New Orleans, 1820-1850 Passenger and Immigration Lists

DESCRIPTION:

This data set contains alphabetical listings of approximately 273,000 individuals who arrived at New Orleans from foreign ports between 1820 and 1850.

The information collected in this data set was taken from the National Archives Microfilm Series M259, rolls 1 through 33 ("Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, LA, 1820-1902"). While the entire microfilm series spans 93 rolls, this information included here covers rolls 1 through 33. This collection of microfilm includes passenger lists as well baggage lists (cargo manifestos).

The information you can obtain from this data set can help you create a well-rounded picture of your ancestor's arrival in America.

The following types of information are included in this data set:

Gender
Age
Country of origin
Port of departure
Port of arrival
Date of arrival
National Archives series number
National Archives microfilm roll number
Name of ship
Family identification number

Partly in an effort to alleviate overcrowding of passenger ships, Congress enacted legislation (3 Stat. 489) on March 2, 1819 to regulate the transport of passengers in ships arriving from foreign ports. As a provision of this act, masters of such ships were required to submit a list of all passengers to the collector of customs in the district in which the ship arrived.

The legislation also provided that the collector of customs submit quarterly passenger list reports to the Secretary of State, who was, in turn, required to submit the information to Congress. The information was then published in the form of Congressional documents. A further Congressional act passed on May 7, 1874 repealed the legislative provision requiring collectors to send copies of passenger lists to the Secretary of State. Thereafter, collectors of customs were to send only statistical reports on passenger arrivals to the Department of Treasury.

These passenger lists are important primary sources of arrival data for the vast majority of immigrants to the United States in the nineteenth century. With the single exception of federal census records they are the largest, the most continuous, and the most uniform body of records of the entire country.(Michael Tepper. American Passenger Arrival Records Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc. 1993. Page 64.)

It is important to remember that there may be additional information on the original record. The microfilm roll number is included as part of the information provided about each individual, making it easier for you to locate individuals among the original records. These microfilmed records should be available for research through your local National Archives branch. Please contact them for information about researching at their facilities.

Extended Description:

From this data set, you can learn a great deal of valuable information about your immigrant ancestors. The primary fields are:

Name - In this column you will find the individual's given name and surname, as well as any titles that were included in the original index. You should note that names of immigrants were often recorded as they were heard and that many immigrants could not spell their own names. Thus, spelling variations of names occur and members of the same family arriving at different times or places may be found with different spellings. You may have difficulty locating some names for the following reasons:

Some given names have been abbreviated. For example, "Robert" may appear as "Robt," and "Elizabeth" as "Eliz."
Some given names are misspelled, contain typos, or may be spelled unusually.
Some given and middle names are truncated. Specifically this happens when the name, including the spaces between the given name, middle name, and last name, is longer than twenty-three characters. For example, "McCormack, Annabelle Margaret" would be listed as "McCormack, Annabelle Mar." If you are unable to locate a particular given name and surname, try switching the given name to an initial, abbreviation, or possible misspelling. If the surname is not common, you may want to search only on the surname.

Age - This column indicates the individual's age at the time of immigration. Please note that some of the ages are followed by letters. An age appended by "w" was recorded in weeks. "H" was recorded in hours, "d" was recorded in days, "m" was recorded in months, "y" was recorded in years. You can assume that an age without a letter after it was recorded in years.

Date of Arrival - This is the date on which the individual arrived in New Orleans.

Port of Departure - This is the port from which the individual listed departed (usually this is in their home country). You may also find additional information about your ancestor in this record, such as:

Gender
Country of origin
Port of arrival
National Archives series number
National Archives microfilm roll number
Name of ship (often the type of ship is noted as well)
Family identification number