Massachusetts, New Bedford Passenger Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection contains passenger lists of vessels arriving at New Bedford, Massachusetts from 1902-1942. These records correspond with NARA publication T944 and were filmed at the NARA facility in College Park, Maryland.

Record Content
These records may contain the following information:
 * Full name
 * Age
 * Gender
 * Marital status
 * Occupation
 * Citizenship
 * Race
 * Last permanent residence
 * Birthplace
 * Final destination

How to Use the Record
When searching: As you are searching, it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor's given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence, age, estimated immigration/emigration year, and family relationships.

Search the Collection
To search the collection: ⇒ Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the 'NARA Roll Number' category which takes you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Using the Information

 * Learn an immigrant’s place of origin
 * Confirm their date of arrival
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, or ship’s manifests.
 * Use the age to calculate a birth date.
 * Use the name, date, group, and list number to obtain additional immigration information from the National Archives.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct.
 * Continue to search the passenger lists to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who may have immigrated at the same time.
 * If your ancestor has an uncommon surname, you may want to obtain the passenger list of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname if they lived in the same county or nearby. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors.
 * When you select an image to view, sometimes the manifest includes more than one page, and when you use the "click to enlarge manifest" link, the image that appears is not always the first page of the record. You may need to click on the "previous" or "next" links to view the remaining pages of the full manifest.
 * The information was supplied by the immigrant or a traveling companion (usually a family member). Incorrect information was occasionally given, or mistakes may have been made when the clerk guessed at the spelling of foreign names
 * The passenger arrival list was used by legal inspectors to cross-examine each immigrant during a legal inspection prior to the person being allowed to live in America. Only two percent of the prospective immigrants were denied entry.

Unable to Find your Ancestor?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Search the indexes and records of other port cities.
 * Look for an index. You may also need to search the passenger lists year by year.

General Information about These Records

 * Physical description or format of the original material
 * History of the record
 * Why the record was created
 * Reliability of the information in the record
 * Percentage of the population covered in the record
 * Preservation quality of the record

Related Websites
National Archives

Related Wiki Articles
Massachusetts Emigration and Immigration

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

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