For the first time the English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh migrants' records can be searched by name to reveal date, departure port and destination. They detail age, nationality, job, accompanying family members, name of ship, purpose of travel and even who funded the voyage. "The passenger lists reveal remarkable stories of onboard romance, penniless unknowns destined for fame and fortune and the anonymous ancestors of some of today's biggest names," an Ancestry spokesman said.
The records form part of a database of 100 million passengers - 45 million of them migrants - which goes online today at Ancestry.co.uk with free access until the end of the month.
Many of the site's searchers are expected to be American, as a fifth of the population of the US is of English, Irish, Scots or Welsh descent.
The records reveal the family history of some of the US's biggest entrepreneurs. In 1856 David Dunbar Buick, born in Arbroath two years earlier, was taken to Detroit by his family, became an industrialist and founded in 1904 the automobile company that bears his name. Joseph Campbell, soup manufacturer and inspirer of Andy Warhol, was also a member of one of thousands of families that left Scotland for America.
The Ancestry.co.uk website is here.
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