869-1902

Rotterdam, Netherlands 1900-1940 1900-1940 Holland-America Line only

Stockholm, Sweden 1869-1940 1869-1940

Trondheim, Norway 1867-1926 1867-1925 Indexes to given and surnames.

Additional lists may be available for these, and other ports, in local and state archivesof European countries.

History Library has filmed the LeHavre commercial cargo vesselpassenger lists for the years 1750 to1886. A few records from Calais,

Cherbourg, Brest, Lorient, La

Rochelle, and Dieppe are availableat the French National Archives.

A French genealogical society(Groupement Généalogique duHavre et de Seine-Maritime, B.P. 80,76050 Le Havre Cedex, France)discovered a 100-year-old card fileof 45,000 passengers, 25,000 sailors,

age, birthplace, parents, date andplace of embarkation and debarka-tion, and, for French ships, thevessel’s name. Researchers maysend written inquiries, but only for aspecific name, and for this timeperiod.

Published ListsThe following published copies ofdeparture lists represent a growingaspect of immigration literature.These, and many other such lists,

56 HeritageQuestMagazine.com

are indexed in P. William Filby’sPassenger and Immigration Lists

Index. However, as with all suchlists, many of the earliest lists oftendo not identify the town where theemigrant came from. However, allsuch lists should be explored, wherethey pertain to a possible emigrant.

Although records of passengersleaving through Antwerp, Belgiumare generally destroyed, lists werefound for 1855-56 and microfilmed.Those lists, including over 5,000persons, are indexed in Charles M.Hall, Antwerp Emigration Index

(Salt Lake City: HeritageInternational, 1986).

The brief, pre-Revolutionary listskept in England, noted above, arekept in the Public Record Office andhave been published more thanonce. The best version, including sixto seven thousand persons, is PeterWilson Coldham, Emigrants From

England to the American Colonies,

1773-1776 (Baltimore: GenealogicalPublishing Co., 1988).

The first 500 or so Germans whoarrived in London in 1709, of whommany later were shipped to New York,are listed in Ulrich Simmendinger,

True and Authentic Register of

Persons Who in 1709 Journeyed

From Germany to America (ReprintSt. Johnsville, N.Y.:The Enterprise and

News, 1934. Baltimore: GenealogicalPublishing Co., 1991).

Two important collections ofnineteenth century Irish passengerlists survived in the private recordsof the shipping companies, ratherthan government agencies. Togetherthey document about 32,000 immi-grants. Both have been published byBrian Mitchell, as Irish Passenger

Lists: 1803-1806: Lists of

Passengers Sailing from Ireland to

America, Extracted from the

Hardwicke Papers (Baltimore, Md.:Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995)and as Irish Passenger Lists, 1847-

1871: Lists of Passengers Sailing

from Londonerry to America on

Ships of the J. & J. Cooke Line and

the McCorkell Line (Baltimore:Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988).

One last example serves as abridge between this discussion ofpassenger departure lists and anyfuture discussion about permissionsto emigrate. It also serves to illus-trate that the distinction betweenthese two kinds of emigrationrecords is not always easy to define.

In the Netherlands, the govern-ment kept a register of thosepersons who left the countrybetween 1835 and 1880. This list isnot arranged by ship line, but is achronological listing of those who

departed. However, it focuses on thefact that they departed, not that theyrequested permission to leave. Inthat sense, it is more of a departurelist, than a list of permissions.

The list has been computerized,allowing easy access to the 21,800emigrants, including informationabout their former residence andintended destination. It waspublished by Robert P. Swierenga asDutch Emigrants to the United

States, South Africa, South

America, and Southeast Asia,

1835-1880: An Alphabetical

Listing by Household Heads and

Independent Persons (Wilmington,Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1983).

ConclusionAlthough tremendous recorddestruction of the past limits theavailability of foreign departurelists, where they do exist, they are asignificant tool for the emigrant-origins researcher. Remember alsothat although the list, carrying theemigrant you are seeking, may havebeen destroyed, other relatedemigrants may have come at earlieror later times. And these relativesmay be recorded on the survivingdeparture lists. As always, the moreyou know about the immigrant andhis or her family, the greater yourchance for success in locating theirhometown.

Kory L. Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA is theeditor, and primary author of Printed

Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical

Records. A professional researcher and seniorpartner at ProGenealogists, Inc, he lives in SaltLake City, and is the former publications coor-dinator for the Family History Library, andpast president of the Utah GenealogicalAssociation. Accredited in four differentareas, Kory has written extensively in maga-zines and journals during his 20 years ingenealogy. A popular lecturer at national andstate conferences, he also teaches for BYU attheir Salt Lake City extension. You can contacthim at: Kmeyerink@progenealogists.com.

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