Compilation courtesy of Bryan Mulcahy, Reference Librarian, Fort Myers – Lee County Library 3/18/2014
United States, British Isles and Europe
This guide lists the major ports that immigrants to the New World departed from in Europe and the British Isles. Ships leaving these ports made regular runs to and from the United States and Canada. In most cases, immigrants left on a ship from a port that was geographically closest to them.
The port of entry list names the U.S. ports that were the most common destinations and for which the National Archives has some or all of the surviving passenger arrival records.
Part One: Ports of Exit from Europe and the British Isles
This study guide lists the major ports that immigrants to the New World departed from in Europe and the British Isles. Ships leaving these ports made regular runs to and from the United States and Canada. In most cases, they left on a ship from a port that was geographically closest to them.
Belgium: Antwerp
Denmark: Copenhagen
England: Liverpool, Southampton
Estonia: Tallinn
Finland: Helsinki
France: Cherbourg, Le Harve, Marseilles
Germany: Bremen and Hamburg
Gibraltar: (British Zone)
Greece: Patras, Piraeus
Ireland: Cobh, Dublin, Galway, Queenstown
Italy: Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Trieste
Netherlands: Rotterdam
Northern Ireland: Belfast, Derry, Londonderry
Norway: Bergen, Oslo, and Stavanger
Poland: Gdansk, Gdynia, and Memel/Klaipeda
Portugal: Lisbon
Russia: Libau/Liepaja, Memel/Klaipeda, Riga, St.Petersburg/Leningrad
Spain: Barcelona
Sweden: Goteborg
Turkey: Constantinople/Istanbul
Yugoslavia: Fiume, Rijeka
Part Two: Ports of Entry Into the United States
Many beginning genealogists make the incorrect assumption that immigration to the United States begins and ends with Ellis Island or Castle Garden in New York City. There were ports of entry up and down the East coast, Gulf of Mexico, Canada and all points along the Canadian border, and a few on the West Coast. The list below names the U.S. ports that were the most common destinations and for which the National Archives has some or all of the surviving passenger arrival records.
Alabama: Mobile
California: Los Angeles, San Francisco
Connecticut: Bridgeport, Fairfield, Hartford, Middletown, New Haven, New London, Saybrook
Delaware: Wilmington
District of Columbia: Georgetown
Florida: Apalachicola, Boca Grande, Carrabelle, Fernandia, Jacksonville, Key West, Knights Key, Mayport, Miami, Millville, Panama City, Pensacola, Port Everglades, Port Inglis, Port St. Joe, St. Andrews, St Augustine, St. Johns, St. Petersburg, Tampa, West Palm Beach
Georgia: Brunswick, Darien, Savannah
Louisiana: New Orleans
Maine: Bangor, Bath, Belfast, Falmouth/Portland, Frenchman’s Bay, Havre de Grace, Hingham, Kennebunk, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Portland/Falmouth, Waldoboro, Wiscasset, Yarmouth
Maryland: Annapolis, Baltimore
Massachusetts: Barnstable, Beverly/Salem, Boston, Dighton, Edgartown, Fall River, Gloucester, Marblehead, Nantucket, New Bedford, Newburyport, Plymouth, Provincetown, Salem/Beverly
Mississippi: Gulfport, Pascagoula
New Hampshire: Portsmouth
New Jersey: Bridgetown, Cape May, Little Egg Harbor, Newark, Perth Amboy
New York: New York, Oswegatchie, Rochester, Sag Harbor
North Carolina: Beaufort, Edenton, New Burn, Plymouth, Washington
Ohio: Sandusky
Pennsylvania: Philadelphia
Rhode Island: Bristol/Warren, Newport, Providence, Warren/Bristol
South Carolina: Charleston, Georgetown, Port Royal
Texas: Galveston
Vermont: St. Albans
Virginia: Alexandria, East River, Hampton, Norfolk/Portsmouth, Petersburg, Portsmouth/Norfolk, Richmond
Washington: Seattle