Q: Is there a place online that would list ships according to arrival date? I have two people I am looking for. One arrived prior to 1770 and the other in 1857. Thanks for your help! — Debi

A: Passenger lists are one of the most sought after records for so many genealogists and yet I believe that they are also one of the most misunderstood records. Researchers expend a great deal of time and energy seeking out these records without understanding just what the record will help them with in regard to the origins and earlier generations of the immigrant.

The other problem is that everyone now assumes that this information will be available online. This is in fact a two-fold problem. First, they assume that everything is available online. Second, if they do not find it online then they do not try to see if the records do exist in more traditional archives or repositories.

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