Have
you tried referencing Percy William Filby's Passenger
and Immigration Lists Index for that
impossible immigrant? Did you know it covers over 5 million passengers, spanning 153 - 1900? Sure it can be more challenging than tapping inquiries in
online subscription bases, but what if you need to widen your search? Filby’s cumulated
Volumes give us one more glimpse of hope when looking for that elusive ancestor,
or trying to identify a family unit, or locating naturalization papers. And, you, probably already know that ship passenger lists prior to 1820 were not necessarily
preserved and housed in a central location, even though now most are held at
the National Archives.
If
nothing else, researchers will broaden their knowledge of passenger and
immigration research sources by using this collection that is chock-full of locations,
books, and information location. If you
visit a genealogy library, like the Midwest Genealogy Center (MGC), in Independence
Mo., chances are, the sources (periodicals, passenger books, and reference
books) are already on the shelf. Matter of fact, at the Genealogy library, they
have most often hand-scribbled in the margin the equivalent of a “finding aid.”
a3Genealogy is called upon frequently to review the Filby's Index and locate and analyze the information at MGC.
What is “Filby’s”
Often
called Filby’s, nicknamed after the author/editor P. William Filby the Index of Ship's Passengers
was originally published in 1981 with 500,000 passenger records. Subsequent to the
initial 3 volumes additional supplements have been issued - about 1 per year
for about 13 years. So now the index
contains more than five million records of US immigrants in its thirty-three
supplements.
Researchers
must review all of the supplements in ferreting out their ancestors. Time
consuming? Yes, but remember it is alphabetize. Keep in mind, though, that
names may be spelled incorrectly. We often suggest, you widen your search.
Remember, for example, the letters K and C are audibly similar to a record
keeper or non-speller. So, your Casell, may be a Kasell.
Oh,
and don’t limit your search to passenger lists. It can also assist in locating
naturalization records and the associated courts. The listing of passengers, taken
from many different sources and compiled alphabetically by surname, makes it
easier to identify family clusters. Occupations are also noted which can assist
researchers in narrowing ancestors who were blessed with common surnames (i.e.
Smith, Williams, Jones). Since various
ships-lists are provided, researchers can more easily obtain the full manifest
and perhaps review the original source.
Find and Seek Exercise
Filby
meticulously created a code of resources.
And the Midwest Genealogy Center
(MGC) not only “broke the code” (front of book) but provides the researcher with the
key to the stacks. Neatly noted in the margin of each coded page, the MGC staff has scribbled
the stack location of available in-house sources. Many of the sources are truly
in-house; but others may not be available at MGC. Lucky for us, that too is
noted.
Online database:
Of
course there are online index databases, but not half as fun and not as easy to
analyze (IMHO). But decide for yourself. Be sure to look at the Passenger and
Immigration Lists 1500-1900 (PILI) on the WorldVitalRecords.com site.
Kathleen Brandt
Kathleen Brandt
a3Genealogy@gmail.com
Accurate, accessible answers
Very interesting! Great post.
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