SS San Jose
I, S.F. Pillsbury, Master of the Steamship San Jose do solemnly, sincerely, and truly swear that the following List or Manifest, subscribed by me, and now delivered by me to the Collector of the Customs of the Collection District of San Francisco, is a full and perfect list of all Chinese passengers taken on board the said vessel at Panama & Way Ports from which port said vessel has now arrived, or that have been taken on board the said vessel at any foreign port or place, and of all such passengers now on board said vessel, and that on said List is truly designated the names and other particulars, as shown by their respective certificates.So help me God. (signature) S.F. Pillsbury
Sworn to this 18th day of Dec 1897, before me, (signature) N.S. Farley, Deputy Collector of Customs
Separate List or Manifest of all the Chinese Passengers taken on board the SS San Jose whereof S.F. Pillsbury is Master, from Panama & Way Ports, burthen 1538.28 tons
Columns represent: Number, No of Certificate*, Name, Age, Occupation, Last Place of Residence, Height, Complexion, Color of Eyes, Physical Marks or Peculiarities and Facts of Identification, If accredited officers of Chinese Government, state facts*.
1 Mee Foo 44y3m Merchant Panama 5'7" Dark Black Scar on right forehead Dep per Str Peking Dec 18/97
2 Ah Yoon 26y5m Merchant Panama 5'9" Dark Brown none Dep per Str Peking Dec 18/97
3 Ah Tai 33y7m Merchant Panama 5'8" Dark Black Bloodshot eyes Dep per Str Peking Dec 18/97
4 Ah Chong 38y3m Merchant Panama 5'6" Dark Brown none Dep per Str Peking Dec 18/97
5 Ha Sing 53y4m Merchant Panama 5'7" Dark Black Mole on left cheek Dep per Str Peking Dec 18/97
6* Lock Qua? 47y4m Merchant Panama 5'9" Dark Black none Dep per Str Peking Dec 18/97
7 Ah Leong 50y2m Merchant Panama 5'4" Sallow Brown Scars on forehead Dep per Str Peking Dec 18/97
8 Sung Chong Law 38y3m Merchant Panama 5'10" Sallow Black none Dep per Str Peking Dec 18/97
Transcriber's Notes:
* An asterisk indicates an error on the part of the original recorder, not the transcriber,
or calls attention to additional information in the transcriber notes.
? Indicates a letter or number which could not be determined due to the condition
of the manifest or handwriting of the original recorder.
The pages on this film are not numbered so finding a particular ship can be difficult.
However, there is a system of numbering the manifests that is a part of the National
Archives file system on Chinese persons. These numbers are included in the identification
of the film and reel numbers below.
* The departure port is listed as simply "Panama." Research indicates this refers to Panama City.
For passengers bound for San Francisco, passengers' names and ages are followed by a stamp
that varies depending on the disposition of the passenger and which is stamped over whatever
information has been entered in the columns.
Passengers allowed to land have the following stamp:
Landed Collectors order (blank with a month and day date written in) 1897 by Insp's (blank
for a name).
Passengers not allowed to land have one of two different stamps:
Landing Refused Habeas Corpus U.S.D.C. Case followed by a number. These passengers were
probably allowed to land, but not to freely enter the country.
Landing Refused Departed Per Steamer ______ (name of ship) _________ (date).
For passengers bound for a further destination there are two possible dispositions:
Landed "I.T." Transit List followed by a number These passengers expected to continue travel
by some other means to their destinations.
Departed Per Steamer ______ (name of ship) _________ (date)
The following columns had no entries:
No of Certificate
If accredited officers of Chinese Government, state facts
According to the National Archives branch in San Bruno, California it is possible that they
have some information on any Chinese passenger who arrived in San Francisco after 1886.
National Archives and Records Administration, Film M1414, Reel 6, Section 3, Vol. 38 & 39, Manifest 9606-3.
Transcribed by Fran Taylor, a member of the
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
27 February 2009
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