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Dr. Charles E. Feltner
Great Lakes Vessel Certificate
Master Abstract Database
1810 - 1868

Collections of Enrollment & Registry Certificates and other Great Lakes vessel documents

The original certificates of Enrollment and Registry, as well as ancillary documents from Great Lakes customs houses are widely scattered. Several public and private collections hold significant volumes of these documents.

NARA - College Park - By far the largest repository is the National Archives in College Park, MD. Records Group 41 holds the records of the US Customs Bureau, which includes all the Great Lakes vessel documents. As noted elsewhere on this site, the NARA collection is not complete. Many Great Lakes vessel records were destroyed by the Customs Bureau during a 1912 move and a 1921 fire destroyed additional documents. However, NARA is holds the largest single collection of Great Lakes vessel documents and provides limited ordering of document copies. Researchers must first request the specific documents to be copied. An invoice is then mailed to the researcher with the order processed following payment. Inquiries may be made by phone to:

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road,
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272

Certificates of enrollment, 1815-1915, and registry, 1815-1919.
Applications for official numbers, 1867- 1917.
Yacht licenses and enrollments, 1881-1907.
Abstracts of enrollments, 1815-1911; registers, 1815-1912; licenses, 1876- 1912; and yacht licenses, 1883-1910.
Index to vessel documents, 1867-1919.
Copies of customhouse records used in French spoliation claims (1789-1811), n.d.
Records relating to tonnage tax, 1893-1901; tonnage statistics, 1798-1800, 1813-45, 1849-67; and tonnage changes, 1900-23.
Records of vessels built, 1878-1926, and metal vessels built, 1825-1919.
Records concerning vessels lost at sea or wrecked, 1867-1901; abandoned, 1875-1901; and sold to foreigners, 1875-1924.
Records relating to vessels bought from or sold to the Federal Government, seized, or forfeited, 1815-1923.
Records concerning foreign built vessels, 1824-1923.
Records relating to vessels exempt from documentation, 1874-1924; and merchant vessels removed from documentation, 1879-85.
Lists of official numbers and signal letters granted, 1869-1912, and of vessel name changes, 1881-1920.

Vessel documentation and merchant seamen records maintained for the following locations by Bureau of Navigation and predecessor offices, and including:
-certificates of enrollment and registry
-licenses
-applications for vessel numbers
-abstracts of enrollment
-builders' certificates
-bills of sale
-conveyances
-mortgages
-records of admeasurement and inspection
-tonnage statistics
-bonds
-certificates of ownership
-owners' and masters' oaths
-master carpenter certificates
-shipping articles
-logbooks
-crew lists
-whalemen's shipping papers
-mutual release (discharge) books
-registers of services performed by shipping commissioners

Buffalo, NY, 1816-96 (in New York)
Sheboygan, WI, 1927-46 (in Chicago)
Chicago, IL, 1872-1902 and (in Chicago)
Cleveland, OH, 1870-82 and (in Chicago) 1850-67
Detroit, MI, 1818-98 and (in Chicago) 1831-1973;
Duluth, MN, 1872-83 and (in Kansas City) 1871-1951;
Grand Haven, MI, 1916-40 (in Chicago)
Ludington, MI, 1864-1949 (in Chicago)
Marquette, MI, 1871-1942 (in Chicago)
Milwaukee, WI, 1853-1900 and (in Chicago) 1853-1954;
Muskegon, MI, 1911-64 (in Chicago)
Oswego, NY, 1833-1921 (in New York)
Port Huron, MI, 1870-1969 (in Chicago)
Rochester, NY, 1818-1902 (in New York)
Rogers City, MI, 1925-68 (in Chicago)
St. Ignace, MI, 1919-67 (in Chicago)
Sandusky, OH, 1871-79 and (in Chicago) 1912-64
Sault Ste. Marie, MI, 1877-1963 (in Chicago)
Toledo, OH, 1870-1967 (in Chicago)

NARA - Chicago - The National Archives has several regional research centers and their Chicago center holds a large collection of microfilmed customs house records as well as many original customs house records related to Great Lakes vessels. Research at the Chicago NARA center is best done in person. The center is located at:

National Archives - Great Lakes Region
7358 South Pulaski Road
Chicago, Illinois 60629-5898

