Castle Garden Immigration Records – Free Immigration Records for the Port of New York

Castle Garden in New York City was one of the processing centers where immigrants from all over the world passed through when they immigrated to the United States. Castle Garden immigration records are available for the 10 millions plus immigrants to the United States passing through this port even before Ellis Island was opened. Castle Garden was in operation from 1830 to 1892, which was when Ellis Island was opened.

Many people assume their ancestors came though Ellis Island when the reality is that they probably came through Castle Garden! If you are one of the approximately 73 million Americans (such as myself) with Castle Garden immigrants in your tree, trying to find out more about your ancestors, you should check out Castle Garden immigration records. With Castle Garden passenger manifests, historical accounts, photographs, and other pertinent U.S. Immigration records, you can connect the dots between your American ancestors and those that first came to this country in the 19th century.

Image via Wikipedia

The Castle Garden website has a simple search function to help you find your ancestors for free. Unfortunately, it is not very sophisticated and it can be difficult to locate the correct record. If you do find a record, the results are merely text from a database. You may want to get a 14-day free trial to Ancestry.com and search their New York passenger lists. There, you can also see the original manifest image and sometimes even a picture of the ship! In my own case, I found the record of my great-great grandmother on Ancestry but not in Castle Garden’s database. I’m not sure why there is a difference but apparently there is since she does not appear.

You may also want to check Steve Morse’s One Step genealogy search website. He has built a custom interface to search the Castle Garden records with much more detail.

If you are looking for ancestors who arrived in the Port of New York, don’t forget to check out Castle Garden – the lesser known immigration center.

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