Castle Garden Manifest Now Available..........

[wldspirit]

I belong to another Italian site and the following post appeared recently,
thought I would share the following;

GOOD NEWS;

On August 1, New York State's first immigration processing center,
Castle Garden, will celebrate its 150th birthday. To commemorate this
special occasion, the Battery Conservancy will launch its new website -
CastleGarden.org - where researchers can do online searches of the
expansive database of Castle Garden passenger lists!
Castle Garden first opened its doors on August 1, 1855 and would see 8
million immigrants pass through her doors in her 34 year reign! The
passenger lists pertaining to these 8 million immigrants are currently
found at the National Archives, and they are *not* indexed.
This monstrous project has been led by Dr. Ira Glazier, former Director
of the Center for Migration Research at the Balch Institute for Ethnic
Studies and Immigration.
To learn more about the Castle Garden website, and to be notified of its
official launch, please see:
http://www.castlegarden.org/

Thanks to Juanminbar......
wldspirit

[VaDeb]

I also received information about this website though my local POINT chapter. I didn't have any luck using it and it appears links to actual manifest images are not available yet. I had tried to find a great great grandfather who I had found in the ancestry.com NY passenger records.

According to "They Came in Ships" by John Colletta Castle Garden was open from 1 Aug 1855 - 18 April 1890

Ancestry.com New York Passenger records is for 1851 - 1891. It seems to me that the entire Castle Garden collection is available through Ancestry. I realize they are a subscription site.

Does anyone know if castlegarden.org is going to be free like ellisisland.org?

Hopefully Dr. Morse and friends will create a search tool for this new site.

[wldspirit]

The site is free and the index is extensive, however they do not have links to the actual manifest.......unsure if that option is in the works.
wldspirit

[DonnaPellegrin]

Wow, that's terrific. Thanks a lot for posting that. I've been looking for my great-grandfather at Castle Gardens. His name was Alfonso Alfieri. The new website came up with the same listing as the Database for Italian immigrants. Neither VADEB nor I have been able to locate my Alfonso Alfieri on Ancestry.com, so unfortunately I've never been able to check out the manifest.

Dr. Ira Glazier is the author of the series called Italians to America. I wonder if his books are the basis for the index on the new website. I believe they are the basis for the index on Database for Italian immigrants. The information and format is nearly identical.

[mfjp]

Hi Donna,

Will be linking the manifest for you shortly...

mfjp

Didn't take all that long to find him using the new site... this is good news for all of us...

Take a look at how his name was transcribed (from Ancestry's site.... )

Name:   Affinsco Alfon
Arrival Date:   11 Oct 1886
Estimated Birth Year:   1869
Age:   17
Gender:   Male
Port of Departure:   Naples, Italy
Destination:   New York
Place of Origin:   Pindy
Ship Name:   Alesia
Port of Arrival:   New York
Line:   3
Microfilm Roll:   499
List Number:   1237

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/4076/alf9jf.jpg

Take Care,
Maria

Thank you wldspirit and juanminbar

[badbatsmoru]

That was very helpful. Thanks, Wldspirit. I found some German relatives on the site.

[JamesBianco]

Thanks so much wldspirit and juanminbar!!! This is a wonderful new resource.

Jim

[DonnaPellegrin]

Hi Donna,

Will be linking the manifest for you shortly...

mfjp

Didn't take all that long to find him using the new site... this is good news for all of us...

Maria!!!
Thank you so much!!! I am forever in your debt!!!

[mfjp]

Hi Donna, got your message... and the pleasure is all mine.

Here's a copy of the previous page... it would show the rest of the group he travelled with.

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9553/previous5la.jpg

Can you make out the name of the town at all??

Yup... Pindy and Pud...?? that's how it was transcribed... cute names though

Really glad to see forum members help out with resources like this... we all win...

Wishing for rain,
Maria

The "town" in question could be Aquila....

[DonnaPellegrin]

Thanks so much, Maria. It's great to have a fresh lead.

I enlarged the country of origin 500x and still couldn't read it. PUD. Pindy. Aquila. It could be anything! Let's just say it is not legible. That's the bad news.

The good news is that Alfonso travelled with 19 other people. Lots of possibilities to fuel my search!

Thanks again!

[souxieq]

Very excited they're finally working on CG! My problem is that my Iosca/Iosco/Yosco family is often misspelled as Losco/Tosco/Fusco, etc... Does anyone know if they'll be adding in a "Destination" function, or ability to search from a specific town? This would definitely narrow my search as they were from the small town of Castelmezzano!

Also curious how it is that you were able to view the rest of the manifest - I couldn't locate that option.

Please let me know!! Thanks in advance to anyone that can help!

~Susan

[VaDeb]

You can do this now with a little creativity. If you have a paid subscription to ancestry.com use one of Dr. Morse Castle Garden search options to search by town.

http://stevemorse.org/index.html

The results will show up in ancestry.com

I see he has also added a page to search the new Castle Garden site!

[souxieq]

Thanks Debbie...I should've thought of Morse's site before posting! (been slacking in my gen research lately!)

Looks like I'll have to resub to Ancestry, after all!

[Genkid]

GREAT FIND - THANKS! Genkid

I belong to another Italian site and the following post appeared recently,
thought I would share the following;

GOOD NEWS;

On August 1, New York State's first immigration processing center,
Castle Garden, will celebrate its 150th birthday. To commemorate this
special occasion, the Battery Conservancy will launch its new website -
CastleGarden.org - where researchers can do online searches of the
expansive database of Castle Garden passenger lists!
Castle Garden first opened its doors on August 1, 1855 and would see 8
million immigrants pass through her doors in her 34 year reign! The
passenger lists pertaining to these 8 million immigrants are currently
found at the National Archives, and they are *not* indexed.
This monstrous project has been led by Dr. Ira Glazier, former Director
of the Center for Migration Research at the Balch Institute for Ethnic
Studies and Immigration.
To learn more about the Castle Garden website, and to be notified of its
official launch, please see:
http://www.castlegarden.org/

Thanks to Juanminbar......
wldspirit

[ditota]

Wow, that's terrific. Thanks a lot for posting that. I've been looking for my great-grandfather at Castle Gardens. His name was Alfonso Alfieri. The new website came up with the same listing as the Database for Italian immigrants. Neither VADEB nor I have been able to locate my Alfonso Alfieri on Ancestry.com, so unfortunately I've never been able to check out the manifest.

Dr. Ira Glazier is the author of the series called Italians to America. I wonder if his books are the basis for the index on the new website. I believe they are the basis for the index on Database for Italian immigrants. The information and format is nearly identical.

Donna,

This seems to be your g/gpa. I can search by manifest number if you have the names of persons he may have traveled with.

Albert DeTota

Passenger's Name: Alfieri, Alfonso
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Occupation: Laborer
Literate: Unknown
Village/Last Residence: Pud
Country: Italy
Date of Arrival: Oct. 11, 1886
Final Destination: New York
Purpose for Travel: Staying in USA, but not a citizen of USA
Ship's Name: Alesia
Captain's Name: Vallat
Manifest I.D. Number: 80908
Port of Embarkation: Naples
Mode of Travel: Steerage