Louisiana, New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945

One of the earliest challenges faced by most researchers looking for their Jewish ancestors is finding them as they arrived in the United States. There are many different ports where they may have landed and its not always easy to find which one to search first.

As more and more of those records become available online that search is helped.
Now, FamilySearch has begun to add the original passenger lists for the arrivals at the Port of New Orleans for the years 1820- 1945. The records for New Orleans are so nice because so many include Sephardic Jews who came into the United States from the Caribbean and South America. The collection is name search able and images are still being added The information is very good. The pages below show the arrival of Moses Cohen, who arrived on 29 Aug 1919 on board the S.S. Metapan which was sailing from the Christobal Canal Zone.

From the passenger list we are able to find that he was 32 years of age, a merchant, a citizen of Cyprus. We also learn that he was Hebrew and that his last permanent address was in Colon, Panama. His closest relative still living in that country is his brother Joseph who resides in Panama City. Records of this type are such an amazing source of great information.