Finding Your Ancestors in the Ellis Island Database

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(This page's most recent update is September 2025)

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The Ellis Island Database is one of the most popular databases for researchers trying to find their immigrant ancestors who arrived at the Port of New York. It has passenger records and ship manifests for about 65 million people, and it has records from 1820 to 1957.

The following PDF discusses how to search the database and the three main search options for doing so. It also mentions 3 relevant FamilySearch databases as well.

Download the Quicksheet PDF

To obtain the one-page Quicksheet PDF for easy reference, you can download it by clicking on the Download button:

For all the previously published Quick Reference Guides, click on QuickSheets

Genealogy QuickSheets – Frequently Asked Questions

Quicksheets are also known as Quick Reference Guides. They are generally a one or two page PDF that is downloadable. A few QuickSheets are as large as a five page PDF.
Every QuickSheet is in a specific post on The Ancestor Hunt website. Just bring up the post, and at the bottom of the page is a big brown Download button that allows you to view and/or download the PDF when clicked.
Yes! You can view or download as many as you wish.

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