Continuing with my review of new Chinese arrival data found at Ancestry.com, this afternoon I spent some time checking out the “Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chinese Arrivals, 1900-1923.”
According to the website, the database contains descriptive lists of Chinese seamen arriving at the port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between 1900 and 1923. As of today, I find that the data posted thus far runs up to November of 1918. There is also data posted for July of 1896. So expect to see more data posted over time.
The data is made up of indexes, as well as digitized images of the Descriptive Lists themselves.
I did a search for the surname of “Chang.” The fuzzy search gave me 1,377 hits, while the exact search yielded 205. I found that the information located using the indexes can vary dramatically in that some of the documents were descriptive lists of arrivals (with a lot of information), while others might be items such as “Special Inquiry” documents dealing with deportation and the like.
With a little luck, the data on the site can yield:
Name Occupation or rating Age Height Physical marks Where born Where shipped and date Ever been in the U.S. Any papers showing right of entry to the U.S. Time of residence in the U.S. Signature Other remarks Port of arrival Ship name Date of arrival
The website states the source Information as follows:
Ancestry.com. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chinese Arrivals, 1900-1923 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Original data: Case Files of Chinese Immigrants from District No. 4 (Philadelphia) of the Immigration and Naturalization Series, 1895-1920; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1144, 51 rolls); Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Note that the records contained in this database originate from the same NARA microfilm rolls as the Case Files of Chinese Immigrants from Philadelphia.