We recommend using the software program at home, accessing the database through the internet address. Here's how to do it: enter the URL of the site's internet address in the place provided you by your computer programs or internet server's software programs (http://www.ellisislandrecords.org). Once you gain entrance to the site, click on the "continue" button. The program will bring up a window with boxes into which you type the last and first names of the ancestor whose records you want to see (see Fig. 1). The surname, or last name, is a required field; first name is not a required field. (We recommend, however, that a first name not be entered unless you are absolutely certain that it would have been correctly spelled or read by the person who typed the information into the computer database.) Click on "Search Archives" and wait for the results to appear. If the computer finds exact matches for the last name, you can then click on the ones whose passenger records you want to examine in detail (see Figures 2 and 3). One helpful hint: Be sure always to click on the "View All Records" bar section above the listings of computer findings. The computer will not automatically list any "close matches" or "alternate spellings" unless you click on the "View All Records" box . Print out copies of all of these results and keep them in a file so that you won't inadvertently repeat the searches again. Select any name retrieved by the computer and click once on it to highlight it. Click again (double-click) to bring up the individual "Passenger Record." To examine the actual ship manifest, click on "Ship Manifest" in the upper left-hand corner of the Passenger Record Screen. After a brief pause while the computer retrieves the requested record, a small image of the actual page of the manifest appears. Click again on the "Enlarge" button to the right of the page to bring up an image that is legible. The entire page of hand-written entries will not fit on the computer screen, so plan on scrolling about to read the entire entry of your targeted individual. Note that the forms on which the passenger information was recorded changed over the years, depending on what data the US government requested about each passenger; be sure, then, to read the headings or titles for each column of information for a fuller understanding of the hand-written entries. Below is an example of a computer search for an individual with the surname KALLITSIS to illustrate the steps necessary to locate passenger records.
Enter the name of a passenger who came to America
through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924
First Name
Last Name
Figure 1
Example of the Stages of a Computer Search
In Figure 1, the surname KALLITSIS was typed into the box marked "Last Name"; no first name was used, no year or years of arrival were submitted. The computer retrieved four exact matches (Fig. 2)
VIEW:
Exact Matches
Close Matches
Alternate Spellings
All Records
Exact Matches (4) Name of Passenger
Residence
Arrived
Age on Arrival
1. Markos Kallitsis
1924
29
2. Peter Kallitsis
Athens,
Greece
1920
27
3. Petros Kallitsis
Aghios Petros,
Greece
1909
38
4. Soterios Kallitsis
Agris Petros,
Greece
1911
18
Figure 2
We then clicked on the "View All Records" link in the upper right corner to bring up a broader list of results. These appeared next on our screen, divided into three registers, a section of Exact Matches, a group of Close Matches, and a final cluster of Alternate Spellings of KALLITSIS. Under Exact Matches, four names appeared: Markos Kallitsis, Peter Kallitsis, Petros Kallitsis, and Soterios Kallitsis. There were no names listed under Close Matches, while the computer had retrieved 9 Alternate Spellings of KALLITSIS: Anastassios Kalitsis, Aristotelis Kalitsis, Athanasios Kalitsis, Basile Kalitsis, Constantino Kalitsis, John Kalitsis, Panajotis Kalitsis, . . . (first name illegible) Kalitsis, and John Kallitzis (see Fig. 3).
