We have a research team!
If you have some information about your ancestors, we may be able to help you locate a passenger list. We do not have information about or access to ships or passenger lists before 1820 or after 1892 (except for Philadelphia, where the films go back to 1800). If you know the name of the ship, the month, year and the port of arrival, and it is within the United States, the search is easily done. We do not have access to ships arriving in other countries at this time and we do not have access to departure lists which may have been recorded at the Port of Departure. The most important thing you must have is an approximate date of departure or arrival. It can be only the month and the year, but without this information we cannot locate a passenger list for you. Knowing the year alone is just not enough as many hundreds of ships arrived at US ports in any given year. Here's what we need:
We need the name of the ship if you know it. We need their complete names, including any alternate spellings of the surname. We need all the complete names of those traveling together, even the children, as many as you know. We need their approximate ages. We need either a Port of Arrival or a Port of Departure. We need to know their nationality. If your ancestor was from "Germany", "Austria", or "Russia", it could help us to know the specific region or state, if possible. We need an approximate date of arrival or departure, the year alone is not enough. Please, please, double-check the dates, and make sure you are typing in the year correctly. It is a complete waste of our time and yours to have us looking in the wrong year. It sounds obvious, but it has happened more than a few times. We need all of this information in one email. It is helpful to have the country of their origin, although they may have embarked in another country. It also helps to know what part of a country they were from if possible. "Germany" or "Austria" are large areas and rather vague terms, but regional terms like "Hesse," "Mecklenburg," "Bohemia," or "Galicia" help narrow down the search a lot. We do not need the name of the ship but if you know it, that makes our work much easier. Tell us about the source of the arrival/departure date. If you have already located your ancestor on a CD, book, or online, from either ethnic or port index information, please tell us. It helps us to know the source as well. If we have only the Port of Departure we calculate the arrival date and search through manifests arriving at that time. This is very time consuming and cannot be done in a hurried fashion.
How Much Time Does It Take?
How Much Does It Cost?
How Do I Pay?
What About the Ellis Island Website I heard about?
I Have Some Questions
(Please read this section before submitting a request.)
I Still Have Some Questions
I Don't Think I have enough Information.
Is there anything else I can do?How Much Time Does It Take?
The amount of time it takes to locate a passenger list for you depends on many things. Between all the members of our Research Team, we have good access to ships arriving in the US (in main ports of entry). If you have the name of the ship, the date and port of arrival it can be done in about 2 weeks. However, it also depends upon how busy we are, so you need some patience. Our staff is small and based on our average workload. When we are busy, it could take a little longer. If an entire month needs to be searched, also allow more time. We will not rush the previous research assignment to get to yours, and you can be certain we will not rush yours to get to the next one. We pledge to search for your ancestor as diligently as we would searching for our own.Back to QuestionsHow Much Does It Cost?
The cost depends on how much accurate information you have. The information you have on a declaration of intent may not be accurate. Your census data can also contain errors. While it's important that you share with us all the information you have, please be aware that some of it may not be completely accurate. We have pledged to keep our passenger lists online and freely available but we cannot do research for free. We know the cost of research can be very expensive, and we strive to keep your costs as low as we possibly can. If you want a copy of an original list which is already on the ISTG site and which contains the names of your ancestors, the cost for a copy of the original passenger manifest is $10.00 which is payable in advance. The cost of .35 per copied page (11 x 17) plus postage will be invoiced to you when the list is mailed. Usually the transcriber has the manifest and can provide these copies. If the transcriber can't, the Research Team can, but we have to ask for $15.00 plus costs, because we would need to go back to the microfilm to get you the manifest.Back to QuestionsEvery other situation will require that you pay for a minimum of one hour research time. If you have an approximate date of arrival, we will search all ships arriving around that time. The cost of the search is $15.00 per hour, with a one hour minimum, and payable in advance. We are sorry to ask for your payment in advance, but that will let us know that you are serious and we won't be wasting our time. If your ancestors are not found, you will be given a detailed report of all that we searched. Many lists can be searched in one hour's time. Please note that you are paying not just for our access to records, but also our experience at finding people using all of our resources. We have access to many CDs and microfilm indices that help us locate your ancestors. We are successful more than 75% of the time. At the end of the first hour, if we haven't located your ancestor, we will contact you again, describing the situation. However, the majority of our searches are concluded within the first hour. Please remember that you are in control of how much money you spend. We are not going to search hours on end and then send you a huge bill. Once we find the list, the standard cost of $10.00 for a copy of it applies, plus .35 per copied page (11 x 17) and postage. Our online form asks whether you want a "page" or a "full" list. Most of our clients prefer our "page" option. With this you will receive the title page, the Captain's sworn statement, the page(s) with your ancestor's name(s), and the last page with any notes about the voyage. Later lists may also contain an affadavit of the surgeon. We will also copy and send you other pages if your ancestor was detained or held for special inquiry. This option is usually a set of 4 to 7 pages, not just one. If you wish to have a copy of the "full" manifest, the cost can only be determined after we have seen the condition of the film, checked the length in terms of number of pages and number of passengers. Passenger lists can vary from under 100 passengers to over 2000 passengers and some will include a list of the crew as well. It would be unfair to quote a standard price here. It can take a few minutes to search a good film or as long as two hours to search a list which is poorly filmed or badly damaged. We feel better leaving the decision up to you once we have advised you of the length of the list and the condition of it as it appears on the film. Back to Questions
How Do I Pay?
