1881 Passenger Lists – Castle Garden Era

📜 Abstract

Passenger lists from 1881 represent a wide spectrum of ocean travel during the Castle Garden era, from rare steerage souvenir lists to elegant saloon class records. These documents preserve names, occupations, and social details, offering rich insights for genealogists, historians, educators, and collectors interested in 19th-century transatlantic migration.

Overview

The year 1881 provides a particularly diverse set of passenger lists. Surviving examples show how steamship lines documented and commemorated travel across different classes:

Souvenir Passenger Lists 🖼️ – Beautifully printed keepsakes for Saloon and, in rare cases, even Steerage travelers.

Official Manifests 📜 – Administrative records listing all passengers for immigration authorities.

These items not only document the people who traveled but also reflect the social experience of migration during the Castle Garden years.

📌 Featured 1881 Passenger Lists

20 April 1881 – SS Hohenzollern (North German Lloyd)

Class of Passengers: Steerage (very rare souvenir list)

Route: Bremen → Baltimore

Commander: Capt. R. Sander

Significance: A rare surviving steerage souvenir list, unusual since most steerage travelers never received printed booklets.

16 July 1881 – RMS Scythia (Cunard Line)

Class of Passengers: Saloon

Route: Liverpool → New York

Commander: Capt. M. Murphy

Significance: A fine example of Cunard saloon-class documentation, showing the luxury side of transatlantic travel.

24 August 1881 – SS Lessing (Hamburg Amerika Linie)

Class of Passengers: Cabin and Steerage

Route: Hamburg → New York

Commander: Capt. D. Voss

Significance: Demonstrates how German steamship lines catered to both emigrant steerage and cabin travelers on the same voyage.

18 October 1881 – SS City of Chester (Inman Line)

Class of Passengers: Saloon

Route: Liverpool → New York

Commander: Capt. Frederick Watkins

Significance: Includes a souvenir cover, reflecting the design artistry of Inman Line publications.

🌍 Historical Relevance

Immigration History: Castle Garden processed thousands of arrivals, but ports like Baltimore also played a role. The SS Hohenzollern’s steerage list reminds us that not all immigrants passed through New York.

Ocean Travel: Passenger lists reveal how ships were divided into Saloon, Second Cabin, and Steerage, reflecting the stark contrasts in travel experience.

Research Value:

🏫 Teachers & Students – Useful for teaching social history and migration studies.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Genealogists – Provide names, occupations, ages, and routes for family research.

📖 Historians – Show the reach of shipping lines such as Cunard, HAPAG, Inman, and NGL.

🗂️ Collectors – Rare steerage souvenir lists are particularly prized.

🛳️ Spotlight Note: SS Hohenzollern (1881)

The SS Hohenzollern, operated by the North German Lloyd line, was a workhorse of the Bremen–Baltimore immigrant trade in the early 1880s. Unlike most surviving examples from this period, which focus on Saloon passengers, the GG Archives preserves a rare steerage souvenir passenger list from her April 1881 voyage.

This is highly unusual: steerage passengers typically received no printed mementos, making this a one-of-a-kind artifact of immigrant travel. For genealogists, it sheds light on the experiences of the largest group of transatlantic travelers — the emigrants themselves. For collectors and historians, it is a rare survival that demonstrates how even lower-class passengers occasionally received recognition in printed form.

✨ Related GG Archives Links

North German Lloyd Passenger Lists Collection

Cunard Line Passenger Lists Collection

Hamburg America Line Passenger Lists Collection

Inman Line Passenger Lists Collection

Castle Garden Immigration Station – Overview

Souvenir Passenger Lists Collection

📬 Help Us Grow the Collection

Do you have a souvenir passenger list from 1881 not yet represented here? Please consider sharing a digital copy with us at history@ggarchives.com
so we can continue to expand the archive.