Exact Matches (4) Name of Passenger
Residence
Arrived
Age on Arrival
1. Markos Kallitsis
1924
29
2. Peter Kallitsis
Athens,
Greece
1920
27
3. Petros Kallitsis
Aghios Petros,
Greece
1909
38
4. Soterios Kallitsis
Agris Petros,
Greece
1911
18
Close Matches
Name of
Passenger
Residence
Arrived
Age on Arrival
Alternate Spellings (9) Name of
Passenger
Residence
Arrived
Age
Relevancy
1. Anastassios Kalitsis
Patras, Greece
1914
17
97%
2. Aristotelis Kalitsis
Agios Petros, GRC
1916
32
97%
3. Athanasios Kalitsis
Agios Petros, Kynuria
1909
11
97%
4. Basile Kalitsis
1921
35
97%
5. Constantino Kalitsis
Ag .Petro
1910
22
97%
6. John Kalitsis
Agios Petros, Greece
1916
26
97%
7. Panajotis Kalitsis
Agios Petros, Kynuria
1909
20
97%
8. ...Kalitsis
Agbios Petros
1904
25
97%
9. Jean Kallitzis
Chinuria
1905
35
97%
Figure 3
Since we wanted more information about each of the individuals listed under Exact Matches, our next step was to click on one of the Exact Matches for KALLITSIS, the first one, Petros Kallitsis, to bring up his "Passenger Record" (see Fig. 3). Notice that the Passenger Records page displays nine fields: passenger name, ethnicity, place of residence, date of arrival, age on arrival, gender, marital status, ship of travel, and port of departure. For Petros Kallitsis, the following appeared: Kallitsis, Petros; Greek; Aghios Petros, Greece; 26 Mar 1909; 38y; M; M; Argentina; Patras, Akhaia, Peloponnessos[sic], Greece. After viewing and printing out this record, we clicked on the arrow and phrase, "Ship Manifest," in the upper left-hand side of the screen. After a brief pause while the computer retrieved the necessary file, a typed abstract of the manifest page appeared on our screen (see Fig. 5). To see the abstract for Petros Kallitsis, we then scrolled down to line 19. In columns to the right of his name, we noted his gender, age, marital status, ethnicity, and place of residence. Although these fields yielded nothing new in comparison to the previous Passenger Record, they did permit us to view brief records of other passengers who also traveled on the same voyage.
On this same page we discovered the names of five other men from the same village as Petro Kallitsis. While these additional names may not seem important at first glance, they may very well become important later in our research. Oftentimes, immigrants traveled in clusters, a few family members, or even distantly related members together on the same journey. Occasionally one voyager might pose as the spouse or child of another person. So, these names may eventually help bring to light the names of some siblings or cousins of Peter Kallitsis or even of his parents.
Here is the record for the passenger. Click
one of the links on the left to view material
related to the passenger.
Kallitsis, Petros
Ethnicity:
Greek
Place of Residence:
Aghios Petros, Greece
Date of Arrival:
26 Mar 1909
Age on Arrival:
38
Gender:
M
Marital Status:
M
Ship of Travel:
Argentina
Port of Departure:
Patras, Akhaia,
Peleponnessos, Greece
Figure 4
We printed a copy of the entire page and then highlighted each of the following entries by hand with a yellow marker: (line 11) Demetrios Karageorgos, male, 43, married, Greek, Aghios Petros, Greece; (line 13) Spyros Moussatis, male, 32, married, Greek, Aghios Petros, Greece; (line 18) Panagiotis Michalakis, male, 19, single, Greek, Aghios Petros; (line 25) Nicolaos Sacelarakis, male, 25, single, Greek, Aghios Petros, Greece; and (line 28) Antonios Vlachos, male, 35, married, Greek, Aghios Petros, Greece. We then clicked on "previous" at the bottom of this list to view the previous page of typed abstracts of passengers on the same ship voyage. By doing so we hoped to learn the names of other "Aghiopetritides," some of whom might list Petros Kallitsis as a relative. Then, we returned to the original page and clicked on "next" to scan the subsequent page for "Aghiopetritides," or fellow villagers from Aghios Petros.
Next, we returned again to the original typed page of passenger ship records (Fig. 5) and clicked on "View Original Manifest" in the upper left-hand side of the screen in a small rectangular box. (This box is duplicated at the bottom of the same page; viewers can also click there.) After a short wait, the original, hand-written passenger ship manifest appeared on our computer screen as a small image (see Fig. 6 for an example, but note, however that this particular image is not for Petros Kallitsis, since no image was available for his ship manifest record). We clicked on "Enlarge Manifest" to view the details of the hand-written entries, after jotting down the line number of Petros Kallitsis' entry on the manifest, the page number of the manifest, and the frame number. By recording this information, we knew that we would be able to locate the exact record on the original manifest again and that the line, page, and frame numbers could serve as a standardized reference for any citations. Figure 10 gives an example of what these hand-written pages looked like. It may be easier to view the typed abstract, and not the original hand-written, version of the manifest. Keep in mind, though, that the typed version will not yield all of the fields found on the original manifest. For example, on the original there will be a physical description of the passenger, such as color of eyes, hair, and height. Employees of the ship line were also required to note the final destination of the passenger, whether or not he/she had been to the US before, and if going to visit a relative, what was the name and address of that relative. Health questions were asked of passengers, too: officials wanted to know about the condition of their health, and whether or not they had physical deformities or were crippled.
