1882-1957: California Passenger Lists available on microfilm

How to Find Ancestors on Ships Passenger Lists to California 

1. Search online ships passenger lists. The best sites for these early ships passenger lists to California are:

• New York Daily Times Passenger Lists from New York City to California via Central America 1851-56 & 1865-73 (California Bound 1848 – 1873)
• Ships Passenger lists to California from Miscellaneous Newspapers (California Bound 1848 – 1873)
• Case Files of Early Immigrants to San Francisco and Hawaii: San Francisco files 1884-1915 (UC Berkley)
• Letters from two brothers sailing to San Francisco California 1864 (Harold Ralston’s Ship Passenger Lists)
• S.S. Sonoma from Sydney Australia to San Francisco California 1924 (Olive Tree Genealogy)
• One Step Search Engine for San Francisco Passenger Lists (Steve Morse)
• San Francisco Passenger Lists index to the passenger lists of ships arriving from foreign ports at the port of San Francisco 1893-1953 [$]