National Parks 101: How do I search for my ancestors at Ellis Island?

July 21, 3:44 PMNational Parks Recreation ExaminerRandi Minetor

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Ellis Island Registry Room (Nic Minetor)

The numbers are tantalizing:  Between 1892 and 1954, more than 12 million people entered the United States through the impressive brick buildings at Ellis Island.  If your ancestors arrived here during those 62 years, chances are good—but not absolutely certain—that they spent their first hours in America in the second floor Registry Room at this national immigration center.

Searching for your ancestors on Ellis Island can be rewarding or baffling, depending on the information you bring with you when you begin your sleuthing.  The American Family Immigration Center at Ellis Island National Monument can be a terrific resource for tracking down the date on which your relatives arrived here, the ship on which they traveled, and your ancestors’ answers to dozens of questions posed before they boarded the ship from their homeland—and again when they arrived on this island.

In a near-superhuman effort, the entire database of 25 million immigration records (most in ship’s manifests) have been made available online by the Ellis Island Foundation. You needn’t make the trip to Ellis Island to access these records, however.  They’re all available in an easily searchable database at www.ellisisland.org, a timesaving and cost-conscious way to discover your heritage from the comfort of your desk chair.

If you want to add drama and immediacy to your search while standing in the footsteps of millions who waited for admittance to this country decades ago, make the trip out to the island from Battery Park in downtown Manhattan, where thousands of visitors wait for ferries to transport them to Liberty Island (the home of the Statue of Liberty) and Ellis Island.

Here are some useful tips to make your visit as productive as possible:

1. When you arrive at Ellis Island, reserve a Search Session—a time to use a computer workstation with some guidance by Ellis Island staff members to get you started.  You’ll be given a time to return to the center to start your search.
2. Bring any information you have on your ancestors: The name of the ship on which they arrived, the year they came to America, alternate spellings of their names, birth date, age when they arrived, anything else you know.
3. If you find your ancestor’s name in the database, you can have a copy of the ship’s manifest printed for a nominal fee.
4. If your ancestor is not listed, professionals at the center may be able to provide additional ideas for finding your ancestor’s entry point into the US. 
5. Keep in mind that not all immigrants came through Ellis Island. There were other immigration centers in Boston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, southeastern Texas, Los Angeles and other seaports—although Ellis Island was by far the largest.  If your ancestor’s name cannot be found in the Ellis Island ship manifests, he or she may have entered through another port.
6. If your family lore suggests that your ancestor stowed away on a ship to Ellis Island, his or her name may not appear in the manifests.  Historians tell us that men were hired to find and expose stowaways, with significant rewards for each one found—so analysts believe that the number of people who claim they stowed away is vastly disproportionate to the number who may actually have succeeded. The names of found stowaways are listed at the bottom of the manifest, so if you’re searching on a ship’s name and you pull up an alphabetical manifest, scroll down to the end if you believe that your relative may have attempted a clandestine crossing.
7. Ellis Island historians recommend two good books to help you with your search:  The Family Tree Guide to Finding Your Ellis Island Ancestors by Sharon DeBartolo Cormack (Family Tree Books, 2005) and Google Your Family Tree by Daniel M. Lynch (FamilyLink.com Inc., 2008). Both of these are on sale in the Ellis Island bookstore, and at the American Family Immigration Center at Ellis Island.