Promoted by Chris Lydiksen’s Ancestry.com “Chinese New Year Brings New Records” blog, I clicked over to Ancestry this afternoon to check out some of the new and updated Chinese-related databases at Ancestry.com.
One of the databases is an updated index to the Chinese Exclusion case files of the New York District Office of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The index is to over 18,500 persons – with the records dating from 1882-1960.
I did a number of searches using this index. Searching on the name, Chang, I got 73 hits when doing an exact search. I got 515 hits doing the “fuzzy” search. Hmmm… That’s the reason I never do fuzzy searches unless forced into it.
Following is a screen shot for the index entry of Achu Chang. Note that the “age” is that for Mr. Chang at his entry into New York in 1896 – not the document date.
The fields found in the index are the following:
- Name
- Alias
- Gender
- Birth Date
- Birthplace
- Age
- Occupation
- Occupation 2
- Place of Origin
- Address
- Comments
- Port & Entry Date
- Port & Entry Date 2
- Picture?
- Interrogation?
- Document Date
- Case Description
- Case Number(s)
- Box
THE CASE FILES
The case files themselves are found at the Northeast Region (New York City) of the National Archives and Records Administration, 201 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014-4811. They document the entry into the U.S.A of Chinese aliens as well as the reentry of U.S. citizens of Chinese ancestry. The files were produced under Chinese Exclusion Acts passed by Congress between 1882 and 1930. They were repealed in 1943.
According to a statement at Ancestry.com, “Most case files include correspondence, lists of related cases, transcripts of interrogations, and witness statements. Some files include birth certificates, coaching documents, family history forms, and marriage licenses, and photographs of individuals and families.”
Try doing a search of the New York Chinese Exclusion Case files index at Ancestry.com.