With the additional knowledge of the Wilson and Pearson families that we got from the Wilson Family Bible, I decided to search through the records at Castle Garden to see if I could find their immigration record. Castle Garden was the main immigration port in New York before Ellis Island was built.
Turns out "John Wilson" is a ridiculously common name and, while there were several possibilities in the 1830s, I don't know which one is him.
The Pearson family, however, was easier. I found the record of Robert and Elizabeth Pearson who arrived in 1835 along with their children John, Mary, and Ellen [this would be Eleanor Pearson Wilson, my great-great-great-grandmother]. The record is of the "Ship Alfred" out of Liverpool, Charles Cheever, master.
The record doesn't say much, just that Robert is a farmer, Elizabeth is his wife, and the three others his children, all from England. Their ages are given as 61, 58, 22, 16, and 12. I do wonder if the older children came to the US earlier and set things up for their parents and younger siblings.
