Ship Records-Where to start...

Fraochale · Post by **Fraochale** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 6:22 pm

Where does one start when it comes to looking for ships one might have used to emmigrate to North America? I am trying to find my ancestors who we believe came from Rerrick, Kirkcudbright between the late 1830's and 1851 where they first appeared on the Conneticuit census in the US.

We are wondering what would be the likely ports to start looking for them to depart from, and would they have entered Canada instead of the US because they show up in Conn?

Would Glasgow been the main port of departure or would they have gone over to Ireland to depart from Londonderry? Or would there have been ports more likely in England as they were in the southern most part of Scotland?

What sites are useful for looking for ship manifests?

Jody

[Admin note: Duplicate post deleted]

CatrionaL · Post by **CatrionaL** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 7:06 pm

Hi Jody

Have you had a look at the Seafaring Forum? Until someone comes up with some precise information for you, it might well be worth visiting some of the sights mentionned in that forum.

Best wishes

Catriona

Fraochale · Post by **Fraochale** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:25 pm

Thanks I will check out that section. I wasn't sure if that was just people looking for their ancestors in the seafaring trades. But I'll check it out.

Jody

Dubbleu · Post by **Dubbleu** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:46 pm

My ancestors came from Glasgow in 1873 and settled in northeastern Connecticut (Windham County: Thompson). The only clue that I had to go on was from an obituary that stated "came here in July 1873". I guessed that they must have come into either New York or Boston and I read through each and every available passenger list out of Glasgow for June, July & August 1873 several times without any luck, each time going a little further forward and back.

Finally when the indexes for the New York passenger lists became available last year they appeared within seconds - on a ship out of Liverpool!

I had been so certain that they would have sailed out of Glasgow where they lived that I neglected to look at any of the other ports of departure. (Their ship did not go through Glasgow at all). Ancestry now has quite a few of these ship lists and indexes available. If they came into New York, the Castle Garden web site is also a great resource: http://www.castlegarden.org/index.html What are the names of the ancestors?

Wendy

Fraochale · Post by **Fraochale** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:28 pm

D
My ancestors are Isabella McTaggart and William Clark(e). They first appear in the 1851 Conn census, with their first child Mary. We have never found a marriage record for them in either the US or in Scotland, but in Scotland that would have been pre 1855 so it isn't that uncommon. We do know that in the US she held the purse strings, because any land or major purchases such as burial plots were ALWAYS in her name- her maiden name-Isabella Mctaggart.

We just thought if we could find out when they came we might see if they came with his family- his parents were Michael Clarke and Mary McCartney.

Jody

Dubbleu · Post by **Dubbleu** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:29 pm

I don't see them in the 1850 US census, but the 1870 US census in Wisconsin indicates that William was a citizen which means he must have been naturalized. Have you checked for his naturalization documents? The date of immigration is often recorded there and sometimes the port of immigration as well. On the 1900 census, Isabella indicates year of immigration as 1852 and a check with William's citizenship papers could help to confirm it.
Wendy

Post by **HeatherH** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 3:10 pm

Hi There,
I have had success with both

http://www.immigrantships.net/

and

http://www.theshipslist.com/

Happy Hunting,
HeatherH

Fraochale · Post by **Fraochale** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:55 am

Thanks for the suggestions, I just haven't had any luck with either of these in the past I can him but never here. I am beginning to think they used assumed names.

Jody

BarbR · Post by **BarbR** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:41 am

Hi Jody,
I am subscribed to a rootsweb mailing list for ships to Canada pre 1865 run by Lorine McGinnis Schulze who runs Olivetree Genealogy site. This is a quote from her regarding looking for passengers to Canada pre 1865. Hope it of some help, I am still looking for mine from 1848!

I doubt you will find a list of ship names. There are no
comprehensive lists of immigrants arriving in Canada prior
to 1865. Until that year, shipping companies were not
required by the government to keep their passenger
manifests.

There are search engines to search multiple websites for
ships going to Canada at

http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/sea ... nada.shtml

They include most ships lists on the Internet going to
Canada and the online InGeneas databases for immigration to
Canada 1800s

Immigration Projects Online

The Hawke Papers, letterbooks of Chief Emigrant Agent
Anthony B. Hawke are also available at the Archives of
Ontario. They cover the years 1831 to 1892. See the
searchable database at
http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/db/hawke.htm

******************************************
Newspaper Arrivals

TheShipsList website has Quebec ship arrivals extracted
from
contemporary newspapers.

See

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/Arrivals/index.htm

******************************************
Miscellaneous Websites with Immigration Information on
Ships
to Canada

Immigrants to Canada
http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/thevoyage.html

Ships Passenger Lists Online
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/ships/

Finding Ships Passenger Lists to Canada
http://shipslists-online.rootschat.net/canada/

Ships Passenger Lists to Canada 1400-1930
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/toc ... 1800.shtml

Fraochale · Post by **Fraochale** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 2:09 am

Barb
Thank you for the information. I will check out the sites. I am not sure they came through Canada but we are checking all the sources just in case. They first appear in Conn. and then later in Wisconsin.

Jody