Hamburg Passenger Lists

The Hamburg passenger lists contain the names of millions of Europeans who emigrated through Hamburg between 1850 and 1934 (except 1915–1919). Nearly one-third of the people who emigrated from central and eastern Europe during this time are included on these lists. If you have ancestors who emigrated from these areas, the Hamburg passenger lists could provide important genealogical information about them, including their hometowns. Extensive indexes make these records easier to use than most other passenger lists and emigration records.

The records of Europeans who emigrated through other ports, such as Bremen, LeHavre, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp, have either been destroyed or are not available for research at the Family History Library.

You may not need to look at the Hamburg passenger lists if you already know where your ancestor was born in Europe. Furthermore, you may be able to find your ancestor's birthplace in other sources, such as local records where the person resided.

The Hamburg passenger lists are made up of two sections. Both sections have an index.

The Direct Passenger Lists include passengers who left Hamburg, Germany, and sailed directly to their destination without stopping at other European ports.

The Indirect Passenger Lists include passengers who stopped at another European port before sailing to their final destination. About 20 percent of the immigrants leaving Europe took indirect routes.

The Hamburg passenger lists and indexes are on 486 rolls of microfilm at the Family History Library plus an additional 48 rolls of microfilm for the Klüber Kartei, a newly acquired index for the Hamburg Passenger lists covering approximately 1850 to 1871. For film numbers, search the Locality section of the Family History Library Catalog under:

GERMANY, HAMBURG, HAMBURG - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION

= USING THE PASSENGER LIST INDEXES =

Four Steps to Follow


 * Select the best index to use.
 * Search the index.
 * Obtain the passenger list.
 * Search the passenger list.

STEP 1: SELECT THE BEST INDEX TO USE.
Before using the index, you need to know the year the emigrant left Germany. The 1900, 1910, and 1920 U.S. censuses are a good place to begin searching for this kind of information. The census provides the year a person arrived in the United States. If possible, find out whether the emigrant traveled directly to his or her destination or stopped at other ports along the way.

Most of the Hamburg passenger lists have been indexed. The only ones not indexed are those from 1850 to 1854. They are arranged alphabetically. There are three sets of indexes: the Fifteen-year Index to the Direct Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1856–1871; the Klüber Kartei, covering approximately 1850–1871; and the regular indexes.

If the emigrant departed between 1850 and 1854, search the alphabetical passenger list for those years. If the emigrant departed between 1856 and 1871, search the fifteen-year index or Klüber Kartei first. If the person is not listed in these, you may still wish to search the regular indexes.

The Fifteen-Year Index
The Fifteen-year Index arranges all the names on the direct lists from 1856 to 1871 in one alphabetical index. Though it is convenient to use, this index is not complete. After checking the index, you may still need to use the Klüber Kartei or the regular indexes for the same time period. The regular indexes are more complete, but they are more difficult to use.

The Klüber Karteien
The Klüber Kartei, or Klüber Card File, was filmed in 1994. It consists of two separate card indexes that cover both the direct and indirect Hamburg passenger lists for the following years:

Card File 1 (Kartei 1)
Includes entries lettered from A–Z for:


 * Direct Passenger Lists, 1856–1871
 * Indirect Passenger Lists, 1866–1867

Card File 2 (Kartei 2)
Includes entries lettered from A–Z for:


 * Direct Passenger Lists, 1850–1871
 * Indirect Passenger Lists, 1854–1865

Although the two files overlap in time periods, both are necessary since neither file is complete. These card files are considered more complete than the Fifteen-year Index when card files 1 and 2 are used together.

The Regular Indexes
Both the Direct Passenger Lists and the Indirect Passenger Lists have regular indexes. The indexes are divided into segments that cover one year or part of a year. The direct indexes begin in 1854 and end in 1934. The indirect indexes begin in 1854 and end in 1910.

STEP 2: SEARCH THE INDEX.
Use the following instructions to search the index you selected in step 1.

Using the Fifteen-year Index
Using the table shown in figure 1, get the film on which your ancestor’s name would appear.

Fifteen-year Index
Figure 1: Fifteen-year Index film numbers  Figure 2: A fifteen-year index card. When you find a person in an index, use the information in the index to find the person in the actual passenger list. See step 3 to learn how to do this.

Using the Klüber Kartei
Using the Family History Library Catalog, find the film number of the time period and correct beginning letter for your family name.

Klüber Kartei 2
The index cards provide the emigrant’s name, status or occupation, age, names of persons traveling in the same party, and place of origin. It also includes the year of emigration and the page number where the entry will be found. A letter i or d following the year will indicate if the entry was from the indirect or direct index. There are different types of cards used in this file. The figures below show two typical samples of cards from the Klüber Kartei. Figure 3: Index card from Klüber Kartei. Figure 4: Index card from Klüber Kartei.

Using the Regular Indexes
Using the Family History Library Catalog to find the film number, locate the index for the time period the emigrant departed.

Find the year the emigrant departed and the letter of the alphabet with which your ancestor’s surname begins. Names are arranged by the first letter of the surname only, so you may need to search the entire section to find the person you are looking for.

NOTE: Each letter of the alphabet was allotted only a certain number of pages. When these pages were filled, the rest of the names beginning with that letter were continued on the unused pages under another letter. There may or may not be a note indicating this happened. Therefore, search all of the end pages assigned to other letters if your ancestor’s name is not listed where it should be.

Figure 5 below is a sample of an entry from the regular index. The actual format of the indexes vary over time. Notice the type of information provided within these entries. Figure 5: A Regular Index Entry. The actual format of the indexes vary over time. Notice the type of information provided within these entries.

An index entry contains:


 * The name of the ship.
 * The departure date of the ship (28 June 1893).
 * The passenger's name.
 * The name of the ship's captain.
 * The name of the destination port.
 * The page this information is found on the actual passenger lists.

When you find the emigrant in the index, note the number following the name. This number indicates which page the name appears on in the passenger list. In some cases page numbers are dittoed, referring to the previous page. Occasionally, large page numbers are partially dittoed. For example, pages 1086, 1087, and 1088 might appear as 1086, 87, 88.

Next, move up the column until you find the departure date. When you have both the departure date and page number, you are ready to find the emigrant in the passenger list.

If you cannot find a person in the index to the direct lists, follow the steps outlined here to search the index to the Indirect Lists.

For a list of terminology used in the Hamburg Passenger List click here.

CAN'T FIND YOUR ANCESTOR IN THE INDEXES?
If you cannot find an emigrant in the indexes, there are several possible reasons.

The emigrant did not sail from Hamburg. He or she may have sailed from one of several other ports in Europe, most of which have few or no records available.

The person was listed on another page because the first page was full. Search the end sections of other letters of the alphabet.

The name was spelled differently than it appears in your records. Look for alternate spellings of the name.

The person emigrated at a different date. Try other years.

STEP 3: OBTAIN THE DESIRED PASSENGER LIST.
Once you have found your ancestor in an index, you will want to get the actual passenger list on which that person appears. Film numbers for the passengers lists appear after the regular indexes in the Family History Library Catalog.

STEP 4: SEARCH THE PASSENGER LIST.
In the passenger list, turn to the page number you found in the index. On some passenger lists a numbered page is followed by one or more unnumbered pages. If your ancestor's name does not appear on the numbered page, search the unnumbered page(s) immediately following it.

Format and titles may vary by shipping line and year.

For more information on the Hamburg Passenger Lists and how to use them, see The Hamburg Passenger Lists (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1984; FHL fiche 6000034). Paper publication: Fourth edition, 1996.