Ready to trace your ancestors' arrival in America? These data-rich sites may hold the answers you need.
Castle Garden
If you ancestors arrived in New York before Ellis Island opened in 1892, turn to this database on 10 million immigrants who entered through Castle Garden, beginning in 1830.
Ellis Island
Search for later arrivals through the Port of New York, from 1892 to 1924, in this database of 22.5 million passenger records.
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
Strike out at the big databases of New York arrivals? This guild of volunteers has tirelessly transcribed more than 8,000 passenger manifests, many from less famous ports, which you can search by surname, captain's name, port of arrival or departure, and ship name.
TheShipsList
Another passenger-list site, boasting more than 2,000 pages of information, TheShipsList also stands out for its images of ships, ports, immigration stations and steamship-line ads.<