You can pay by either personal check or money order in US funds. While it is more risky, you can also mail well concealed cash. Payments are made directly to your researcher, so please wait until after personal contact is made with the researcher who will handle your request.What About the Ellis Island Website I heard about?
The Ellis Island Website is an excellent source of passenger information, if your ancestor arrived in New York between 1892 and 1924. For many records, you can view the image of your ancestor's page online and the Foundation can make copies for you. They charge $25.00 for each & every page copied. Back to QuestionsI Have Some Questions
Wait...before you email us, please re-read all the information provided above. If after doing that you need to write, please be specific and brief. We do not have a staff to answer email, and we get dozens of emails each day with questions which have been answered right on this page.Family folklore may be helpful but keep to the facts in it and concentrate on their arrival rather than what happened to them once they were here.
Please let us know what documents you have, if any...such as a declaration of intent, naturalization papers or census data. If you have found them listed somewhere already, tell us that! This will help us keep the correspondence to a minimum so more time will be available for the research.
Once we have reviewed your request or read your email, we will contact you and let you know if our Research Team can handle your request, about how much time it will take and how much it will cost. We will be as accurate as we can. At that time we will let you know where to send the deposit so that we can start on your request.
WHAT ABOUT PRIVACY? Please be advised that all information you send us will be held in confidence and shared only with the researcher who is going to handle your request. We do not share your personal information with anyone else! Only two staff members have access to your online form, so it is even safer than a regular email, and only your personal researcher will ever know your address, in order to send you your copies.
To recap:$15 an hour for research time, with a one hour minimum paid in advance. Your time begins after we have answered your first email... so it is important that you give us all the information you have when you first contact us. It gets costly to write back and forth over a week's time asking for first names, ages etc. Just send it all at once. If your search is unsuccessful, this is all you will have paid. Once we have found the ship, $10 for retrieval, which covers our time that it takes to make the copies and prepare your mailing, which is invoiced. or [If you are ordering a copy of a list, with your ancestor's name, which is already on the ISTG site, from the transcriber, the cost is $10 plus copying and postage. No research time applies.] For all successful searches, add: $.35 per copied page (11 x 17) plus postage, which is invoiced. 
I Want To Order A Passenger List.
Back to QuestionsDon't Think I have enough Information.
Help! I have done all the research I can do and I still don't have enough information to order a list. What else can I do? There is one other thing you can do, although it's a long shot, but it beats no shot at all. You can contribute a roll of microfilm to the Guild. Choose the port of arrival and date or dates of arrival that you think have the best chance of listing your ancestors. The Guild will purchase the film and transcribe all the passenger lists on it. We will include your name on our upcoming Roll of Honor. There is no guarantee that we will find your ancestors. We cannot tell you how long it will take to transcribe the entire film as it may contain over a hundred lists and many of them may be difficult. It's one small way we may be able to help each other. The cost to order a roll of microfilm is $30.00.
Is there anything else I can do?
I Want To Contribute A Microfilm.
Please include "Microfilm Order" in the subject line and send email to:Patty MacFarlane McCormack Founder/Coordinator, ISTG
I Still Have Some Questions
I have read all the answers in this section, but I still have additional questions. Please send an email to:
ISTG StaffCopyrights, Trade Marks, & Registered Trade Marks within this web site are protected under international copyright law. All rights reserved by the respective holders of any ™©® included within this site.
