Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild

SS Orizaba

I, John Von Helms, Master of the Steamship Orizaba 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 Panama & 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 29 day of April 1896, before me, (signature) __?___, Deputy Collector of Customs

Separate List or Manifest of all the Chinese Passengers taken on board the Orizaba whereof John Von Helms is Master, from Guaymas, burthen 642.69 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, Yet Wo, 65y, Shoemaker, Mazatlan, 5'7", Dark, Black, Small hole in front of right ear
      Dep for Victoria, B.C.
             

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 departure port is listed as simply "Panama."  Research indicates this refers to Panama City.

For passengers bound for San Francisco, passengers' names and ages are followed by a stamp 
 that varies depending on the disposition of the passenger and which is stamped over whatever 
 information has been entered in the columns. 
Passengers allowed to land have the following stamp:
 Landed Collectors order (blank with a month and day date written in) 1896 by  Insp's (blank 
 for a name). 
 
Passengers not allowed to land have one of two different stamps:
 Landing Refused Habeas Corpus U.S.D.C. Case followed by a number.  These passengers were 
  probably allowed to land, but not to freely enter the country.
 Landing Refused Departed Per Steamer ______ (name of ship) _________ (date).

For passengers bound for a further destination there are two possible dispositions:
  Landed "I.T." Transit List followed by a number  These passengers expected to continue travel 
   by some other means to their destinations.
  Departed Per Steamer ______ (name of ship) _________ (date)

The following columns had no entries:
 No of Certificate
 If accredited officers of Chinese Government, state facts

According to the National Archives branch in San Bruno, California it is possible that they have
 some information on any Chinese passenger who arrived in San Francisco after 1886.

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