Notebook:Ship Passenger Lists

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1 Background
2 Interpretation
3 Transcriptions

Welcome to the Old Chester Tapestry

……………………..The Tapestry
Families	Old Chester	OldAugusta	Germanna
New River	SWVP	Cumberland	Carolina Cradle
The Smokies	Old Kentucky

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Background

From 1727 until 1776 of lists of German speaking immigrants entering Pennsylvania were kept, and became part the Colonial records.

These lists, preserved in the State archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were published by I. Daniel Rupp in 1898 (2nd rev. ed.) "A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of Germans, Swiss, Dutch, French and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776."

In 1934 Ralph B. Strassburger and William J. Hinke in republished these and later lists as "Pennsylvania German Pioneers; A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727-1808."

This page collects information regarding these lists.

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Interpretation

From Pennsylvania German Pioneers by Strassburger and Hinke fide: Donna Speer Ristenbatt

In addition to the captains' lists we have the lists of the signers of the oath of allegiance. On these lists we naturally expect to find the signatures of all the male adults on the ships. But here we meet with another disappointment. What we actually find, at least on the first seventy lists, are the names of all the male adults who were well on the day of signing and were able to appear at the Court House. If any of the male passengers were sick, they were not required to sign later. Beginning in August 1739, we find that the Clerk of Council signed the names of the absent passengers. But, in the earlier lists, there is often a serious discrepancy between the male adults that were on board and those that actually signed. Thus, for example, on the very first captain's lists there are 109 names, but only 51 persons actually appeared in the Court House and signed the oath. The others, who are reported as sick, "never came to be qualified."

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