Finding Ancestors on Ships Passenger Lists to Canada Before 1865

Before 1865 Ships Passenger lists on Ships Sailing to Ports in Canada did not have to be archived. It is a challenging time period to find passenger lists! But there ARE alternate records - shipping agent records, emigration agent ledger books, newspaper extracts are only a few

One such set of records are the Irish Canadian Emigration Records, 1823-1849 This database contains various records and reports of Canadian emigration agents James Allison and A.J. Buchanan. Among the various records are some emigration and orphan lists. These lists are searchable by name.

As well, Filling in the Gaps has links to 21 online databases for alternate immigration records for pre-1865 Canada. These include links to immigration officer records, steamship sailings up the St. Lawrence River, Custom House Passenger Lists, J J Cooke Shipping Agent Records, Poor Law Union Immigration from England and more. 

Many of these links are to Olive Tree Genealogy free projects. Some are to free websites not associated with Olive Tree Genealogy and a few are pay-to-view databases on other sites. 

If you  are stuck looking for your ancestors on a ships list arriving in Canada before 1865 you should take a look at Filling in the Gaps