Joel Weintraub
2019-02-27 02:26:51 UTC
X-No-archive: yes
Sherri a few days ago posted that she was looking at the manifest of the SS
Rotterdam departed Rotterdam 27 Nov 1902 arriving at Ellis Island. She had
found through an index the name of a potential relative on the Board of
Special Inquiry page (BSI and Detention Pages were appended to the ship
manifest starting in the early 1900s), but when she searched for the actual
manifest page for that person using the page/line number on the BSI page, it
was nowhere to be found. She wanted to know if there were other copies
available for this manifest, and whether there were ancillary records for
this voyage. She mentioned that she was going to try to access the Holland
America Line records for Rotterdam available at Family History centers which
might provide the information she wanted.
I offered to help with the Ellis Island part of the record, and found she
wanted to confirm that her relative was indeed on the SS Rotterdam, and
already had her birth place and birth day. She was looking for some piece
of evidence that might confirm her assumption or at least add an increased
probability it was the person she seeked.
First, as far as I know, there is only one copy of the Ellis Island
manifests for this voyage, the filmed copy. The manifest was filmed during
1943-1944 and later in 1948 the paper manifests were all sold to a recycling
company for under $2,000.
Second, she found this potential relative on Ancestry.com's index but not
the FamilySearch (Ellis Island Database or EIDB) index. That's because the
former company transcribed the Detention and BSI pages (often typed and
easier to transcribe) but the LDS volunteers that produced the EIDB in the
1990s did not transcribe or even see those pages.
Third, there is a ancillary record that I offered to look up for this
person. During the late 1930s/early 1940s the Work Progress Administration
(WPA) indexed the passengers on the Ellis Island manifests ***directly***
from the manifests, not from scans of the films as the more recent indexes
have done. Index cards were made for each passenger and the cards were
eventually photographed and ended up as NARA series T519 (115 rolls from
6/16/1897 to 6/30/1902 and all online at FamilySearch) and series T621 (744
rolls from 7/1/1902 to 12/31/1942 but only 12 of the rolls as of 2/10/2019
were online). It's a long story, which I've posted previously to JewishGen,
but I have all the rolls and can do lookups with a handheld microfilm viewer
and can photograph the film using even my iphone.
So... it doesn't look likely given the timeline of when the cards were done
and then the manifest filmed, and assumptions when manifest damage could
have occurred (about 5% of all manifest pages were found to be degraded
during the filming project), that I could find a card for her person from
the missing page. (Note: The WPA did not transcribe Detention and BSI
pages). But I've found there actually is a very high probability to find
the card. I believe most of the damage to the manifests were done shortly
after WW2 commenced in 1939 as tens of thousands, if not hundreds of
thousands of aliens living in the U.S. made a rush to become citizens; such
a surge caused the Immigration Service to hire additional clerks, and over
50 were searching the aging NY manifests to certify citizenship requests. I
think most of the damage to the manifests was done in 1940 and 1941.
And indeed I did find a WPA index card for her person on the SS Rotterdam
1902 voyage. Although the card only said "Russia" for birth place, the age
of the person was on the card which did correlate with her known date of birth.
So consider the cards as another source of information when searching
difficult to find people that went through Ellis Island.
Enjoy
Joel
Joel Weintraub
Dana Point, CA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Get ready to Rock & Roll in Cleveland. Registration for the 39th IAJGS
International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (July 28 - August 2, 2019)
is now open. Additional information and the link to registration is at
www.iajgs2019.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watch JewishGen's video -- click here:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Planning to use Ancestry.com? Start by using the "Ancestry Search Box"
on the JewishGen homepage.
By doing this, any eventual subscription to Ancestry.com will result in
Jewishgen receiving a commission.
It's an easy way to help JewishGen!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support JewishGen with a contribution to the JewishGen General Fund!
http://www.jewishgen.org/jewishgen-erosity/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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http://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/jgff-faq.html#q3.7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join our mailing list at http://lyris.jewishgen.org/ListManager if you
would like the convenience of receiving all soc.genealogy.jewish posts in
your mailbox, instead of having to search for them in the newsgroup, whose
content may not be consistently carried in its entirety by all providers.
