Ancestry has US Passport Applications, 1795-1925

The promised and long awaited set of United States Passport Appications has been made available by http://www.ancestry.com/ in their US Deluxe subscription.

The sources for this information include

* Passport Applications, 1795-1905; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1372, 694 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

* Passport Applications, January 2, 1906-March 31, 1925; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1490, 2740 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

* Registers and Indexes for Passport Applications, 1810-1906; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1371, rolls 1-3, 13); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

* Emergency Passport Applications (Passports Issued Abroad), 1877-1907; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1834, 56 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

I took a quick look for some of my ancestors and haven't found any yet - a pity because this is a very nice set of data for those persons included. But being the self-appointed collector of all genealogy things Seaver, I looked at a few of them to see what was on them. Below is the application for Edwin P. Seaver of Newton MA in 1905.


A genealogy researcher would get this information about Edwin P. Seaver -

* his wife's name, birthplace and birthdate (Margaret W. Seaver, born Milwaukee WI, 10 June 1844)
* his birth date and birth place (24 Feb 1838 in Northborough MA)
* his permanent residence (Newton MA)
* his occupation (teacher)
* his signature for the oath of allegiance
* a physical description -
** age (66),
** Stature (5' 11"),
** forehead (high),
** eyes (black),
** Nose (Roman),
** Mouth (medium),
** Chin (average),
** Hair (gray),
** Complexion (dark),
** Face (oval)

He could have listed the children who would travel with him and their birth data. He could also have told how long he was going to be out of the country.

All in all, a nice set of information and a pretty good physical description. There was no picture for this passport, but I saw several with a picture (black and white).

Of course, these are not NEW records, they've been available at a National Archives on microfilm for a long time. What is new is that they are now digitized and indexed and online for the first time.

Do you know if your ancestors, or their siblings, applied for a passport before 1925? Go find out!