Emigration: Passenger Lists and Ship Information

Although there are many immigration/emigration records available, not everyone has been able to find the records for their ancestors. It all depends on which port they sailed from, did they have a stop over, approximate year of arrival, country of birth, approximate year of birth, and what their name was recorded as. It is best to start with the port of entry then work back. I will be listing two examples of my grandparents’ family branches which took totally different research paths.

“Passenger Lists - 1865 to 1935

Passenger lists exist for the following ports of entry:

• Quebec City and Montreal (Quebec), 1865-1935;
• Halifax (Nova Scotia), 1881-1935;
• Saint John (New Brunswick), 1900-1935;
• North Sydney (Nova Scotia),1906-1935 (these include mostly ferry arrivals from Newfoundland and St-Pierre-et-Miquelon, with a few passengers in transit from other countries);
• Vancouver (British Columbia), 1905-1935;
• Victoria (British Columbia), 1905-1935;
• via New York, 1906-1931; and other eastern United States ports, 1905-1928 (these lists include only the names of passengers who stated that they intended to proceed directly to Canada).”

Source: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/Pages/introduction.aspx


KALYNCHUK AND STETSKO BRANCH

With my Geto's Kalynchuk and Stetsko family branches, I knew the name of the ship, port of entry and date from the book, “Dictionary of Ukrainian Canadian Biography of Pioneer Settlers of Alberta, 1891-1900, Vladimir J. Kaye”.

I knew that they arrived in Canada on S.S. Scotia, landing in Halifax on 30 April 1897. I have their names and ages. I also know the village that Elko and Anastasia were born in, Strilkivci, district of Borshciv, Galicia, Austria (Western Ukraine).

I went on Ancestry.ca and located the arrival passenger list at Halifax, Canada then the departure passenger list from Hamburg, Germany for my Kalynchuk and Stetsko ancestors. I was able to also locate a picture and a historical article on the ship. This is how I did it.

1. Port of Arrival (Entry) - Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1897, April. I went through Ancestry.ca and located Esko Kalinczak, arrival age of 34, birth year 1863, departure port was Hamburg, Germany, arrival date was 30 April 1897, arrival port was Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and vessel (ship) was Scotia. If you are having trouble finding your ancestor, then enter in the search engine someone else traveling with them. For example, I knew the names of my great grandmother’s parents (Stetsko) and her female siblings with their husbands (Lukashiv, Wispinski). This gave me a few different surnames to search under, to get a hit.

2. Port of Departure – Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934. I again went through Ancestry.ca and located Jeko Kalynczuk. This one was harder to find and initially I found the correct passenger list searching under his father-in-law, Wasyl Stetsko. I knew that the German spelling of the village is Strzalkowo, Österreich. Elko’s age, birth date, departure date of 15 April 1897, arrival in Halifax, Kanada, and ship was Scotia, all matched to the incoming port of arrival record. There is additional information on the Hamburg departure records. It lists his occupation as Landmann (in English this is Farmer), ship captain, shipping clerk, shipping line, ship type, ship flag, accommodation is Zwischendeck (Steerage in English) and lists the household members. I then clicked on each of them and recorded this information in my research log.

3. Ship picture and historical information

a)  I purchased the picture of the S.S. Scotia from the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia, USA https://www.marinersmuseum.org/learn/research-services/

b)  The Mariner’s Museum also sent me a historical article on the ship. It was from the book called “North Atlantic Seaway: An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New”, N.R.P Bonsor, 1975, total of 5 volumes https://www.abebooks.com/North-Atlantic-Seaway-Volumes-Complete-illustrated/31511372117/bd

PAWLIUK BRANCH

Now with my Baba's Pawliuk family branch, they came over to Canada under another family’s name. My grandmother’s sister Anna was recorded on two cassette tapes speaking about this and I visited her many times, gathering her family’s family research. I was able to go on the Ukrainian Village’s Genealogy database and figure out which ship and date of departure based on knowing the name of the village in Ukraine. Only one family from this village came to Canada so I was lucky in finding my family on the Hamburg passenger list.

From the book “Dictionary of Ukrainian Canadian Biography of Pioneer Settlers of Alberta, 1891-1900, Vladimir J. Kaye” and my Aunt Anna, I knew that the name of the village was Malatynci, district of Kitsman, Bukovina, Austria. In the book it stated, “Sailing record not available”.

On the Edmonton Branch, Alberta Genealogical Society is a page on “Helpful Sites” and I clicked on the Alberta Ukraine Genealogical Project, https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ukrville/Family_History_Portal/fhp.htm then clicked on “Finding Aids for East Central Alberta/Passenger Lists by village. Remember, that I did not know which ship they came on nor the name of the family they came under.

I search down to the village of Malatyntsi (remember it is important to know the different versions of the village by language). It lists Kitsman district, Bukovyna, Ship is Phoenicia, arrived on 21 May 1899 (I knew the year), Port of Halifax and the list is online (link included). Note that these records are in German.

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-1865-1922/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=9651&

The next task is to search this passenger list for the village of Malatynci/Malatyntsi but in German. Then contact the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia, USA for a picture and historical article on the ship Phoenicia. From the passenger list, I will get more information on the ship to know which ship under this name I am wanting more information on. Then I will back track to the Ancestry.ca and check for their summary on the family whose name is recorded. The next time I go to Ukraine, I plan on searching out the descendants of his family and thanking them.

https://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/watercraft/phoenician-ships/


RESOURCES

Library and Archives Canada

Passenger List - Introduction
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/Pages/introduction.aspx

Immigration Records
This page provides general instructions on using immigration records to do genealogical research.
https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/genealogy-family-history/immigration/pages/immigration.aspx

Ukrainian Immigrants, 1891-1930
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/immigrants-ukraine-1891-1930/Pages/introduction.aspx

Ancestry.ca

Immigration & Travel
https://www.ancestry.ca/search/categories/40/

Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935
https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/1263/

Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934/ Hamburger Passagierlisten, 1850-1934
(These records are in German)
https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/1068/

Other Sources

Provincial Archives of Alberta
“Passenger Lists: microfilm copies of some of these federal documents (1865 to 1919) available and can be viewed in the Sandra Thomson Reading Room. These are arranged by port of arrival.”
https://provincialarchives.alberta.ca/

Edmonton Branch, Alberta Genealogical Society
Helpful Sites
https://www.edmontongenealogy.ca/helpful-sites

Alberta Ukraine Genealogical Project, Family History Portal
https://sites.ualberta.ca/~ukrville/Family_History_Portal/fhp.htm

Finding Your Ukrainian Ancestors…, 4th Edition, Muryl Andrejciw Geary
Emigration section, pages 27 – 31 and Immigration section, pages 131-139

Ukrainian Genealogy, John D. Pihach,
Passenger Lists/Immigration Records, pages 65 - 71

Background

Josef Oleskiw, an educator and agricultural expert in Galicia visited Canada then returned to Galicia and had public lectures and published two booklets, Pro vilni zemli (About Free Lands) and O emigratsii (About Emigration) which did much to stimulate Ukrainian immigration to Canada.

"Pro vilni zemli" / (in Ukrainian)
https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.30425/1

Reasons for Ukrainian Immigration Pre 1914

http://tc2.ca/sourcedocs/history-docs/topics/immigration/reasons-for-ukrainian-immigration-pre-1914.html

160 acres of free land in Canada, North Atlantic Trading Company advertising card,
Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, 1900-1905, Public Domain

RMS Scotia Underway, Courtesy of Mechanical Curator Collection,
1887, Image, Public Domain