Not everyone traveled to America as a complete family unit and as such, we as genealogists will sometimes, if we don’t look carefully, miss out on information on a passenger list by not taking a more complete and comprehensive look at the family as a unit.
One good example was given in the writings on ancestry.com this week, with the story of the Hudgins family, who traveled ahead while their children followed them at  a later date, in this case, a year or so later.
Taking that story a step further, what does that tell us about how to use the information on the passengers lists that we read..
It tells us, not to take it for granted that what we see in just one listing, is all that there is when it comes to the family story on immigration to the United States.

Not only is the same family not included in the same list, but at times they are not included on the same ship. If you find an incidence where you see a couple traveling alone, in many cases, particularly from areas such as Ireland, the family would come ahead of the others, leaving their children and sometimes even a wife and children, at home to assure that they found work and a place that was worthy to bring them to prior to sending for the remainder of the family.

Take the time, when exploring family members, to add things up and make sure that the dates mesh.. If you’ve found  acouple traveling alone on the ship, and then find them three years later with three children, of ages such as six or seven, chances are that those children traveled over alone or with another relative, and you need to go back to the ships passenger listings again to find dates of travel or find their names listed on the passenger lists.
Our ancestors sometimes, just like we do… hedged their bets when it came to coming to America.