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December 11, 2019

Finding Ships Passenger Records To Canada

Henry wrote to ask


My great uncle who originated in Germany, born 1872 or 1874, appears in the UK 1901 census as Ferdinand Roks living in London. Within the family there was no mention of him but it was suggested that perhaps he went to Quebec, Since he doesn't appear in a later census, it could be reasonable to assume that he left London sometime after 1901. How do I research the shipping companies or ships records or even the Quebec immigration records to try to trace him, especially as might have changed the spelling of his name.
My answer:

Ships passenger lists to Canada are available as early as 1865. You can search on Ancestry.com, where the passenger names are indexed and linked to images, or you can use Library & Archives Canada (LAC). LAC however does not have a name index so you have to search by date or ship name.

There are also hundreds of ships passenger lists on my Olive Tree Genealogy website. As well I have written a book "Filling in the Gaps: Finding Pre-1865 Ships Passenger Lists to Canada" if you need to find an ancestor before 1865.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

FYI, LAC does have a name index. Here's the main page of the database:
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-quebec-port-1865-1900/Pages/introduction.aspx

Click on "Search: Database" to search by surname, given name, ship, and/or year/date of arrival.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

You can also search by name on LAC's website using this database:
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-quebec-port-1865-1900/Pages/introduction.aspx

It covers the period 1865-1922, so you don't only need to search by the date or the name of the ship!