How to Read a Passenger Manifest

Chapter 3 · The crossing · Reading a manifest

A passenger manifest is a form, and the form changed repeatedly between 1890 and 1924. Each change added a column, and some of those columns name the Polish village twice. Most of what families miss is not in the name column at all.

What each generation of the form asks

From 1893: last residence, final destination, who paid the passage, whether joining a relative and who
From 1903: “race or people”, where a Pole from Russia is finally recorded as Polish
From 1906 and 1907: place of birth, physical description, and the name and address of the nearest relative in the old country

The two-page manifest of 1907 onward is the richest. It gives the village as the last residence, again as the place of birth, and a third time in the address of the relative left behind.

The annotations

A number written over a name is usually a later verification for naturalization, and points to a naturalization file
“SI” or a mark in the margin sends the passenger to a Board of Special Inquiry
A line struck through with “not on board” means the passenger never sailed
Stamps and numbers in the first column relate to the inspection line and the ship’s list

Reading the place names

Village names were written by German or Dutch clerks guessing at Polish spellings. Read them aloud with a German accent, compare them with every other document that names the place, and test the candidates against historical gazetteers. The guide to misspelled village names walks through the method.