6 Key Genealogy Facts on a Ship Manifest

I'm so lucky. All of my ancestors who emigrated sailed from Naples to New York between 1890 and 1920. The only document collection I need is "New York Passenger Lists". And every one of my people went through Ellis Island.

Ellis Island, December 2017

The ship manifest—the list of passengers on a particular ship for a particular journey—can tell you your ancestor's hometown. That alone is a significant boon to your genealogy research. It can lead you to their foreign vital records.

I'm more excited to find an ancestor who arrived in the U.S. in 1909 or later because there is likely to be a two-page manifest listing extra information.

The most treasured two-page ship manifests can provide your ancestor's:

Manifest Page 1

Not a nuclear family, but 4 out of 5
of these men are mine!

• Ship name (you can look for a photo of the ship)
• Departure date and port city
• Last name—a maiden name for many women
• Given name
• Age
• Gender
• Marital status
• Occupation
• Ability to read and write
• Nationality
• Race or people (e.g., Italian)
• Last residence (country and town)
• Name and location of nearest relative left behind
• Destination state and town

Manifest Page 2

And they were all going to the same place!

• Arrival date and port city
• Whether they have a ticket to their final destination
• Who paid for their passage
• How much money they are carrying
• If and when/where they were in the U.S. before
• Person they are joining here, often including the name and address of a relative
• Place of birth (country and town)
• A bunch of sure-fire extreme vetting questions, including (these are reworded):
  
  • Are-you-a-deadbeat type questions, such as were you in prison, an almshouse, or supported by charity?
  • Are you a polygamist?
  • Are you an anarchist?
  • Are you coming here because of a job offer?
  • Condition of mental and physical health
  • Are you deformed or crippled?
  • Height, complexion, hair and eye color
  • Identifying marks (including scars)

These are the blanks to be filled in for each person, but there is another set of facts for a genealogist to crave. Family members!

Sometimes you'll find an entire family traveling together. Or you may see a mother and her children, and the manifest will show the name and address of her husband who is already in the United States. Jackpot!

Your ancestor's ship manifest—assuming they did not sail so early that no questions were asked—should be the first thing you search for. You can't go back overseas and get that birth certificate if you don't know your ancestral hometown.

Not sure where to start? Check the census for your ancestor. It may include their immigration year.

Why You Need Your Ancestor's Draft Registration Cards

As the song teaches us, war is good for "absolutely nothing". Unless you're a genealogist.

Military records are filled with data points every genealogist wants. Perhaps the easiest military records to find are draft registration cards for World War I and II.

World War I

The U.S. declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917, entering World War I.

In 1917 and 1918, 98% of men in the United States who were born between 1872 and 1900 had to register for the draft. Each man went to a local place to have his information and signature (or mark) collected on a registration card.

It's interesting to note that although my grandfather was the right age to fight in World War I, there is no registration card for him. That's because he went back to Italy to fight for his native country.

The exact information collected depends on the state where your ancestor lived.

This tells me where his father lives in Japan.

For genealogists, the World War I registration card for your ancestor can provide:

• full name and current address
• age and date of birth
• race:
  
  • White
  • Negro
  • Oriental
  • (American) Indian
• citizenship status
• place of birth
• occupation, employer and address of employment
• list of dependents including parent, wife, and sibling or children under 12
• marital status
• name and address of nearest relative (could be in another country)
• military service
• exemption from draft
• your ancestor's signature
• physical characteristics:
  
  • height: tall, medium or short
  • build: slender, medium or stout
  • hair and eye color
• "Has person lost arm, leg, hand, foot, or both eyes, or is he otherwise disabled (specify)?"
• date the information was collected
• location of the draft board

World War II

We all know it was the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 that forced the U.S. to officially enter World War II.

A staggering 16.1 million Americans fought in World War II, so a draft became necessary. This was the Selective Service Act.

The government registered more than 10 million men from November 1940—before the U.S. entered the war—until October 1946—after the war ended.

Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Front side of a World War II draft registration card

The government took the extra measure to register older men between the ages of 45 and 64. Think about what a 64-year-old man probably looked like in 1941. Ancient, no doubt. Ten years away from reaching the limit of life expectancy!

