There was a blog prompt on a genealogy site this month to make a blog post for the type of record that you are most thankful for this year. There is one record that I keep going back to or keep finding more of on both sides of my family research, over and over. They tell you where your ancestor was born, and sometimes tell you the names of parents, or closest living kin. No, it is not a Catholic Church baptism, nor is it a birth record on Antenati. Sometimes these list offshoots of the main family you are researching, or the address of a relative either here or in Europe. They also can describe your ancestor and state their professions. If you are lucky, the amount of money they have at the moment is also listed.
I am most thankful for…
All passenger arrival lists from 1820-1957 at New York, New York were indexed by volunteers. Which is great! The link above will take you to the National Archives of New York, as well as links to EllisIsland.org as well as CastleGarden.org.
Canadian Passenger Lists and Border Entries 1925-1935
The link above will take you the Library and Archives of Canada. I was so excited to find Zopito Di Francesco entered Canada in 1927 at Halifax, Nova Scotia. I found Zopito finally! I found him!
The link above will take you to several links for Hamburg passenger lists. Since Germans are currently the largest ethnic group in the United States, there is no doubt these remaining lists from Germany can be a wealth of information.
I was almost in shock when I discovered that my German immigrant second great grandmother’s sister Anna Maria Bold came to the United States alone at age 15! What have you found the most interesting about passenger lists?
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 