You’ve found your ancestors listed in a ship’s passenger list and are thrilled to learn where they came from, how much money they brought with them, and who they were going to meet. But did you know that much more information is recorded on their entry?

At our January monthly meeting, genealogist Christine Cohen will present “Mysterious Codes: Passenger Manifests Letters and Numbers” and tell us how we might learn so
much more from the record.

On her website, Christine describes her presentation this way:

“What do those letters, numbers, stamps, and pencil marks mean on Immigration Passenger Manifests? Does your ancestor have the letter ‘D’ or ‘X’ next to their name? Do you know what V/L, # 404, USB, Transit, CL, N.O.B, C/A, LPC, SI, NQIV, BSI, PV or C-XXXXX mean? We will learn if and when to contact the US National Archives or USCIS to get more genealogical information from these codes. Plus, what insight we can learn about your ancestor’s immigration experience based on these notations.”
(Note: USCIS stands for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.)