Historical Collection of the Great Lakes - Bowling Green State Univeristy, Ohio - The HCGL collection of NARA films was commissioned in 1974 by Richard Wright, then the institution's director. The films were limited to certificates of enrollment & registry and master abstracts for the major Great Lakes customs houses. The films are essentially identical to the set at the Milwaukee Public Library (below) with the exception that they include the several rolls of certificates of Enrollment issued at Milwaukee (1851 - 1911). HCGL also has several caches of original ancillary customs house documents such as:

Wisconsin Marine Historical Society - Milwaukee, Wisconsin - The WMHS has the largest collection of microfilmed NARA customs house records. Their films were made in the 1990s and are believed to be more complete than those made in the 1970s. The WMHS enrollments have been transcribed and placed online in a searchable database at: http://www.ship-wreck.com/shipwreck/wmhs. Through their online database, copies of the certificates may be ordered. Copies cost $5ea for WMHS members and $10ea for non-members. The films from the 1990s filming are housed in the Humanities Room at the Milwaukee Public Library, but are not accessible to the public, as they are not owned by the Library. They can only be accessed via the online database or by special arrangement with the WMHS.

Milwaukee Public Library - Milwaukee Wisconsin - The Milwaukee Public Library has a large set of NARA microfilms that was commissioned in 1974 by Richard Wright, the director of the (then) Institute for Great Lakes Research at Bowling Green State University. The MPL films are housed in the Periodicals Room at the Milwaukee Public Library and are publicly accessible. They contain films of certificates of Enrollment and Registry as well as Master Abstracts. However, they do not include ancillary vessel documents such as Builder Certificates, Certificates of Admeasurement, etc. Ironically, the set of films is also missing all the enrollment certificates for the port of Milwaukee. The collection includes the following:

387.5 U582 Certificates of Enrollment issued at Green Bay & Manitowoc (1858,62) - 1 reel
387.5 U582CC Certificates of Enrollment issued at Chicago (1847-1866) - 5 reels
387.5 U582CP Certificates of Registry (1818-31) & Enrollment (1818-1898) issued at Detroit - 7 reels
387.5 U582CR Certificates of Enrollment and Registers issued at Detroit (1818-51)(1818-31) - 1 reel
387.5 U582CCL Certificates of Enrollment issued at Cleveland (1829-66) - 5 reels
387.5U582CCLE Certificates of Enrollment issued at Cleveland (1867-1911) - 9 reels
387.5 U582EM Certificates of Enrollment issued at Michilimackinac/Sault Ste. Marie - 1 reel (1831-63)/(1847-68)
387.5 U582B Certificates of Enrollment issued at Buffalo (1816-1911) - 13 reels
387.5 U582MB Master Abstracts of Enrollments issued at Buffalo (1822 - 1911) and Cleveland (1817 - 1911) - 1 reel
387.5 U582MP Master Abstracts of Enrollments issued at Port Huron, Grand Haven, Duluth & Marquette to 1911
387.5 U582MC Master Abstracts of Enrollments issued at Chicago, Green Bay and Milwaukee (1847-1911)
387.5 U582MD Master Abstracts of Enrollments issued at Detroit (1816-1911)
387.5 U582MS Master Abstracts of Enrollments issued at Huron, Portland & Sandusky, OH (1816-66) - 2 reels
387.5 U582MG Master Abstracts of Registers issued at all Great Lakes Ports (1815-1910) - 1 reel
387.5 U582CG Registers issued at Great Lakes Ports 1815 - 1872 - 2 reels Film 1 - Buffalo, NY; Cape Vincent, NY; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; Film 2 - Genessee, NY (1815-31); Marquette, MI (1869-71), Michilimackinac, MI (1817, 1859); Ogdensburgh, NY (1816-1829); Oswego, NY (1815-30, 1864); Port Huron, MI (1867-72); Presque Isle (1815-29, 1866-72) Sacketts Harbor, NY (1815-31); Sandusky, OH (1859-72) Toledo, OH (1868-72)

State Historical Society of Wisconsin - Madison, Wisconsin - The SHSW has a substantial microfilmed collection of Milwaukee customs house document from the National Archives. Many of the reels contain fascinating ancillary documents that are not generally available on microfilm. The collection includes the following (by film number):

