German Roots: Germans to America | Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports 1850-1897

Germans to America is a series of books which index ship passenger arrival records of German immigrants for the years listed below. Each volume contains a chronological listing of the passenger lists, followed by an alphabetical index of each passenger in that volume. There are approximately 70,000 names in each volume. The following information is generally given for each passenger: name, age and sex; and when given: occupation, country or province of origin, village of residence (most say "unknown"), and destination (many say "unknown" or simply "US"). Also listed is the name of the ship, date of arrival, and ports of departure and arrival. The amount of information given may vary for each listing.

You will find people listed by their country or province as Germany, Prussia, Bavaria, or numerous other German states (like Baden, Hesse, Saxony, Brandenburg, etc). Passengers from Switzerland, France and Luxembourg are also sometimes included. You will generally not find passengers from Austria, Hungary or other nearby areas. Germans from Russia should be listed in the separate Migration from the Russian Empire series.

Despite errors and some omissions, Germans to America can still be a helpful research tool for tracking down German immigrant ancestors, and finding the ship passenger list. The books are listed below by volume and time frame - the books are very expensive so you might try a library. Information about searching Germans to America online follows the book section.

Vol. 1 . . Jan 1850 - May 1851 Vol. 2 . . May 1851 - Jun 1852 Vol. 3 . . Jun 1852 - Sep 1852 Vol. 4 . . Sep 1852 - May 1853 Vol. 5 . . May 1853 - Oct 1853 Vol. 6 . . Oct 1853 - May 1854 Vol. 7 . . May 1854 - Aug 1854 Vol. 8 . . Aug 1854 - Dec 1854 Vol. 9 . . Dec 1854 - Dec 1855 Vol. 10 . . Jan 1856 - Apr 1857 Vol. 11 . . Apr 1857 - Nov 1857 Vol. 12 . . Nov 1857 - Jul 1859 Vol. 13 . . Aug 1859 - Dec 1860 Vol. 14 . . Jan 1861 - May 1863 Vol. 15 . . Jun 1863 - Oct 1864 Vol. 16 . . Nov 1864 - Nov 1865 Vol. 17 . . Nov 1865 - Jun 1866 Vol. 18 . . Jun 1866 - Dec 1866 Vol. 19 . . Jan 1867 - Aug 1867 Vol. 20 . . Aug 1867 - May 1868 Vol. 21 . . May 1868 - Sep 1868 Vol. 22 . . Oct 1868 - May 1869 Vol. 23 . . Jun 1869 - Dec 1869 Vol. 24 . . Jan 1870 - Dec 1870 Vol. 25 . . Jan 1871 - Sep 1871 Vol. 26 . . Oct 1871 - Apr 1872 Vol. 27 . . May 1872 - Jul 1872 Vol. 28 . . Aug 1872 - Dec 1872 Vol. 29 . . Jan 1873 - May 1873 Vol. 30 . . Jun 1873 - Nov 1873 Vol. 31 . . Dec 1873 - Dec 1874 Vol. 32 . . Jan 1875 - Sep 1876 Vol. 33 . . Oct 1876 - Sep 1878 Vol. 34 . . Oct 1878 - Dec 1879 Vol. 35 . . Jan 1880 - Jun 1880 Vol. 36 . . Jul 1880 - Nov 1880 Vol. 37 . . Dec 1880 - Apr 1881 Vol. 38 . . Apr 1881 - May 1881 Vol. 39 . . Jun 1881 - Aug 1881 Vol. 40 . . Aug 1881 - Oct 1881 Vol. 41 . . Nov 1881 - Mar 1882 Vol. 42 . . Mar 1882 - May 1882 Vol. 43 . . May 1882 - Aug 1882 Vol. 44 . . Aug 1882 - Nov 1882 Vol. 45 . . Nov 1882 - Apr 1883 Vol. 46 . . Apr 1883 - Jun 1883 Vol. 47 . . Jul 1883 - Oct 1883 Vol. 48 . . Nov 1883 - Apr 1884 Vol. 49 . . Apr 1884 - Jun 1884 Vol. 50 . . Jul 1884 - Nov 1884 Vol. 51 . . Dec 1884 - Jun 1885 Vol. 52 . . Jul 1885 - Apr 1886 Vol. 53 . . May 1886 - Jan 1887 Vol. 54 . . Jan 1887 - Jun 1887 Vol. 55 . . Jul 1887 - Apr 1888 Vol. 56 . . May 1888 - Nov 1888 Vol. 57 . . Dec 1888 - Jun 1889 Vol. 58 . . Jul 1889 - Apr 1890 Vol. 59 . . May 1890 - Nov 1890 Vol. 60 . . Dec 1890 - May 1891 Vol. 61 . . Jun 1891 - Oct 1891 Vol. 62 . . Nov 1891 - May 1892 Vol. 63 . . Jun 1892 - Dec 1892 Vol. 64 . . Jan 1893 - Jul 1893 Vol. 65 . . Aug 1893 - Jun 1894 Vol. 66 . . Jul 1894 - Oct 1895 Vol. 67 . . Nov 1895 - Jun 1897

Note 1: Beginning with 1891 Germans to America only includes arrivals to the port of New York. The earlier volumes (up to 1890) cover German passenger arrivals to the major US ports (New York, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and New Orleans), although the listings may not be complete for every port.

Note 2: The first 9 volumes only indexed passenger lists of ships that contained at least 80% German passengers. Beginning with Volume 10 this was changed:

"In the 1850-1855 volumes, these lists contain a minimum of 80 percent German surnames and are published in their entirety. Starting in 1856 the selection criterion changes to include all ships with German passengers, regardless of the percentage. Unlike the previous volumes, only those calling themselves Germans are now listed; all other passenger names are deleted. It should be noted that after 1856 these German immigrants include those coming not only from German states or territories but also from countries such as France, Switzerland, or Luxembourg." [From the introduction to Volume 10]

Note 3: Some Baltimore arrivals are missing from Germans to America. This webpage explains how to find these missing passengers: Germans to America and Baltimore.

Germans to America Online Databases

Ship Passenger Records Database, 1820-1912 - includes Germans to America, 1850-1897 from the U.S. National Archives

Germans to America Index, 1850-1897 from FamilySearch

Germans to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at US Ports 1850-1897

Edited by Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby

Germans to America Online Databases