Amazing Family Archives

Find out if your ancestors went through Ellis Island.

Ever imagine your grandfather's emigrating sail to America? What his ship looked like? How much money was in his pocket? Now such info is virtually at your fingertips, thanks to ellisislandrecords.org.

Launched in April 2001, the Web site received more than one billion hits the first three months. And things haven't slowed down. "We're getting 50,000 hits per day," says Maria Antenorcruz-Lee, public affairs manager for the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. It's no wonder -- about 40% of Americans have an ancestor who arrived at Ellis Island.

You can begin researching your roots with as little as your ancestor's last name. You can also try plugging in other information, such as:

approximate age upon arrival

approximate date of arrival

ethnicity

name of ship

port of departure

Once you've found your ancestor, you can buy a copy of the original ship manifest - plus a 5x7 or 9x12 image of the ship.