I am trying to find information about my wife's great-grandfather's immigration. His name was Johann Hadel or Hoedl and he was born in 1852 in Bohemia. He and his wife Mary Theresa Gregory and two children came to the US in 1884 or 1885. According

Question

The family story also included that there was a fire at Ellis Island and that is why there are no records of their immigration. If there was a fire in 1885 or sometime afterward that destroyed their records, is there some other resource to use to find out about the ship and possibly other information about Johann's parents in Bohemia?

A1 Reference Branch · Answer

Houser448 
 Thank you for posting your question on History Hub ! 
 
 The National Archives has immigration records for arrivals to the United States from foreign ports between approximately 1820 and December 1982 (with gaps). The records are arranged by port or airport of arrival. Discover more about Immigrant Records at the National Archives by visiting our webpage: https://www.archives.gov/research/immigration Passenger arrival and departure records dated post 1957 were filmed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the original paper records were not retained. The accessioned microfilm reels now in the custody of the National Archives are the record copies of the original paper records which no longer exist. Unfortunately, due to the fragile nature of the original camera negative film, access to the microfilm is limited until it can be transferred to a more suitable format. The National Archives is in the process of transferring the microfilm to a digital format, and all digitized copies will eventually be available online. Arrival records are restricted due to personally identifiable information for 50 years, and must be requested through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ( https://www.archives.gov/foia ) request during the restricted period. Please note: All requests for passenger arrival records dated post 1957 must include the full name of the passenger; exact day/month/year of arrival; port or airport of arrival; vessel or airline name; and for airport arrivals, the flight number. Records older than 50 years are publicly available, and many have been digitized and are available online. For information about these resources, please consult our webpage https://www.archives.gov/digitization/digitized-by-partners . Please note that researchers can access these online resources free of charge from any NARA facility. 
 We hope this assists you with your research! Sincerely, Archives 1 Reference Branch (RR1R) 
 RR1R-24-69901-RH