Ellis Island (www.ellisisland.org) operated from 1892-1954. It's an island in the New York Harbor, so many times people refer to it as sailing into NY. The Ellis Island Web site will cover records for the above dates for Ellis Island/NY only.
Before 1892, people sailing into NY went through Castle Garden. Those dates of operation are 1855-1890. Their Web site has only arrivals for their port in NY on the above dates: http://www.castlegarden.org/ If you look on Ancestry and poke around a bit, you will see that they have NY, Ellis Island, Philly, Atlantic Ports (but not for the 1880s), and even more. Mike, you're probably striking out on Ancestry because the years you need are not covered. To find out what exists though you may have to go to your public library and get Michael Tepper's "American Arrival Records." There are 4 chapters and it says what years they cover. Find the chapter that covers the 1880s. Go to the back of that chapter. There's charts back that they says what exists, what's been indexed, and a couple of other things, like the NARA film numbers, I think. It lists all ports too. Your public library also had the Morton Allen Directory. But I think that's just NY. I'd look in my books (I own both), but they are still packed because of my move. There are no records that exist for leaving America. I did verify that with Marian Smith of the USCIS (United States Citizen and Immigration Service - used to be called the INS). Your ancestor may have said Fairhaven because that is where she was physically going to live. I would think that she sailed either into NY (Ellis) or New Bedford, since that is very close to Fairhaven. She could be counted in either port (sailed into NY first then the boat continued onto New Bedford...depending on the captain, he may have had everyone counted in NY or he may have waited and had those continuing on counted in New Bedford). There's a remote chance that they sailed into Canada and then crossed the border that way. Ancestry has those records too, but I don't know how comprehensive they are. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
