Second-class passenger Archibald Alec Leach was among more than 2,000 people who arrived at Ellis Island on July 28, 1920, aboard the S.S. Olympic.

The 16-year-old Englishman listed his occupation as “artist” and his U.S. destination as the Globe Theatre in New York. He told immigration authorities that he intended to remain in the United States “indefinitely.”

That’s how Cary Grant came to America.

Now you can go online to see the original document that records the late screen actor’s arrival, and the landing of just about everyone else who sailed to America between 1820 and 1960. The Internet genealogy service Ancestry.com has put more than 100 million passenger arrival records online from that period in a searchable database on its Web site.

“This is the largest online collection of passenger lists that will ever be assembled for the United States,” said Mike Ward, a genealogist with Ancestry.com.

More than 41 million people immigrated to America during the 140-year period, most of them during the 50 years between 1880 and 1930. Ancestry.com estimates that approximately 85 percent of the current U.S. population has at least one relative in the database.

The original records existed thanks to a law passed by Congress in 1819 that required all ships docking in U.S. ports to file a list of passengers on board. The lists often include information about each passenger’s date and place of birth, profession and other personal data.

Ancestry.com plans to allow free access to the database through the end of the year.