RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: LizzieW on Thursday 26 April 07 00:00 BST (UK)
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Hello
I have found, on a shipping list someone who could be my great uncle. He is listed as a single man of adult age. How do I go about finding out if he is the person I am searching for? Would the shipping company give me any information, such as a home address prior to emigration? The person I have found went to US in 1911 when he would have been 31, so now long since dead.
Liz
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Very, very doubtful shipping company would keep records that long or would even reply to queries.
How about asking someone to look for him in 1920 & 1930 census records?
U.S. vital records are by individual state so if you have an idea where he lived there might be other sources.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I posted on another site too, but then on this one as I didn't want to hi-jack another thread. I'm not even sure my relative went to America, it is just that I can't find him and his brother, although I have found his 3 sisters and other brother (he was my grandad) and my dad always said he had an uncle in USA.
Liz
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What was his name?
Fred
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The shipping record itself will often give the name of a nearest relative in the country of departure, and/or the name of the person the immigrant is joining in the US, both of which can be useful checking points.
Anna
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Chloespop.
There are 2 brothers that I cannot find after the 1901 census, I have the 3rd brother, my grandad, and their 3 sisters and as my dad always said he had relatives in the US, these were the only two possibilities. However, unless the eldest one went first and then sent for the other one who was about 13 years younger, I may just be on a wild goose chase.
As another Rootschatter recently offered to search the US census for me, and e-mailed me to say she had found a few possibilities, I don't want to ask anyone else to do the same, I was just thinking that as I now had access to the shipping lists, I might find some info that I could pass on to confirm or reject names. So I hope, at the moment, you don't mind if I don't give you any names until I hear from the person who offered (by e-mail) to search for me.
I am grateful for everybody's help and suggestions. Someone else has suggested that the records on Ancestry give more info than the ones I found on Findmypast, so I am going to look at those.
Regards
Liz
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Have a look also on the Ellis Island website:
http://www.ellisisland.org/
for lists of passengers arriving in the US (different lists from the outbound passenger lists available at findmypast).
Anna
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Thank you Anna, I'll have a good search tomorrow.
Liz
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I'm a bit confused- are you talking about passenger lists? The passenger lists on sites like Ellis Island were complied for allowing passengers entry into the U.S. and often give details like person they are going to in U.S. and name and address of nearest relative in country of origin.
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The list I have saved is headed Merchant Shipping Act 1906 and Aliens Act 1905, then it has on the next line a heading "Out-Going Passengers" and under that is printed, "Returns of Passengers leaving the United Kindom in ships bound for places out of Europe, and not within The Mediterranean Sea. Then there is a note about which passengers are to be listed. The list itself looks like an old account sheet and handwritten before the columns is Port of Departure Liverpool, then Date of Departure February 25th 1911. The first lot of columns are headed Ship's Name, Official Number, Steamship Line, Master's Name, Registered Tonnage, Aggregate Number of superficial feet in the several compartments set apart for Passengers, other than Cabin Passengers, Total Number of Statue Adults, exclusive of Master Crew and Cabin Passengers, which the Ship can legally carry. and finally Where Bound. Then the master has had to sign that the provisions carried are sufficient etc.
Underneath all that lot is another large heading Names and Descriptions of British passengers. Then underneath that are more columns giving Port of Embarkation, Contract Ticket Number, Name of Passengers (and in brackets a note stating that passengers holding contract tickets as steerage passengers should be entered first and a space left between them and the other passengers) Then the class (and on this particular form 3rd is printed), then there are columns A, C and I, for Adults, Children and Infants which are ticked appropriately. then Profession, Occupation or Calling of Passengers, then a whole load of other columns divided into English, Welsh, Scotch, Irish and British Colonial. These columns are subdivided into Adults 12 and upwards, subdivided again into 2 columns accompanied by husband or wife, or unaccompanied by husband or wife, or single. Then Children between 1 and 12 and finally Infants. All these columns are subdivided again into Males and Females. And the totals of all columns are shown at the bottom of the sheet.
I thought this was a passenger list. The shipping line is Cunard, so maybe each line had its own list. My "relative" is down as adult labourer and under the unaccompanied column where some ages are shown for him and others it just shows 'a' which I assume just means adult and no age given.
Unfortunately, due to the copyright of the form, I couldn't copy and paste it, so have had to describe it as best as I can. Nowhere on the form is there any space to put where they are going to (apart from the ship is going to New York) and certainly nowhere are there any other names and addresses of next of kin etc.
Anna - I note that you say the lists on Ellis Island website are different to the ones on Findmypast. Perhaps that's where the confusion arises.
Liz
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Yes, the document you describe sounds like the BT27 outward-bound passenger list filed under UK requirements.
The Ellis Island website contains the records filed on arrival in the US - different from the above, and often with useful information as to next of kin etc.
Hope you find what you're looking for!
Anna
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Anna
I guess you are right, but I've just had another look at the form and I cannot see a number like BT27, which would normally be in a corner I think.
As I said earlier, I'll have a good look on the Ellis Island website and Ancestry tomorrow.
Thanks again.
Liz
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I've now checked on Ancestry and EllisIsland and it doesn't look as though the person I found is my g.uncle, so back to the drawing board. Well at least I'll wait until the 1911 census to see if I can find him there.
Liz