Von: carlah@earthlink.net (Carla)
  Datum: 24.07.98, 17:53:07
Betreff: Ellis Island/Burials? and Where Records Are Located

Dear Sue and Baden-Wue List Friends,

Sue Smith wrote in response to my earlier post concerning immigrant deaths en
route and possible burial at Ellis Island, and the point she makes is very
intelligent and helpful:

Sue Smith wrote:

> Regarding your e-mail to Toni. This is going to probably sound like the
> silliest questions, but how long did it generally take for a ship leaving
> Hamburg or Bremen to arrive in New York? I figured it took awhile to cross
> back in the 1800's, so they would have probably buried them at sea. They
> surely didn't have any way of preserving the bodies. Was the death always
> recorded on the ship manifest?

Sue's questions aren't silly at all---and the points she makes are quite
logical.  I'm not certain how long the actual crossing took from a European
port to the U.S.; it may also have been variable, depending on the period in
question---1850's ship voyages may have taken much longer than those in the
1890's, for example.

However, I quite agree with Sue that, if someone died aboard ship *well
before* the vessel was about to arrive in port, they were very likely buried
at sea, for health and practical reasons.  As Sue wisely points out, there
would have been no way of preserving anyone's remains for very long.  I also
imagine that any such death and burial would have been indicated on the ship's
manifest in some way---and perhaps even registered with the proper authorities
once the vessel had reached its destination.  This is why I suggested checking
with the vital records offices in the places in question for a death record.

At the time I answered Toni's post, I had the idea that the deceased passenger
to whom she was referring had literally *just* died on the ship on the way
into port, or within a few hours before.  I had an earlier letter before
Toni's on the same topic where that was the case.  I should have verified that
Toni meant the same circumstances applied in the case of her ancestor.  I am
grateful to Sue for recognizing my lack of attention to a possibly different
scenario.

Let me take this opportunity to clarify one other point about which some
people have written to me.

Please note that passenger arrival records are not filed according to which
*processing facility* served an immigrant, but by the *port city* in which the
immigrant arrived.

Castle Garden and Ellis Island were both processing facilities serving the
port city of New York.

REGARDLESS of the specific processing facility through which your ancestor
passed, the *research source* for arrival records concerning them is the
same.  Surviving passenger arrival records can be researched on microfilm made
available at the U.S. National Archives (NARA) branches, and in many cases at
the LDS (Mormon) Family History Library branches.

In other words, whether your ancestor was processed through the port of New
York at Castle Garden or Ellis Island, or arrived at another port on the East
coast altogether, you would still look for available records on these arrivals
at the places mentioned above.

You DO need to know (or guess at) the port at which your ancestor arrived---on
the East coast, these were usually New York, Boston, Philadelphia and
Baltimore (MD)---and have an approximate date of arrival in mind in order to
undertake a search of the records.  The arrival records are filed according to
port and in chronological order.

Also keep in mind that immigrants could have arrived at many different port
locations in the United States and Canada---not just at New York or other
ports on the East coast.  However, the records for these other ports would
still be found at NARA or the LDS FHL.

The knowledge that an ancestor was processed through Castle Garden or Ellis
Island upon arrival does not have an impact on where to locate arrival records
for research (except to indicate a person arrived at the port of New York).

Hope this is not massively confusing!  I apologize for the extensive detail.

Best of luck in your research,
Carla HELLER
Los Angeles