Dear Listers,

I was finally able to get on the Ellis Island website at about 6 am NY time
today, though even at that time it wasn't easy to get through or to stay on
the site.

I accessed the passenger record of my g-grandfather ARMIN BANYAI. The
information I received on line showed his name, date of arrival (1911), his
gender, his age, ship (Rijndam) and the port of departure (Rotterdam, The
Netherlands). The ethnicity, place of residence and marital status were left
blank. These blanks were a disappointment to me since I had hoped for more
information. Then I noticed an * with the following sentence "This passenger
is a U.S. citizen". Perhaps that might help explain the blank information,
though I was surprised that my g-grandfather was a citizen at this early
date. Though the name is not too common, I wasn't sure if I had the right
person, since his death certificate and grave stone showed he would have been
5 years younger.

A few months ago I received >from NARA a copy of a ship manifest showing that
my g-grandfather, g-grandmother, grandmother and 2 uncles had arrived in the
US on September 16, 1899 on the SS Barbarossa, sailing >from Bremen. I had no
idea that my g-grandfather had travelled to Europe alone again. However, his
age on the manifest coincided with the age provided on-line >from the Ellis
Island website, so I concluded that they were one and the same person.

My query is why the name failed to appear for the arrival in 1899 on the
Ellis Island website? Has anyone experienced the same or a similar thing?
Unfortunately, I was booted off the website as I was doing a search for the
1899 ship manifest. Any ideas, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated.

Jayne Cartier
Queens, NY