Research always becomes more real to me when I’m able to get a better idea of the context surrounding a particular event in an ancestor’s life.  As we all know, immigration is a key event that can help link an ancestor to the old country as well as provide other information vital to our research.  One thing I enjoy in painting the picture of that experience is to find information on the particular ship an ancestor made their voyage on.  A ship’s history can provide a great background to what immigration was like for many of our ancestors in addition to providing clues to our discoveries.  In fact, going through a ship’s history is what helped me solve a genealogical myth in my own family a couple years ago.

I was always told that my ancestors from the Netherlands came through Ellis Island in 1920 – like many other common immigrant tales.  However, after digging deeper into the research I discovered that the different ships they traveled on never passed through New York, but through England and Canada instead.  The family emigrated on 16 May 1911 from Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands, one of the largest ports in the world, along with two of their children.  Traveling on the S.S. Southwark, they made a stop in Liverpool, where they then continued their journey on to Quebec, Canada, arriving 30 May 1911.  In March 1903, the S.S. Southwark was transferred from the Red Star Line to the Dominion Line’s Liverpool-Canada service.  My family was on its final voyage in May 1911 before it was destroyed later that same year.

What ship did your ancestors come on?  Many ship records indicate the name of a ship and for me it’s always fun to get some information – or even images – on the ship my ancestors had crossed on.  Here are a couple links that could help you out: