I know date and ship my father and grandmother came to USA. However, can't loca

Question:

I know date and ship my father and grandmother came to USA. However, can't locate them on Ellis Island?

Website. Last name isn't long or complicated but tried various spellings. Is it possible that some errors have been made in the transcribing of info.? Had no trouble finding my mother's info. in the Ellis Island web.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It's very common for there to be transcription errors. It's even more common that the original spellings on the passenger lists were different than the spelling used later in their lives. What's even more possible is that they came through the Port of New York but not through Ellis Island. Most of those records are kept at www.castlegarden.org....which is the official site of the Port of New York through the Battery Conservancy and Castle Clinton (predecessor to Ellis Island).

If you do know the ship, though, you can go to the National Archives and Records Administration regional centers and pull the film of the passenger list. Then you can scrutinize the whole thing and figure out if they're really there or not.

If your ancestors came over after 1900, the first place I'd turn is their Declaration of Intent and Naturalization Petitions to see the information (including spelling) that they declared when they petitioned for naturalization. Those arriving after 1900 had to file "the long forms" and give a slew of information that the government never gathered before. These are also available through NARA in the region in which they lived when filing the petitions.