Description:
This database is an index to the passenger lists of ships arriving
from foreign ports at the port of Galveston, Texas and the subports
of Houston, Brownsville, Port Arthur, Sabine, and Texas City, Texas,
from 1896-1948. In addition, the names found in the index are linked
to actual images of the passenger lists, copied from the National Archives
and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm, M1359, rolls 1-36.*
Information contained in the index includes given name, surname, age,
gender, ethnicity, nationality or last country of permanent residence,
destination, arrival date, port of arrival, port of departure, ship
name, and microfilm roll and page number. If a name of a friend or relative
whom the individual was going to join with, or a place of nativity was
provided, that information is included in the index as well. Many of
these items may be used to search the index in the search template above.
It is important to note that the port of departure listed on these
passenger lists is not always the original port of departure for these
individuals. A ship could make several voyages throughout the year,
making several stops along way. Oft times the port of departure found
on these lists is the most recent port the ship was located at prior
to arriving at the port of Galveston. Therefore, if your ancestors emigrated
to the U.S. from Germany, they could be found on a passenger list coming
from Liverpool, England (if, in this case, the ship left from Bremen,
Germany then continued on to Liverpool, England before arriving in Galveston).
The microcopies of the passenger lists found at NARA are arranged chronologically
by arrival date of vessel. If you do not wish to search this database
using the search template, the images may be browsed following the chronological
arrangement. To browse the images first select the "Year" in which you
would like to search, followed by the "Month", and finally the "Ship
Name".
*The first roll of microfilm contains some passenger lists from 1893,
but none from 1894 or 1895. That is why the database has a beginning
year range of 1896.