Ancestry.com Launches U.S. Passport Applications

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:

U.S. Passport Applications Document the Voyages of 2.4 Million American Travelers, Between 1795 and 1925

PROVO, Utah, Dec. 4 -- Ancestry.com, the world's leading online family history resource, this week released a collection of U.S. Passport Applications spanning from 1795 to 1925 and including names of nearly 2.4 million American travelers. Babe Ruth filled one out to before sailing to Havana, Cuba, for a 1918 baseball game. Walt Disney and Ernest Hemingway submitted applications so they could travel to Europe and drive ambulances during World War I. And pictures of Tom Cruise's great-grandparents -- Thomas and Anna Mapother -- adorn their application filled out in 1924 in preparation for a European tour.

Passport applications beginning in 1914 included photographs of the applicants, giving many people today the rare opportunity to see the faces of their ancestors. The documents also include applicants' occupations, foreign destinations and physical descriptions. Alexander Graham Bell's 1920 application, for example, described him as having a high forehead, a straight nose and slim mouth, a clean tanned complexion, and a full white beard -- which is clearly evident in the photo attached to his application.

Available online for the first time, this unique collection provides countless Americans interesting and sometimes humorous glimpses into the international wanderings of their ancestors and notable historical figures. Throughout the years covered by this collection, workers wages often put international travel within reach of only America's upper class.

"Mixed among the frequent travels of the rich and famous, you will find the successful business man and his wife voyaging to a foreign port or the immigrant-turned-U.S.-citizen sailing home to visit relatives," said Megan Smolenyak, Chief Family Historian for Ancestry.com. "You may even find different applications for multiple trips; since passports during this time period were generally valid for only two years or less."

Other historical figures whose passport applications appear in the collection include:

• Anti-slavery advocate Frederick Douglass preparing for a 1886 tour of Europe and Asia.
• Thomas Edison arranges to attend the Paris Exposition in 1889.
• Mark Twain, recorded by birth name Samuel L. Clemens and whose nose is described as "ordinary," traveling in 1891 with three daughters and a servant.
• In the aftermath of World War I, John D. Rockefeller Jr. prepares to travel to France to provide aid for restoration projects.
• Author F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda, was pregnant when they arranged a pleasure trip of Europe in April 1921. They were back in the states for the October 1921 birth.

You can even find Paris Hilton's great-grandfather Conrad Hilton, Donald Trump's grandfather Fred Trump, Drew Barrymore's grandfather John Barrymore and two of George W Bush's great-grandfathers -- Samuel Prescott Bush and George H. Walker.

Comments

[Gary]

This is an amazing collection. Within three minutes I was able to find the passport application ( complete with picture! ) of Margaret Tobin Brown, who was later known as the Unsinkable Molly Brown. Another minute later and I was looking at the passport application for Louisa May Alcott. Outstanding material.

[Carole Bemke]

Although an excellent source for many it is not complete. I have information on a relative that sailed to Germany in 1909 but he is not listed. Perhaps another name so I will continue to check.

[Bobbi Deo]

This is great! I was able to find passport applications for my great-grandfather and his two brothers. I checked for them even though previously I did not find them arriving in the US any time after their original immigration.

P.S. for Carole: In 1909 I think it was optional to get a passport.

[Robbin Smith]

I also stumbled on this new feature; one of my distant cousins is Amy Vanderbilt (author of Book of Etiquette) and found her passport application for travel to Switzerland for boarding school. What was not immediately clear to me was that the photograph of her was on the next page in the "microfilm" - I had been looking at the picture shown in the same page but it obvsiously wasnt Amy.

[Diane]

For Carole: Bobbi is right. People traveling abroad could get passports starting in 1789, but they weren't required to (except brief periods during the Civil War and World War I) until 1941. Non-naturalized immigrants weren't eligible for passports unless they'd declared their intention to become citizens. Also, a woman could travel under her husbands' passport and children could travel under a parent's passport.

[Carole Bemke]

Thank you Bobbie and Diane! This really helped with searches for several people. I really appreciate your reply.

[VERA HOLMAN]

wHAT IS THE URL FOR THIS LASTEST GENEALOGY SITE, AS I AM INTERESTED IN SEEING IF MY FATHER WITH HIS PARENTS AND SIBLINGS ARE LISTED AND TO WHERE THEY WERE GOING!! DAD JAN(jOHN) BELEJ-BELEY, WAS JUST A VERY YOUNG CHILD WHEN HIS PARENTS TOOK FAMILY BACK TO THE OLD COUNTRY!! hE WAS BORN IN PA.1896!! tHE PATERNAL SIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BRICK WALL FOR ME!!

[Nancy]

Well doesn't it just figure they would finally add a significant and valuable database just as my subscription expires. :-(

[Gary]

Dobrý den Vera

To answer Vera Holman's question....yes, there is a passport application for Jan Belej, born August 4, 1896 in Loyalhanna, PA. The application also contains an affidavit explaining protracted foreign residence during WW I and includes a picture. The URL is www.Ancestry.com

[Julie Goucher]

Thanks so much. I located the passport application for my husband's great Grandmother, complete with photograph.

[Fran Bollenbach]

What a wonderful addition to the site. Hopefully they will soon add more as many of my relatives traveled back to Europe but I am disappointed that I cannot find any of their applications.