Pat M. Mahan, the Lauderdale County, Alabama GenWeb Co-ordinator, offers to do look-ups in "Ships Passenger Lists, Port of Galveston, Texas, 1846-1871.". It is not a complete list of ships arriving in Galveston during that period. Rather, it appears to be a set of manifests discovered and printed as a special project of the Society.

Pat Mahan says, "I do not know WHEN the records were presented for publication. In the Foreword, Ella E. Lee Sheffield states that 'It has taken over two and one-half years in this effort and much appreciation is expressed to the many volunteers for the countless hours spent to make this published record available to you, the genealogist.' She also states that very few members of their genealogy group are of German ancestry and that even if they had been, it probably wouldn't have helped, because the handwriting was so bad - and the spelling worse." It appears that they were working from original records and a large number of the immigrants were from Germany.

From the book, we also learn of the Port of Galveston:

  1. The establishment of the Port of Galveston
    The Port of Galveston was established as a port of customs entry by order ofthe Congress of Mexico on 17 Oct 1825. The city of Galveston was founded in 1839, and Texas adopted Federal recordkeeping after the state was annexed on 29 Dec 1845.
  2. How long was the port an entry for immigrants?
    The port is still a port of entry. However, there is no longer any regular passenger service from foreign ports [and] very few immigrants enter through this port.
  3. Is Galveston the only port of entry in Texas?
    Galveston is not and was not the only port in Texas. It was, however, the major port of entry in the 19th century.

For each vessel, the book contains the name of the vessel, where it's from, and usually contains the name of the Master and the date of arrival. Information on passengers is: Name - every name given, with families being grouped together; Age - given for everyone; Sex - given for everyone; Occupation - usually given only for the males; Origin - not always given; Destination - not always given. Some additional detail was included for arrivals after September, 1866. Not all ships carried German passengers.