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located (a small button) next to the manifest picture.

8.) Scroll down to the number line corresponding with the manifest number from the passenger's record. For example, my grandfather's manifest number on his passenger record is six, so I would scroll down to line six in the manifest.

There is more than one page in the manifest, most often three, with the last page being the doctor's certification of health. On the first two pages, read across the passenger's line to see what makes sense in relation to the person being searched. For example: If you know "grandpa" was 6'2", and the manifest states 5'4" it's a good chance it's not him.

These first two pages in the manifest will offer a wealth of valuable information including: "occupation," "country," "city/town," "languages," "special markings" (tattoos, etc.), "height," "final destination" and so on.

If you think you may have found your roots, the information in the manifest can now be used for cross-referencing with other means of genealogy research.

If you have not found the person you are looking for, repeat the above steps until you feel you have found them. If after completing all steps for a particular age, and the person being searched has still not been found, one of the two things can be done (here's where that list becomes a valuable tool).

Either go back through the numbered list looking at the passenger's records for ports of departure in cities of the second country on the priority list. For example: If the second country on the list is Scotland, go back over the numbered list looking for ports of departures in Scotland.

Or, extend your age search to the next higher or lower year. In the case of John Smith, age 19, I was searching 19 year olds. From here I would next search either 18 or 20 year olds.

Keep repeating the above steps to search for family roots.

Here are a couple things to keep in mind when searching for roots through Ellis Island:

- Many initial records up to 1897 were destroyed by fire, but some do still exist.

- Some immigrants Americanized first and/or last names, i.e., Hans to John, Blackstone to Black or Stone. If looking for John Smith, the original record could be Hans Smith.

- Initially, first and second class second passenger's were considered "affluent," so they were dropped off in other ports and did not have to go through Ellis Island unless they had a problem such as illness or legal issues. It is unclear if these immigrants were actually documented through Ellis Island.

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