The database covers immigrants through multiple points of entry, including major Atlantic port cities. The 10 million-plus names in the collection's initial offering were culled from records such as ships' passenger lists, port arrivals and naturalization documents. More specifically, the collection includes:

• New York Passenger Lists, 1851-1859: Currently this database — available online only at Ancestry.com — contains 2 million names. MyFamily.com says it will add more records in the coming months to ultimately cover more than 11 million immigrants through 1892. You can search the lists by name, and the results link to document images copied from National Archives and Records Administration microfilm. This part of the collection isn't available through Ancestry-Plus, the genealogical-data subscription service sold to libraries.