Ships Passenger Lists

Latona
Motorized Ship Lantona circa 1906
Victorian
Motorized Ship RMS Victora Circa 1904

Introduction
Example Passenger List
Who Are Being Indexed
Considerations When Viewing the Index
How to Obtain Copies of original Passenger Lists
Index

Introduction

Welcome to the Nanaimo Family History Society (NFHS) Passenger Lists Indexing Project. The manifests of ships arriving at Canadian Ports listing passengers have been preserved on microfilm at Library and Archives Canada.Indexing of passenger arrivals at Quebec Ports (Montreal is included in the Port of Quebec) for the period July 31, 1903 to 1October 13, 1910 has been completed by NFHS members. An additional eight arrivals prior to this period are also included.We finished the indexing project in June of 2013. With other indexes becoming available on-line we  made the decision to not index any further manifests.  Since the completion of this project the microfilm is stored at the local Nanaimo Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints –  Family History Centre  (LDS FHC) and can be viewed at their centre.

What are the Passenger Lists 

The vast majority of persons emigrating to Canada arrived on passenger ships. The list for each passenger ship is usually (but not always) comprised of a front page and as many pages as necessary listing the passengers. The front page listed details of the ship such as its tonnage and master, when and where it left, when it arrived, number of passengers and a certification as to the health of the passengers. It also contained listings of when the inspections started and finished and when the trains left. Earlier listings did not show as many details of the ship and passage and commenced listing the passengers on the front page. The pages listing the passengers were usually broken down into salon passengers (first class), intermediate passengers and steerage. In each class the passengers would frequently be grouped by Returning Canadian, British Settlers, Foreign Settlers and those destined for the U.S.  Usually these groupings would be in a rough sort of alphabetical order; however if the ship picked up people at a second port, those people may appear at the end of that group. The shipping line – either an employee at the ticket office or the purser (or someone else on the ship) – would complete the passenger list, filling in most of the columns. Then at the departure port, the Immigration Agent would add details such as the amount of money they were carrying and where and who they were going to.  Sometimes details of events that happened afterwards, such as the person leaving the country or being deported, are also noted.

Example Passenger List

The front page and a passenger page from the SS Teutonic arriving at Halifax April 27 1914 are shown below. These are composite images, as more than one print per page must be made in order to get legible results. Clicking on the image will open a larger image. Use the back button on your browser to return to this page after viewing the images.

 teutonic-manifestFront page of SS Teutonic.  Click for larger image.

 pas-list-2Passenger Page from SS Teutonic. Click for larger image.

Who Are Being Indexed

All passengers shown on the ships manifest are being indexed. This includes returning Canadians, tourists, passengers destined for the US and persons whose names have been crossed out. As a result you may see a person more than once as they return to Canada from visits overseas. Persons whose names have been crossed out are annotated as such. They may be shown in a different section of the same ship or they may have never boarded the ship.

Considerations When Viewing the Index

The passengers lists are handwritten and some of the writing was very faint when filmed, so errors can arise when deciphering what was written so check alternative spellings as well. If a letter could not be deciphered, a “?” was put in its place. Surnames whose first letter could not be read are shown under Unknown and Illegible Surnames; otherwise they are grouped alphabetically.Differences in writing the names like “O’Brian”, “O Brian” and “OBrian” will cause them to be sorted into different areas so check all the possibilities. The names were transcribed as they appear on the list. Many compound surnames on the lists are written such that only the final name appears as the surname, for example “Spruyt de Bay” appears under “Bay” so remember to check under both. It would be equally possible for the names to appear under “de Bay” as well.The indexers have found that some names seem to be transposed. The printed manifest sheets do not indicate a particular column for given name and surname. The ship’s purser seems to write names whichever way he prefers. Some ships passenger lists are surnames first, others have the given name first. Unfortunately it seems that the purser forgets which way he is writing the names and if it is not clear to the transcriber which name is what, the name will be transcribed in the order of the majority of the names on that list. Consequently some given names may appear in the surname column.  More information on considerations when viewing the passenger lists can be found here.

 I found who I am looking for! How can I get copies of the original list?

Library & Archives Canada now has the films available on-line. You then search the film for the specific passenger on the specific ship on the specific date.  Alternatively, you may order the microfilm from FamilySearch.org and have it sent to the nearest LDS Family History Centre in order to view the contents.

