Passenger Lists

The Original Lists of Persons of Quality

Sample 17th Century passenger ship

The Original Lists of Persons of Quality is an important printed source for the study of early English emigration to America in the seventeenth century. It offers a consolidated presentation of surviving official and semi-official records relating to passengers who left England during the decades prior to organized colonial record keeping in the United States. Researchers value the work for its accuracy, the breadth of material gathered, and the fact that it reproduces records that might otherwise require consultation across dispersed archives. For the period before regular colonial vital records and town records, these lists often provide the first documented appearance of an emigrant.

Pennsylvania German Pioneers

Pennsylvania German pioneers vol 1 title page

This set of manuscripts was compiled in the 1930s by Strassburger and Hinke in order to provide the descendants of Pennsylvania German pioneers a publication of the most accurate of original lists of arrivals. In order to do this they transcribed the hard-to-read German and American script of the passenger lists, oaths of allegiance to the Crown, and oaths of abjuration and fidelity to the proprietors. These three types of records form the basis for the Pennsylvania German Pioneers.

Pennsylvania Oaths of Allegiance, 1727-1775

Names of foreigners who took the oath of allegiance to the province and state of Pennsylvania, 1727-1775, with the foreign arrivals, 1786-1808

William Henry Egle’s seminal work, “Names of Foreigners Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the Province and State of Pennsylvania, 1727-1775, with the Foreign Arrivals, 1786-1808” published in 1892, stands as a comprehensive record of immigrants who pledged their loyalty to both the British Crown and later to the State of Pennsylvania. The document lists names and details of individuals who, upon their arrival in America, were mandated to declare their allegiance—a legal requirement aimed at reinforcing loyalty to the provincial and state governance. The text not only catalogs these oaths but also provides vital genealogical data, including ship names, points of departure, and the dates of oath-taking. Despite the original documents being significantly damaged over time, this publication, authorized by the state, offers a meticulously collated and indexed reference that is indispensable for researchers and descendants seeking connections to their early Pennsylvanian ancestors.