1885 Passenger Lists – Castle Garden Era
📜 Abstract
Passenger lists from 1885 capture the diversity of late 19th-century ocean travel. These include decorative souvenir lists for Saloon passengers and working records of Cabin and Steerage travelers, documenting names, occupations, and destinations. They remain invaluable to genealogists, historians, educators, and collectors, offering both social context and artistic examples of maritime ephemera.
📌 Featured 1885 Passenger Lists
31 May 1885 – SS Westphalia (Hamburg-American Line)
- Class: Saloon
- Route: Hamburg → Prague
- Commander: Capt. H. H. Barends
- Note: Known for its extraordinary graphic cover, with a collage design and HAPAG seal.
3 June 1885 – SS Ems (North German Lloyd)
- Class: Cabin & Steerage
- Route: Bremen → New York
- Commander: Capt. Wilhelm Willigerod
- Note: Represents NGL’s important emigrant service through Castle Garden.
1885-05-31 SS Westphalia Passenger List
- Steamship Line: Hamburg-American Line (Hamburg-Amerika Linie)
- Class of Passengers: Saloon
- Date of Departure: 31 May 1885
- Route: Hamburg to Prague
- Commander: Captain Heinrich H. Barends
1885-06-03 SS Ems Passenger List
- Steamship Line: Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd)
- Class of Passengers: Cabin and Steerage
- Date of Departure: 3 June 1885
- Route: Bremen to New York
- Commander: Captain Wilhelm Willigerod
📅 Passenger Lists by Voyage – 1885
| Date | Vessel & Line | Route |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 1885 | SS Westphalia Hamburg-American Line · Saloon · Capt. H. H. Barends |
Hamburg → Prague |
| 3 Jun 1885 | SS Ems North German Lloyd · Cabin & Steerage · Capt. W. Willigerod |
Bremen → New York |
🛳️ Spotlight Note: SS Westphalia (1885)
The SS Westphalia, operated by the Hamburg-American Line, was part of HAPAG’s growing fleet in the 1880s. She served routes connecting Hamburg with New York and continental Europe, carrying both Saloon and emigrant passengers.
What makes the surviving 1885 Saloon passenger list extraordinary is its elaborate cover design — a striking collage that combines maritime artwork with the official HAPAG seal (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft). Such artistry elevated a simple passenger list into a piece of graphic advertising and brand identity.
For collectors, this is one of the most desirable covers of the decade. For genealogists and historians, the list preserves the names and details of Saloon travelers who crossed aboard one of HAPAG’s most distinctive vessels.
🌍 Historical Relevance
Immigration History: The Ems list documents emigrants passing through Castle Garden at a peak period of German and Central European migration.
Maritime Artistry: The Westphalia cover demonstrates how steamship lines used graphic design and branding to attract elite passengers.
Research Value:
🏫 Teachers & Students – Useful for case studies in 19th-century immigration.
🧑🤝🧑 Genealogists – Names and occupations provide family history connections.
📖 Historians – Insight into transatlantic competition between NGL and HAPAG.
🗂️ Collectors – Westphalia’s 1885 cover is considered exceptional ephemera.
✨ Related GG Archives Links
📬 Help Us Grow the Collection
If you have a souvenir passenger list from 1885, we would be grateful for a digital copy to help expand and preserve this record set. Please email us at history@ggarchives.com.
⚠️ About Accuracy in Historical Records Research Tip
Context. The GG Archives presents passenger lists as faithfully as possible to the original documents. While OCR is generally accurate, portions of these collections—especially image captions and some transcriptions—are typed by hand and may include typographical or spelling variations. The original manifests themselves also contained clerical inconsistencies (names recorded phonetically, mid-voyage corrections, etc.).
What this means for your research:
- Search variant spellings of names (e.g., “Schmidt/Schmitt/Smith,” “Giuseppe/Joseph”).
- Cross-reference with immigration cards, passport applications, naturalization files, city directories, and newspapers.
- Treat manifests as primary sources with historical quirks—use them alongside corroborating records.
- For place names, consider historical borders and language variants (e.g., Danzig/Gdańsk, Trieste/Trst).
How to cite. When quoting a name from a manifest, consider adding [sic] for obvious misspellings and include a note such as “spelling as printed in original passenger list.”
Need help? If you spot a likely transcription error in captions, feel free to contact us with the page URL and a brief note—we love community input. 🙏
Curator’s Note
For over 25 years, I've been dedicated to a unique mission: tracking down, curating, preserving, scanning, and transcribing historical materials. These materials, carefully researched, organized, and enriched with context, live on here at the GG Archives. Each passenger list isn't just posted — it's a testament to our commitment to helping you see the people and stories behind the names.
It hasn't always been easy. In the early years, I wasn't sure the site would survive, and I often paid the hosting bills out of my own pocket. But I never built this site for the money — I built it because I love history and believe it's worth preserving. It's a labor of love that I've dedicated myself to, and I'm committed to keeping it going.
If you've found something here that helped your research, sparked a family story, or just made you smile, I'd love to hear about it. Your experiences and stories are the real reward for me. And if you'd like to help keep this labor of love going, there's a "Contribute to the Website" link tucked away on our About page.
📜 History is worth keeping. Thanks for visiting and keeping it alive with me.
