Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild

SS Willamette Valley

I, John Von Helms, Master of the Willamette Valley do solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear that the following List or Manifest, subscribed by me, and now delivered by me to the Collector of the Customs of the Collection District of San Francisco, is a full and perfect list of all Chinese passengers taken on board the said vessel at Guaymas & Way Ports from which port said vessel has now arrived, or that have been taken on board the said vessel at any foreign port or place, and of all such passengers now on board said vessel, and that on said List is truly designated the names and other particulars, as shown by their respective certificates.So help me God.
(signature) John Von Helms
Sworn to this 16th day of Jan 1896, before me, (signature) NS Farley, Deputy Collector of Customs

Separate List or Manifest of all the Chinese Passengers taken on board the Willamette Valley whereof
John Von Helms is Master, from Guaymas, burthen 742.69 tons

Columns represent: Number, No of Certificate, Name, Age, Occupation, Last Place of Residence, Height, Complexion, Color of Eyes, Physical Marks or Peculiarities and Facts of Identification, If accredited officers of Chinese Government, state facts*.

1* 57095  Chang Foo 19 Cook San Francisco 5'4"  light Dark Brown scar under right ear
2* 44700  Lew   Tai 34 Cook San Francisco 5'5¾" Dark  Dark       scar on left temple
 

Transcriber's Notes:

* An asterisk indicates an error on the part of the original recorder, not the transcriber,
  or calls attention to additional information in the transcriber notes.

The pages on this film are not numbered so finding a particular ship can be difficult.  
 However, there is a system of numbering the manifests that is a part of the National
 Archives file system on Chinese persons.  These numbers are included in the identification 
 of the film and reel numbers below.

The following column had no entries:
 If accredited officers of Chinese Government, state facts

There are three hand-written notes on the cover sheet for this ship:
State of California
City and County of San Francisco
    J Sloane, being duly sworn deposes and says that he was the Master of the Bark Arcturius,
 wrecked at Santa Rosario, Mexico on the 30th day of December 1895.
    That on the 15th day of September, 1895 deponent shipped before the United States Shipping 
 Commission at Port Townsend, State of Washington, the crew necessary for the voyage.  That he 
 shipped Chan Foo, as Cook and Lew Tai as Boy for the round voyage from Port Townsend to 
 Mexico and return to a port in the United States for final discharge.
    That at the time the vessel was wrecked said Chan Foo and Lew Tai were on board of the 
 Bark and were taken to Guaymas with the remainder of the crew and put on board of the 
 Steamer Willamette (remainder cut off film)

Office of the Collector of Customs
Port of San Francisco		Jany 18, 1896
 Inspector in Charge
    Satisfactory evidence having been produced that Chang Foo and Lew Tai were resuced 
 from the American Bark Arcturius wrecked off Santa Rosario, Mexico Dec 30/95 they being
 a part of the Crew of said vessel. You are authorized to allow them to land on showing
 to you their registration papers by which you are to identify them.
(signature) John H H???, Collector

Respy returned to Mr Harrison: These men were landed Saturday Jany 18 about noon.  
 Mr Bryant discharging officer at that Lock Bway 2 ???? by Insp McCranis
(signature) B.E. Meredith Jany 21, 1896

1   Although referred to as Chan twice in the first note, this man's name is clearly
    written Chang on the list and in the second note.
1-2 Both passengers have a note: Not in Transit

---

We strive to make your search productive. If you don't find the passenger list you are looking for on our site, please consider a subscription to Ancestry.com. There, you can locate your ancestors ship, passenger list, view and save a copy of the original list. You can also access census data and death records to help you in your search. Census records, and in particular the 1930 census, is one of the most easily used tools for beginners and seasoned genealogists alike. Ancestry.com is the only place where all census years are easily searchable.
Free Trial - Ancestry.com US Deluxe Membership