It's easy to understand how errors in decoding and transcribing occur when one sees the great variety in individual handwriting. But the extra efforts to decode the handwriting are worth every moment expended, since a wealth of additional information can be gleaned from these entries.
Argentina
Associated Passenger Kallitsis, Petros
Date of Arrival March 26, 1909
Port of Departure Patras
Line # 0019
Manifest for Argentina Sailing from Patras
0001.
Kalotyhos, Konstantinos
M
23
S
Greek
Zymisni, Greece
0002.
Karayionnis, Dimitrios
M
22
S
Greek
Athens, Greece
0003.
Margomenos, Athanasios
M
35
M
Greek
Kastrali, Greece
0004.
Kristopoulos, Pafsanias
M
25
M
Greek
Zymiani, Greece
0005.
Parianos, Elissaios
M
25
S
Greek
Kranidion, Greece
0006.
Karitakis, Kostis
M
19
S
Greek
Kania, Greece
0007.
Karafilis, Theologos
M
25
M
Greek
Kalampakis, Greece
0008.
Kordas, Konstantinos
M
30
S
Greek
Zymiani, Greece
0009.
Parianos, Panagiotis
M
19
S
Greek
Kramelion, Greece
0010.
Sotiriou, Efrossini
F
27
S
Greek
Kostaki, Greece
0011.
Karageorgos, Demetrios
M
43
M
Greek
Aghios Petros, Greece
0012.
Karfis, Jolon
M
30
M
Greek
Zymiani, Greece
0013.
Michaelakis, Panagiotiss
M
32
M
Greek
Aghios Petros, Greece
0014.
Nicolakakis, Emmanouel
M
19
M
Greek
Kania, Greece
0015.
Pilalis, J. Elias
M
23
M
Greek
Zimiani, Greece
0016.
Mloliakos, Demetrios
M
27
M
Greek
Kas, Greece
0017.
Kalialiakos, Apostolos
M
16
M
Greek
Kastraki, Greece
0018.
Moussatis, Spyros
M
32
M
Greek
Aghios Petros, Greece
0019.
Kallitsis, Petros
M
38
M
Greek
Aghios Petros, Greece
0020.
Zombanakis, Georgios
M
20
S
Greek
Xania, Greece
0021.
Pillalis, Athanassios
M
28
M
Greek
Zymiani, Greece
Figure 5
Figure 6
What to Do When Records Can't Be Found
Now, for those whose ancestors don't appear in these records, do not despair. There may be perfectly good reasons for this. First, the immigrant may have arrived before 1892 or after 1924. Keep in mind that this new database only covers the intervening years. Second, the targeted individual may not have arrived in New York, but another port of entry, even some Canadian city. Another possible explanation -- and a very likely one -- is that the exact spelling of the surname typed into the database is at variance with the spelling normally associated with that immigrant ancestor.
For more help with this possibility, see our forthcoming charts on the genealogy page (Hellenic Historical and Genealogical Association), "Greek Surname Spellings and English Transliteration Charts"; some of the tips there may suggest another English spelling of your ancestor's surname that you can try. Alternatively, questions can be submitted for our upcoming monthly Q & A column by emailing us at HellenicHGA@aol.com.
General Information on Genealogy
For general information about genealogical research, see our series of articles on the genealogy page of this website tailored for searches by Greek-Americans and consult some of the more popular national and international websites such as Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Rootsweb (http://www.rootsweb.com), Genealogy.com (http://www.genealogy.com), and the site of the National Archives and Records Administration (http://www.nara.gov). Keep in mind that these sites do little to meet the specific needs of Greek-Americans, but will provide some general assistance and guidance in methodology. It is highly unlikely that these sites will provide any substantive information on ancestors who were born in Greece and remained in Greece, generations that lived earlier than the immigrant ancestor.
