Passenger Lists

The advent of the internet has had a major impact on the number of ‘passenger lists’ now available to the public. In many instances, it is possible to track your ancestor as they made their way from Ireland (or the UK) across the Atlantic to North America, Canada, South America or to other locations such as South Africa, Asia, Australia or New Zealand.  Emigrants also travelled to mainland Europe or the outlying islands of the Americas, and it is now possible to locate them in online records, some of which are in English. 

Unfortunately, no centralised location exists to search for emigration/immigration records. Furthermore, as a general rule in regard to passenger lists, prior to c. 1890, a far better chance of identifying passengers exists at the port of arrival, as opposed to the port of departure. Information recorded at the point of immigration can sometimes give clues to ‘where the person originated within Ireland’, ‘who they were travelling with’, and ‘where ultimately they were going. Notwithstanding the shortcomings surrounding these records, there are now a range of websites (some free but most are pay-per-view or subscription) where information can be located.

Border crossings and passports, naturalisation and citizenship and a range of less well known records are also available for some locations.