What records exist (ship manifests, naturalization papers) for Mary Anne MacLeod Trump?

1. Arrival records: the Transylvania manifest and what it says

Primary passenger lists for the S.S. Transylvania show a young Mary Anne MacLeod stepping into New York on 11 May 1930; reporting by outlets that digitized Ellis Island/Liberty records reproduces that manifest entry and notes she arrived with $50 and listed no husband or prior U.S. residence ^{[1] [6]}. Multiple secondary profiles and genealogy compilations reproduce the same arrival details and the common notation that her listed occupation was “maid” or “domestic,” consistent across several published retellings ^{[2] [7]}.

2. Multiple crossings: ship manifests show repeat travel in the 1930s

Scholarly and magazine accounts say ship manifests record Mary Anne returning to Scotland more than once between 1930 and 1934, a travel pattern visible in passenger records and discussed by historians and journalists as notable because of its frequency for a domestic worker ^[2]. Fact‑checking and archival reporting also point to manifests that show a declared intention to reside in the U.S. on at least one re‑entry, a detail used by writers to weigh whether she emigrated permanently right away or maintained close ties and trips home ^{[8] [1]}.

3. Naturalization paperwork: date and public confirmation

Multiple encyclopedic and news summaries report that Mary Anne MacLeod did not become a U.S. citizen until March 10, 1942, despite a 1940 census form that mistakenly recorded her as a naturalized citizen; that March 1942 date appears in Wikipedia snapshots and related profiles ^{[3] [4] [5]}. Genealogists and journalists have cited and in some cases published images or transcriptions of her naturalization petition and final papers, and researchers point to those documents when correcting viral claims that she was ever “undocumented” ^{[9] [3]}.

4. What the records do — and do not — settle about intent and status

The manifests and the naturalization certificate together establish arrival, repeat travel, declared intentions on certain manifests, and formal naturalization in 1942; reporting based on those documents concludes she legally naturalized and traveled without reported immigration violations ^{[8] [4]}. Available sources do not mention a complete, consolidated online dossier of every manifest and the full naturalization file in a single public repository, nor do they provide direct images of every relevant record within the set of sources here — researchers cite various archives and foundations for individual items ^{[1] [9]}.

5. Disputed claims and the misinformation vector

A persistent online claim that Mary Anne was an “undocumented immigrant” has been challenged by fact‑checking and genealogists who point to the naturalization petition and passenger manifests; Snopes and other fact‑checks summarize that the record chain shows lawful entries and eventual naturalization, and thus the “undocumented” label is unsupported in current reporting ^{[8] [9]}. At the same time, press accounts emphasize how a 1940 census misclassification seeded confusion; that misstatement in a federal form is documented and appears to have fueled later false narratives ^{[3] [4]}.

6. Context: occupation, class and why the records matter

Journalists and historians use the manifests’ occupation entries (“maid”/“domestic”) and repeated crossings to place Mary Anne in the common migration patterns of young working women from the British Isles who performed domestic work in New York in the interwar years ^{[2] [10]}. Those archival details have been leveraged in both sympathetic human‑interest pieces and political arguments about immigration — showing how archival fragments can be framed differently depending on the author’s agenda ^{[2] [6]}.

7. How to follow up if you need originals or deeper proof

Reporting referenced here points to Ellis Island/Liberty archives, contemporary magazine features and genealogical snapshots as the places where manifests and the naturalization date have been located or reproduced ^{[1] [3]}. Available sources do not provide a single direct link to a scanned copy of every cited document within this collection; researchers recommend consulting the Ellis Island database, national archives, or professional genealogists for certified copies ^{[1] [9]}.

Limitations and note on sources: this summary relies on the passenger‑manifest reporting and encyclopedia entries assembled in the provided set; when sources disagree, I cite both the archival‑based reporting (manifests and fact‑checks) and the encyclopedic summaries that consolidate naturalization dates ^{[1] [8] [3]}.