Finding ancestors on Pennsylvania Ships Passenger Lists

Pennsylvania ships lists have been kept, and are on microfilm, as far back as 1800 (1820 was the first year it was a requirement that they be kept)

There are indexes you can use to search for an ancestor. See a complete list of film numbers for ships going to Pennsylvania after 1820 Find the film you need and write down the
NARA or Family History Centre film number you need. Then you can order the film in to your nearest FHC or have NARA do the lookup for you.

If you want to try your luck ONline, there is a custom search engine that will search most Internet sites with ships going to Pennsylvania. Choose PENNSYLVANIA from the state choices. Scroll down to the yellow search engine.

The Philadelphia Baggage Lists for 1809 are also online. They include images of the actual manifest and a
transcription of the names of the passengers on board. These are the names of passengers with luggage! If your ancestor had no stored luggage, his name will not be found.

Other Helpful Sites:

Passenger Lists to Pennsylvania

Custom Search Engines Internet-wide for Ships to Pennsylvania