Ports of Embarcation for immigration 1833 / 1834

D

Don Armstrong

New Member
Well I have tracked my Gr Gr Grandfather George Armstrong 1806 and his wife Lucy Susan Barber 1808 to Illminster Somerset England. They were married there and had 2 daughters Charlotte 1829 and Elizabeth 1832 in Illminster , Somerset , England. Their next daughter Mary Jane was born in New York City 1834. The ships arrival records for the Port of NY from before about 1860 were lost in a fire at Ellis Island.
My question is "What would be the port of Embarcation that they would have used in 1833 / 1834 to get to NYC seeing as they had started from Illminster , Somerset England."
 
Ancestry have New York Passenger and immigration lists 1820-1850 with entries for George Armstrong, I cannot see more as I do not have a world sub.
 
I too would have thought Southampton, but possible also Bristol just looking at some other departures in that time period.
Then again, if they went elsewhere to say goodbye to people they may have left from London or Liverpool.

I see that Ancestry transcription mangled Charlottes marriage notes. If you don't have a sub, I can fix that for you.
 
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Don Armstrong said:
The ships arrival records for the Port of NY from before about 1860 were lost in a fire at Ellis Island.
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It is always worth bearing in mind that people entered New York via Castle Garden from 1820. As Ellis Island did not open until 1892, I always check on that website as well. (castlegarden.org/)

Sadly, although there are records for around that time, I cannot find a George and Lucy Armstrong for the period in question. :(
 
It is possible that they sailed from Bristol, as they lived in Somerset. Bristol Record Office have an interesting leaflet about the subject at http://www.bristol.gov.uk/sites/def...ips seamen and emigrants (full leaflet)_0.pdf
Interesting to note that "Bristol was not a major passenger port in the 19th century because liners were too large to use the city docks. However, many emigrants travelled on smaller merchant ships, which often advertised for passengers in local newspapers."

Ann
 
Daft Bat said:
It is always worth bearing in mind that people entered New York via Castle Garden from 1820. As Ellis Island did not open until 1892, I always check on that website as well. (castlegarden.org/)

:(
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, Jan. A very easy to use site. ( even though I didn't find who I was looking for ;) )
 
So far in my searches of both Ancestry and several other web sites and I still have no hits on their arrival in NYC. Talking with some reaserchers there they said back at that time frame you could go to just about any dock and unload rather than having a central clearing port for the new arrivals. I even tried finding Immigration and Naturalization records but that is also a no hit. Back then you did not have to get naturalized if you did not want to.
 
Hi, Don!

I believe in the "less is more" approach to searching a database. Entering dates brought no results, but just a name across all counties and viola!
Naturalizations - Records Search Results:
Last Name Given Name Birth/Age Volume Record# Record Type Date Location
Armstrong George - 147 36692 Petition - Bronx County, NY
Armstrong George - 88 41 Petition - Bronx County, NY
Armstrong George - DR28 760 Petition 1852-Sep-29 Essex County, NY
Armstrong George - Bun 6 184 Petition 1885 Queens County, NY

The Italian Genealogy Group site [italiangen dot org] has many record indices for the NYC metro area. They have forms and contact info to order the exact record. The first two here do not have any date. An inquiry as to the volume and record might narrow it down. A person, for whatever reason, might wait quite a time before seeking to become Naturalized.

Hope this helps! :)
 
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