Things You'll Need:
- Computer
- Internet connection
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Step 1
Go to the Ellis Island Foundation website. Register to become a member for free online access to family records.
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Step 2
Passenger search engineIn the search engine box, enter the first (optional) and last name of an ancestor who had landed at Ellis Island. In my case, all I knew was my grandfather’s first name and original Russian/Polish surname. His original last name was “Luberg,” but it was changed to “Feldman” on the manifest by an Ellis Island official for some strange reason that’s still not clear to me. I entered the name “David Luberg” into the search engine. I then selected “1881” from a drop-down menu for his “approximate year of birth.” I clicked the “Start Search” button.
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Step 3
The PotsdamTo my amazement, there were two David Lubergs, one from “Liematyez, Russia” and the other from “Simjaty, Russia.” I remembered that my aunt once told me that her parents came from a Jewish shtetl called “Semyatich,” so I figured that “Simjaty” was close enough. I clicked on the second “David Luberg” link. Again, to my amazement, his passenger record appeared. It showed his year of birth, ethnic background, the year of his arrival (1904), and the name of the ship he arrived on (“The Potsdam”).
Note that on this page there was also a link for me to view a photocopy of my grandfather’s actual passenger manifest. And I could even click on a link for an actual photograph of “The Potsdam.” -
Step 4
I knew that I was hooked. I knew that “Luberg” wasn’t a very common surname, so I did a search for “Luberg” and came up with even more relatives from this tiny Russian/Polish town (where there are no longer any Jews).