Sherri a few days ago posted that she was looking at the manifest of the SS
Rotterdam departed Rotterdam 27 Nov 1902 arriving at Ellis Island. She had
found through an index the name of a potential relative on the Board of
Special Inquiry page (BSI and Detention Pages were appended to the ship
manifest starting in the early 1900s), but when she searched for the actual
manifest page for that person using the page/line number on the BSI page, it
was nowhere to be found. She wanted to know if there were other copies
available for this manifest, and whether there were ancillary records for
this voyage. She mentioned that she was going to try to access the Holland
America Line records for Rotterdam available at Family History centers which
might provide the information she wanted.
I offered to help with the Ellis Island part of the record, and found she
wanted to confirm that her relative was indeed on the SS Rotterdam, and
already had her birth place and birth day. She was looking for some piece
of evidence that might confirm her assumption or at least add an increased
probability it was the person she seeked.
First, as far as I know, there is only one copy of the Ellis Island
manifests for this voyage, the filmed copy. The manifest was filmed during
1943-1944 and later in 1948 the paper manifests were all sold to a recycling
company for under $2,000.
Second, she found this potential relative on Ancestry.com's index but not
the FamilySearch (Ellis Island Database or EIDB) index. That's because the
former company transcribed the Detention and BSI pages (often typed and
easier to transcribe) but the LDS volunteers that produced the EIDB in the
1990s did not transcribe or even see those pages.
Third, there is a ancillary record that I offered to look up for this
person. During the late 1930s/early 1940s the Work Progress Administration
(WPA) indexed the passengers on the Ellis Island manifests ***directly***
from the manifests, not from scans of the films as the more recent indexes
have done. Index cards were made for each passenger and the cards were
eventually photographed and ended up as NARA series T519 (115 rolls from
6/16/1897 to 6/30/1902 and all online at FamilySearch) and series T621 (744
rolls from 7/1/1902 to 12/31/1942 but only 12 of the rolls as of 2/10/2019
were online). It's a long story, which I've posted previously to JewishGen,
but I have all the rolls and can do lookups with a handheld microfilm viewer
and can photograph the film using even my iphone.
So... it doesn't look likely given the timeline of when the cards were done
and then the manifest filmed, and assumptions when manifest damage could
have occurred (about 5% of all manifest pages were found to be degraded
during the filming project), that I could find a card for her person from
the missing page. (Note: The WPA did not transcribe Detention and BSI
pages). But I've found there actually is a very high probability to find
the card. I believe most of the damage to the manifests were done shortly
after WW2 commenced in 1939 as tens of thousands, if not hundreds of
thousands of aliens living in the U.S. made a rush to become citizens; such
a surge caused the Immigration Service to hire additional clerks, and over
50 were searching the aging NY manifests to certify citizenship requests. I
think most of the damage to the manifests was done in 1940 and 1941.
And indeed I did find a WPA index card for her person on the SS Rotterdam
1902 voyage. Although the card only said "Russia" for birth place, the age
of the person was on the card which did correlate with her known date of birth.
So consider the cards as another source of information when searching
difficult to find people that went through Ellis Island.
Enjoy
Joel
Joel Weintraub
Dana Point, CA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Get ready to Rock & Roll in Cleveland. Registration for the 39th IAJGS
International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (July 28 - August 2, 2019)
is now open. Additional information and the link to registration is at
www.iajgs2019.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watch JewishGen's video -- click here:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Planning to use Ancestry.com? Start by using the "Ancestry Search Box"
on the JewishGen homepage.
By doing this, any eventual subscription to Ancestry.com will result in
Jewishgen receiving a commission.
It's an easy way to help JewishGen!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support JewishGen with a contribution to the JewishGen General Fund!
http://www.jewishgen.org/jewishgen-erosity/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sign up for the JGFFAlert!
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/jgff-faq.html#q3.7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join our mailing list at http://lyris.jewishgen.org/ListManager if you
would like the convenience of receiving all soc.genealogy.jewish posts in
your mailbox, instead of having to search for them in the newsgroup, whose
content may not be consistently carried in its entirety by all providers.