How to Search Italian Immigration Records

The Customs House at Ellis Island.

Millions of Italians made the difficult decision to leave their home country and resettle in the United States. In the years before modern air transportation, they made the voyage by steamship. Many of these European immigrants passed through the Customs House at Ellis Island in New York Harbor. You can search the passenger manifests, shipping lists, customs entry forms and other immigration records from Ellis Island and other ports of entry--online and in seconds.

Instructions

1. Compile your immigration information. Put together a list of what you know about the person or family you're searching for information about. This includes names, of course, along with other pertinent information such as what town they lived in, where in Europe they left from, when they arrived in the United States, what ship they sailed on and what their ages where. Any information you have will be helpful in your search.

2. Visit SteveMorse.org. One of the major genealogy research tools on the Internet, this website provides a convenient search interface to the massive databases at Ellis Island and other customs records.

3. Click on "Ellis Island Gold Form." The Gold Form is the preferred option for searching Ellis Island records.

4. Fill out the form with your available information. All fields here are optional, that is, you can search even if you omit people's names by specifying towns, dates or other immigration information.

   There are many variables here and no foolproof way to conduct a search. Start with the name, if known. Use the "sounds like" option if you are not sure of the exact spelling.

5. Check "Italian" in the "Ethnicity" section to restrict your results to Italian immigrants.

6. Click the "Search" button and review search results for the immigrant's name. The links that accompany each name provide more details, including images of actual ship manifests, photographs of the ship itself and text versions of various records.

7. Select other ports of entry at SteveMorse.org if you think the immigrants may have passed through Customs somewhere other than Ellis Island.

Tips & Warnings

• If your initial search is unsuccessful, uncheck "Italian" in the ethnicity section. Italian immigrants may have sailed from ports in Germany, France or elsewhere, and their nationality may not have been properly reported.

References

• Free Genealogy Tools: Immigration and Passenger Records

Resources

• Steve Morse
• Free Genealogy Tools: Finding Ancestors Who Were Immigrants from Italy