Find your ancestors in New York Passenger Lists, 1846-1890

Dive into the passenger lists of ships arriving at the port of New York between 1846 and 1890. Uncover new details about your family’s past, including occupations, other relatives, and the date of their arrival in the United States.

What can these records tell me?

Over two million individual records testify to the massive numbers of immigrants who entered New York in the second half of the 19th century. The amount of information listed varies, but the New York Passenger Lists, 1846-1890 typically include:

Discover more about New York Passenger Lists, 1846-1890

The New York Passenger Lists chronicle information about immigrants from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and other countries who arrived in the port between the years 1846 and 1890. The early records coincide with the Great Irish Famine, when millions of families left Ireland for America, while later records document the beginning of mass migration from other parts of Europe, prior to the creation of Ellis Island. These earlier immigrants passed through the immigration center known as Castle Garden. As the country’s largest city and port New York received more immigrants than any other city, with roughly 7.5 million people passing through Castle Garden. Records in this collection cover much of the Castle Garden period, up to 1890.

When researching your family’s arrival in the United States, keep in mind that some families did not always arrive in a single group. In many cases, the head of a family would travel ahead to prepare the way for his wife and children. Their arrival in New York was often only the first stop on a family’s longer journey into America. Families often made their way to areas where distant relatives or those from their former homeland had previously settled, whether in New York or other cities and states.

Passenger lists are just one of many records that detail your family’s journey to America. These records can include errors or mistakes in spellings, occupations, and ages. Birth years in this collection were calculated from an individual’s stated age and the year of immigration. To find more information about your relatives, explore local newspapers, as well as census and vital records. Naturalization records are another useful source, as many immigrants strove to become American citizens, filing papers for their naturalization after their arrival.

These records are provided in partnership with the JFK Trust. The original records are held at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C.