Ordering correct films for Passenger lists
kerrie	I have ordered 2 films form the LDS for Passenger Lists from England to Boston for May and June,1907. I have looked at the film for May today and it has mainly April on it although it is clearly marked on the film May. What I would like to know is, will the film for June be mainly May and should I have ordered the July film as well? It is a shame that the only information that is on this film is a name and maybe an age of the person travelling, you would really need to know who and when you are looking for to be of any help.[V] Regards Kerrie in Sydney Australia
Hopkins	What were the film numbers that you ordered? I use the LDS library catalog almost daily - perhaps I can figure out what has happened.
Jo Anne Sadler	Well, these things happen in life. LDS has literally hundreds of thousands of films and even with a very small percentage of error, sometimes a film is mislabeled so I don't think there is a big mystery here. I know the cost in the U.S. is very little to rent the film for a month so I always over order when I am looking for something. The passenger manifests were done to satisfy customs requirements, just a quick list of passengers, no one ever thought that they would be used later for genealogy research. You can still glean information from them, you can work backwards to when they left Norway and then check the Emigration Registers to secure more information. You can find people they were traveling with along with knowing what ship they came on. Every bit of information adds to completing the puzzle.[:D]
Hopkins	From approximately 1820 to 1891 US law stipulated that a passenger list contain the names of the ship and its master, its port of embarkation, and the date and port of its arrival; and each passenger's name, age, sex, occupation, and nationality. By 1893 the US increased the amount of information to be entered on Immigration Passenger Lists - the additional information includes marital status; last residence; final destination in the United States; if ever in the US before, when, where and for how long; if going to join a relative, the relative's name, address and relationship; whether able to read and write; whether in possession of a train ticket to his or her final destination; who paid the passage; amount of money the passenger was carrying; whether the passenger had ever been in a prison, almshouse, or institution for the insane, or was a polygamist; and state of health. Sometime in 1906 six more items were added: personal description, including, height, complexion, color of hair, color of eyes, identifying marks; and place of birth. I think the film that Kerrie has ordered is actually of the 'book index' to the passengers - and I could tell that if I knew the film numbers. That book index would only list name, age and possibly destination.... for the port of Boston I do not believe that the book indexes can be easily related to the actual passenger lists except that the date of arrival should be shown.
kerrie	The film numbers that I ordered are 1724645 and 1724644 and by the sounds of it I have the wrong ones. I already have the information from Norway its the Americian side that I am interested in especially from the time he landed to the 1930 census when he has been found in Duluth and forward to 1957 when he died.
kerrie	I have seen the error of my ways. I should have looked further down the list of films. Thanks for your help[:)]
Hopkins	While you still have those index films nearby - go ahead and see if you can find the name of the person(s) you hope to find. You should be able to narrow down the date of arrival and when the much more detailed passenger lists arrive you'll have less searching to do!