Baltimore Passenger Lists

In addition to using microfilm available at the National Archives, you can now search Baltimore passenger lists online at one of several Web sites. Through this site, we share details about the history of immigration, but focus on special tips to search passenger arrival records. Use of this site is completely FREE, but please note that some sites described and linked to may require subscription or payment to fully utilize their services.

Below is a listing of some other popular U.S. ports available for online searching:

Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948
Boston Passenger Lists, 1820-1943
California Passenger and Crew Lists, 1893-1957
New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945
Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945
Passenger & Immigration Lists Index, 1500s - 1900s

About Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948
This database is an index to the passenger lists of ships arriving from foreign ports at the port of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, from 1820-1948. In addition, the names found in the index are linked to actual images of the passenger lists. 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.

For more information about this database, click here. This database is an index to the passenger lists of ships arriving from foreign ports at the port of Baltimore, Maryland from 1820-1948. 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 M255, rolls 1-50 and microfilm T844, rolls 1-150. This database also contains a few records of immigrants who entered the U.S. at other ports or border crossings and were later asked, when they were living in Baltimore, to fill out immigrant arrival information on passenger lists. Therefore, you may find individuals in this database whose port of arrivals are, for example, St. Albans, Vermont; Portal, North Dakota; Port Huron, Michigan; Tampa, Florida; and others.

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 Baltimore. 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 Baltimore).

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".

To learn about researching in passenger records consult John P. Colletta's book, They Came In Ships (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993).

If you found this page to be useful, please consider forwarding a link to this page via email to other friends or family members who may also benefit from the tips shared.

If you have a Web site, you are free to link to this page using the term Search NY Arrivals as the 'target text' for your link.