[Genealib] Marriages at Ellis Island

[Nancy Maxwell]

Anne:

My grandfather's sister married at Ellis Island in July 1907. Her husband was from Massachusetts, and I was able to get the certificate from Boston.

Yes, it's true that an unaccompanied woman - married or not - couldn't leave without an adult male accompanying her. Unaccompanied women and minor children can be found on the "List of Detained Aliens" that accompanies the passenger list. It may be at the front or back of the list. Once I knew that this was the standard procedure regarding any detainee, I used Steve Morse's "Missing Manifests" tool to get to the manifest, then checked just prior to, or after, the actual manifest for the detainees list. 

There were several reasons for the detention list; unaccompanied women and children was just one of them.

Regards,
Nancy





Nancy Maxwell, Genealogy Librarian
Frances Pittman Malcolm Genealogy Room
Grapevine Public Library
1201 Municipal Way
Grapevine, TX 76051
Voice: 817-410-3429
Fax: 817-410-3084
E-mail: nmaxwell at grapevinetexas.gov
 
"Any nation, race, or people who ignores its past and becomes callous toward its traditions and indifferent toward its heritage will sooner or later vanish from the face of this earth."  ~Marderos Deranian


>>> Anne Shaughnessy <annes_1961 at yahoo.com> 4/3/2008 1:19 PM >>>
Hello,
  I am trying to help an 89-year-old patron find more information about her father's second marriage.  She said she was 6 years old when it happened so the marriage occured somewhere around 1925.  Her father corresponded with a woman from Germany who came over to the U.S. to marry him.  They married at Ellis Island.  I did some searching and found a few mentions of this situation via the Internet.  Is it true that there was a rule that an un-married woman could not leave with a man who wasn't related to her?  If this did happen, where would the records be kept?  How could the man have gotten a marriage license so quickly?  Who has jurisdiction over these records?  I realize these are a lot of questions and I ask for your patience.  Any clues or ideas would be most appreciated.  
   
  Thank you.
  Anne Shaughnessy
  Mount Prospect (Illinois) Public Library
   

       
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