Please note:  Each index page contains at least 4,000 names and they are slow to load.  If you have problems with the page loading completely, we recommend that you empty your browser cache and try again.  If that doesn’t work, please try another browser.

If you find a broken link please advise the Webmaster at web@nanaimofamilyhistory.ca 

The index, comprising 757,749 listings from 1,403 ship arrivals, is shown on the pages listed below:

Aabe – Agva
Ahap – Alle
Alle – Ande
Ande – Antb
Antc – Arri
Arro -Aun
Aur – Bain
Bair – Bank
Banl – Barn
Baro – Baul
Baum – Bedz
Bee – Benn
Beno – Best
Besu – Bitz
Bis – Blan
Blaq – Boma
Bomb – Bouy
Bouz – Bram
Bran – Brig
Brii – Brov
Brow – Bruc
Brud – Bull
Bulm – Burz
Bus – Cald
Cale – Cann
Cano – Cars
Cart – Chal
Cham -Chid
Chie – Claq
Clar – Clem
Clen – Cold
Cole – Conn
Cono – Coqu
Cor – Cown
Cowp – Criv
Crya – Cunn
Cuno – Dakt
Dal – Davi
Davi – Daxb
Day – Demo
Day – Demo
Demp – Dick
Dick – Dohe
Dohl – Dowz
Doxe – Dumb
Dumc – Dylv
Dym – Edwa
Edwe – Eliz
Emae – Evan
Evan – Farl
Farm – Ferg
Ferg – Firu
Fis – Flug
Flui – Fost
Fost – Fras
Frat – Fulw
Fuma – Gard
Gard – Glic
Gild – Glyt
Gnae – Good
Good – Grah
Grah – Gree
Gree – Grie
Grif – Guez
Gufe – Hadm
Hadn – Hall
Hall – Hanm
Hann – Harj
Hark – Hart
Hart – Hay
Haya – Heju
Heka – Herm
Herm – Hill
Hill – Hobs
Hoby – Holl
Holm – Horn
Horn – Hrta
Hrub – Hunt
Hunt – Hzll
Iach – Ivor
Ivy – Jame
Jame – Jell
Jelp – Joha
Johe – Joks
Jolb – Jons
Jons – Kalo
Kalp – Kawz
Kay – Kenn
Kenn – Kiln
Kilo – Kitw
Kitz – Koet
Kofa – Kovg
Kovh – Kudy
Kudz – Laht
Laht – Lang
Lanh – Lawl
Lawl – Lee
Lee – Lesl
Lesl – Lily
Lim – Llot
Lloy – Loue
Loug – Lund
Lund – Mach
Maci – Mahe
Mahi – Mann
Mann – Mars
Mars – Marz
Mas – Maul
Maum – McCa
McCa – McDo
McDo – Mclw
McJa – McLe
McLe – McRa
McRa – Merc
Merd – Milk
Mill – Mind
Mine – Moll
Molm – Morg
Morg – Mosr
Moss – Murd
Murd – Nank
Nanm – Neus
Neut – Nids
Nie – Nore
Norf – O’Ni
O’Pa – Olse
Olse – Othe
Othe – Palm
Palm – Parr
Parr – Pavl
Pavn – Peev
Peff – Pers
Pers – Phil
Phil – Plan
Plan – Popy
Por- Pres
Pres – Purc
Purc – Rakk
Rakn – Rdin
Re – Rein
Rein – Rich
Rich – Robb
Robb – Robi
Robi –Roma
Roma – Ross
Ross – Rund
Rund – Safy
Sag – Sapp
Sapr – Sche
Sche – Schw
Schw – Segu
Seha – Shar
Shar – Shir
Shir – Simp
Simp – Skit
Skja – Smit
Smit – Smit
Smit – Sode
Sode – Spel
Spen – Stan
Stan – Step
Step – Stil
Stil – Stre
Stri – Suth
Suth – Szam
Szan – Tatc
Tate – Tego
Teha – Thom
Thom – Tibb
Tibb – Took
Tool – Troz
Trpo – Tuse
Tush – Van d
Van d – Vine
Vine – Walf
Walg – Walt
Walt – Wass
Wass – Weat
Weat – Well
Welm – Whit
Whit – Wick
Wick – Will
Will – Wils
Wils – Wint
Wint – Wood
Wood – Wrig
Wrig – Youn
Youn – Zdor
Zdry – Zzow
Illegible Surnames

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