These "old man" draft registration cards were somehow completed in one day: 27 April 1942. The men had to have a birth date between two very specific dates: 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897.

A World War II registration card for your ancestor can provide:

• full name and current address
• mailing address
• telephone number (if they had a telephone)
• age and date of birth
• place of birth including county (if within the U.S.) or country
• name and address of someone (usually a relative) who will always know where to find you
• employer's name and address
• place of employment or business
• your ancestor's signature
• physical characteristics:
  
  • race: White, Negro, Oriental, (American) Indian, or Fillipino
  • height
  • weight
  • hair and eye color
  • type of complexion: sallow, light, ruddy, dark, freckled, light brown, dark brown, black
• Other obvious physical characteristics that will aid in identification"
• date the information was collected
• location of the draft board

A World War II registration card gave me a breakthrough. My grandmother's Uncle Semplicio's card gave me his Italian home town. That told me where my great great grandparents came from.

Because of that card, I was able to find Semplicio's birth record, along with that of an unknown brother. The brother died as a child.

These draft registrations took place between census years. You may find that they provide additional addresses to help you map your ancestor.

Maybe they will provide an address that helps you find your ancestor within the previous or next census.

And maybe you'll learn about a physical disability you might otherwise have never known. For example, my grandmother's Uncle Semplicio had an artificial eye.

So that's why my mother was always afraid of him!

27 Key Facts to Extract from a Death Certificate

Last year I paid for a copy of my grandfather's 1992 Bronx, NY, death certificate because my brother, my first cousins and I wanted to be sure of his cause of death for our own health records.

When it arrived I was surprised and disappointed that it did not include his cause of death.

My grandfather's death certificate.

I had seen many New York City death certificates while doing research at the New York City Municipal Archives, but they were from decades earlier. I don't know if my grandpa's certificate was abbreviated because he died less than 25 years ago, or if that is what the Bronx death certificate form looked like in 1992.

So I've gone through my records and compared death records from four decades—three certificates from the Bronx and one from Warren, Ohio, near Youngstown.

The following table compares the 27 pieces of information found in different years. These certificates can be an amazing find if you didn't already know every little fact.

1925 Bronx, NY	1940 Bronx, NY	1970 Warren, OH	1992 Bronx, NY
Full name, sex and age	Full name, sex and age	Full name, sex and age	Full name, sex and age
Race	Race	Race
Place of death and characterization of place (e.g., hospital, hotel)	Place of death and if it’s a hospital or institution	Place of death and if it’s a hospital or institution	Place of death; if in a hospital, date of admission
Date of death	Date of death	Date of death	Date of death
		Time of death	Time of death
Attending physician and dates tending to the deceased	Attending physician and dates tending to the deceased	Attending physician and dates tending to the deceased	Attending physician and dates tending to the deceased
Primary and secondary cause of death	Primary and secondary cause of death	Primary and secondary cause of death
Last residence	Last residence	Last residence	Last residence
Marital status	Marital status	Marital status	Marital status
	Name of surviving spouse	Name of surviving spouse (maiden name if wife)	Name of surviving spouse (maiden name if wife)
Date of birth	Date of birth	Date of birth	Date of birth
		Social Security Number	Social Security Number
Occupation	Occupation	Occupation	Occupation
		Whether served in armed forces	Whether served in armed forces
	Date last worked at occupation
Birthplace	Birthplace	Birthplace	Birthplace
		Citizen of what country
How long in U.S. if foreign born	How long in U.S. if foreign born
How long resident in City of New York	How long resident in City of New York
			Level of education
Parents' names	Parents' names	Parents' names	Parents' names
Parents’ birthplaces	Parents’ birthplaces
	Name of informant, relationship to deceased, and address	Name of informant, relationship to deceased, and address	Name of informant, relationship to deceased, and address
	Autopsy and laboratory tests dates	Autopsy
Name and location of cemetery	Name and location of cemetery	Name and location of cemetery	Name and location of cemetery
Date of burial	Date of burial or cremation	Date of burial or cremation	Date of burial or cremation
Funeral director's name and address	Funeral director's name and address	Funeral director's name and address	Funeral director's name and address

Are you scouring your ancestor's death certificate for every possible scrap of information?