Although the online digitization of Ellis Islannd's passenger records <ellisisland.org> was a landmark event for researching immigrant ancestors, it ultimately proved disappointing for many genealogists: Their ancestors weren't in the database. Despite the lore of that gate way to America, not every immigrant came through the port of New York, and many who did arrived before Ellis Island opened in 1892. The recent posting of records from Castle Garden <castlegarden.org>, Ellis Island's predecessor, has filled in some of the blanks, but finding passenger records can still be frustrating.

Two new massive digitization efforts may deliver answers to those still seeking their immigrant ancestors. Both come from sites familiar to Internet genealogists: Ancestors on Board <ancestorsonboard.com>, a new service from Find MyPast.com (formerly 1837 online.com), contains outbound passenger lists from British ports, digitized from the United Kingdom's national archives. A total of 30 million records from the UK Board of Trade, covering thousands of ships from 1890 to 1960, are being uploaded over a span of several months.