Q. I've found the passenger list showing my German ancestors' 1853 arrival in New Orleans. How can I find a record of their travel on a riverboat to Ohio?

A. "It was pretty much a given that when traveling from New Orleans to anywhere up river or out West, one took passage on a riverboat," says "Riverboat Dave" of Riverboat Dave's Paddlewheel Site <www.riverboatdaves.com>. Early boats, powered by burning wood, were called steamboats. In 1811, the New Orleans was the first one to sail on the Mississippi from New Orleans to the mouth of the Ohio.