Fordhams to America

[Karvan]

I'm trying to find out when my great grandparents Henry and Sarah Fordham went to America. Their childrens names are William, Alice, Alfred and Ethel.
They would have gone between 1881 and 1901. They are missing on the 1891 census and back living in Chatham by 1901.
I pretty certain that they went from family members telling me.
They lived in Chatham in Kent so maybe sailed from there??
Can anyone help??

[aghadowey]

To find any records of them in U.S. you really need an idea of the date and place (state) they were in.
You can have a look at migration records (1890-1960) on Find My Past for people leaving the U.K. The index is free to search and will give you the year, port of departure and port of arrival and often approx. age.

[AMBLY]

I can work out from *A** Immigration Index that:

An Ethel FORDHAM arrived in New York out of Liverpool, in 1890.
She was aged 5.

Henry's (and his wife Sarah Ann's) daughter Ethel was 15 in 1901. She was born in 1886 and would have been 4 or 5 in 1890.

A search on the same database for all FORDHAM who arrived in NY in 1890 out of Liverpool reveals:
Sarah A
Wm T
Alin (Alice??)
Ethel
Alf
Benjamin

I can't bring up all the same people on Find My Past. Benjamin  yes, and William maybe, but not the others. I suspect Benjamin may not part of the same group - unless he was really Henry

But otherwise  - it looks like the right people  if we could find the  actual passenger list  and see if they are a family group all together        Ages in 1890:  Henry and Sarah  abt 40, William abt 17, Alice abt 11, Alfred abt 10  and Ethel abt 5

Cheers
AMBLY

[shellyesq]

SS Majestic, Liverpool to New York, 3 Jul 1890
Sarah A. Fordham, age 31, female, wife
Wm. T. Fordham, age 36, male, lab.
Alice Fordham, age 11, female, child
Alf. Fordham, age 9, male, child
Ethel Fordham, age 5, female, child
All from England with destination of United States

[Karvan]

Blimey!!!!!
I'm so pleased with all this information.
I wonder where Henry was?? Wm wouldn't have been 36!!
I think I found their passport applications

Can you find them on the return journey???

[shellyesq]

I don't think there are any return lists out there.  If there are, I'm unaware of them.

[Karvan]

I looked on the passenger list on Findmypast.com without success and can't find the Majestic going out on the 3rd July1890. Can you tell me where to find it so that I can put a copy with the other records I have

[shellyesq]

It arrived on July 3, so I'd look for a departure date prior to that.

[carol8353]

HI there

They've been indexed on FindMyPast as FORAHAN 

The ship left Liverpool on 25 June 1890

Hope that helps

Carol