Immigrant Ship Transcribers Guild link...

For those of you who are looking for your ancestors who immigrated here, but you're not sure when, or you haven't been able to find them going through Ellis Island:

http://www.immigrantships.net/

This site is wonderful. You'll do a LOT of searching, but it has expanded UNBELIEVEABLY in the last 4 or 5 years. When I first started searching, I think there were only around 3 or 4 volumes.

They've transcribed a lot more, and allow you to cross reference by last name, ship name, time period, departure area, etc.

This site is really helpful.
FSC

There's so many resources out there, and here's one I've never heard of - thanks, FSC!:thumbsup::hi:

I've so hoped to find some of mine on here, but haven't lucked out yet. Fortunately they're CONSTANTLY adding!

I actually found P.T Barnum on here in one of my searches, traveling with 1 or 2 of his attractions. I forget which. That was kind of interesting.

FSC

I found information on a trip my Mother made as a young child to Ireland to see my Grandmother's family.

Costs nary a cent.

If I can help you find your immigrants, you might be able to see when the came over. You already have 1902 and 1898 for two of your folks, so hop to it!

FSC

aww man Ive been here, and I have found someone but thats all.

Thomas, year of immigration 1902
wife Pauline (both born in what looks like Cesko, Slovakia)
year of immigration for her is 1898.

You're looking for two separate people coming over from Czechoslovakia, or Slovakia. It does not look like they wre married when they came over.

Since their dates differ, he probably came as a single guy or with his family, and you need to try to figure out what her maden name was, because she probably came over with her family a bit earlier than he did.

I would say from Czechoslvakia, you may be looking for ships sailing from Italy (maybe Genoa), or possibly from Germany (Hamburg most likely).

FSC

First Name: Helena
Last Name: Zima
Ethnicity: Cz.Slovak
Last Place of Residence: Kamiowka
Date of Arrival: January 08, 1921
Age at Arrival: 21 Gender: F Marital Status: S
Ship of Travel: Celtic
Port of Departure: Liverpool
Manifest Line Number: 0012

Now when you make your much vaunted trip to the homeland, you can visit Kamiowka and Cesko and see where the ancestors lived.

Now, you need to find your nearest LDS Family History Center, and see if they have any church records for any of these areas once you get all your names straight. Then you have proof of birthdates, death dates for parents, marriages, that sort of thing.

FSC

and Ive found this before, so Ive googled Kamiowka and gotten nothing, I assume it was a villege that was later destroyed by the Germans.

Now this segment is just for finding the center nearest you, but the website does a lot more. You can look up what resources they have in their library, search databases for relatives, etc. Bear in mind that once you get to searching for an individual, the quality of the material varies.

For example, the entire 1880 Census for the United States is available, but you do find the transcription errors (Hey, no one's perfect). Back up everything you find with another source. I've found errors made on entries for my own family, but I've also gotten a leg up on my research, especially when I've been able to check the original record (e.g., marriage records, Census entries).

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp

It's still being constructed, but you can get the basics. I think I'm getting somewhere with my pre-Ellis Island arrivals thanks to CG.

http://www.castlegarden.org/

For the Ellis Island bunch:

http://www.ellisisland.org

The latter now lets you see the actual ship manifests, if I recall correctly, in addition to the transcribed version.

I managed to find my Irish immigrant great-great grandfather there, along with his family (whose names I didn't have before). Of course, it only helps a little, since tracing Irish Catholic ancestry in the 19th century is near-impossible...