Milwaukee Customs Records at SHSW
P46006 - Index of clearances at Milwaukee 7/3/1873 - 4/18/1884 - vessel, master, to, from, crew no., cargo, tonnages
P46007 - "" - 4/19/1884 - 4/29/1889
P46008 - "" - 4/29/1889 - 9/26/1893
P46009 - "" - 9/6/1893 - 6/15/1898
P46010 - "" - 6/11/1898 - 8/31/1898 Coastwise Clearances & Departures - 10/1/1870 - 12/21/1875 (similar info to later clearances) "" - 1/1/1876 - 4/30/1881 + other clearances & dept. 1870s - 1881
P46011 - Coastwise Clearances and Departures 11/14/1876 - 12/31/1878
P46012 - "" Arrivals & Departures - 1/2/1879 - 10/30/1880 Entrances & Clearances - 10/1/1891 - 3/25/1894 and 8/27/1892 - 9/12/1892
P46013 - "" 9/13/1892 - 10/28/1898
P46014 - Coastwise Entrances & Clearances 10/28/1898 to June 14, 1899 For Manitowoc May 2, 1881 - Sept 29, 1891 For Marinette May 24, 1886 - 9/20/1888
P46015 - Arrivals/Departures Marinette 9/22/1888 - 8/20/1897 Ledger 5/31/1857 - 4/25/1871 financial records - hospital tax paid by specific schooners, etc.
P46016 - Ledger - 3/1871 - 3/1886 & Ledger for LaCrosse - 2/7/1874 - 6/30/1886
P46017 - Ledger Impost Book - 11/3/1873 - 11/6/1897
P46018 - Ledger Impost Book - 11/8/1897 - 3/31/1900 & Wreck Reports 10/1/1874 - 4/1899
P46019 - Health Records, Mortgages, Admeasurememts Bills of Sale 1850 - 1856 with index Masters Oath of Citizenship and License 4/1851 - 10/1855 Record of Mortages with Index 11/1850 - 3/1857 Register of Permits to Enter Hospital at Milwaukee July 1858 - June 1878 + notes from companies Certificates of Admeasurement - 2/1871 - 4/1881 Customs House copies of Certificates of Enrollment issued at Milwaukee 6/10/1853 - 7/18/1856
P46020 - "" - 7/19/1856 - 4/1871
P46021 - "" - 4/1871 - 4/1882
P46022 - "" 4/17/1882 - 4/5/1884
P46023 - Certificates of Enrollment with Index 4/9/1894 - 4/15/1896
P282018 - Arrivals - 4/1851 - 6/1854
P282019 - Arrivals & Imports - 6/1854 - 4/1864
P282020 - Arrivals - 1/1864 - 10/1869
P282021 - Arrivals - 10/1869 - 6/1874
P282022 - Arrivals - 6/11/1874 - 9/8/1874 & 11/1880 - 10/13/1884
P282023 - Arrivals - 10/13/1884 - 10/31/1889
P282024 - Arrivals - 11/1/1889 - 7/30/1894
P282025 - Arrivals - 7/27/1894 - 4/7/1899
P282026 - Arrivals - 3/7/1899 - 5/31/1900 & Departures - 4/1/1851 - 9/13/1861
P282027 - Departures - 9/13/1861 - 9/22/1868
P282028 - Departures - 9/22/1868 - 7/2/1873 and Foreign Vessels Cleared - 7/1/1870 - 9/22/1873 American Vessels Cleared for Foreign Countries - 7/7/1870 - 9/5/1883

Mackinac Customs House Records - Various original customs house records for the Port of Mackinac were never collected by NARA. However, the originals do exist in local collections around Michigan. The following are the main repositories for the known Mackinac records:

Judge John Steere Collection, Bayliss Public Library, Sault Ste. Marie, MI - Vessel manifests, 1802-75
J. M. Longyear collection, Marquette County Historical Society, Marquette, MI - Enrollments, 1830-38 and 1851-68; Licenses, 1838-69; Bills of Sale and Mortgages, 1850-70
Bentley Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI - Impost Book, 1802-58
Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library - Clearances, 1838-40 and many other miscellaneous documents - 450 pages

Oswego Customs House Records - The original certificates of enrollment and registry as well as other ancillary documents were discarded during cleanup of the federal government building at Oswego, NY. However, they were rescued by a local maritime historian and are now at the Penfield Library at the SUNY-Oswego. These documents have not been filmed.

Penfield Library
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126-3599
Phone: 315.312.2500

Port Huron Customs House Records - A subset of the original certificates of enrollment and registry as well as other ancillary documents are known to be in the collection of the Port Huron Museum. The documents have not been catalogued and are thought to be quite important, as NARA does not have any of Port Huron's original certificates of enrollment.