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Exploring
Immigration Records
Learn how to find your ancestor's in Immigration
records
What
are passenger lists?
Passenger lists are among the
most important of genealogical records, particularly for the wave
of immigrants who arrived in America during the 19th and early
20th Centuries. Partly in an effort to alleviate overcrowding
of passenger ships, Congress enacted legislation (3 Stat. 489)
on March 2, 1819 to regulate the transport of passengers in ships
arriving in the United States from foreign ports. As a provision
of this act, masters of such ships were required to submit a list
of all passengers to the collector of customs in the district
in which the ship arrived. The legislation required that the list
note, in particular, "the age, sex, and occupation
of the aid passengers, respectively, the country to which they
severally belong, and that of which it is their intention to become
inhabitants." Over time, passenger lists captured
more information and became more uniform from port to port. Researchers
can learn their ancestor’s age, occupation, port and date
of departure and arrival, destination, and even the name and type
of ship they traveled on in their journey to America. Armed with
information about the ship’s name you can often track down
photos and newspaper stories relating to the ship’s voyages
and history.
Learn
More About Passenger Lists >>
What
are naturalization records?
The process of becoming a US citizen and the information required
at each stage makes naturalization
records an important set of documents for genealogical research.
Since 1790, naturalizations in the United States have been performed
according to federal law. Before 1906, any federal, state, or
local court of record could naturalize aliens, so records tend
to vary significantly. Under the 1906 Basic Naturalization Act,
naturalization forms were standardized and the U.S. Bureau of
Immigration and Naturalization, later the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS), examined petitions for naturalization.
Aliens
intending to become naturalized citizens first filed a declaration
of intention to become a citizen in which they renounced their
allegiance to foreign sovereignties. These records typically include
the applicant's name, age, place and date of birth, allegiance,
and date of declaration. After 1866, the form usually
gave a physical description (complexion, height, weight, eye color,
and any identifying marks), current place of residence, last foreign
address, name of ship, and port and date of entry. Imagine learning
what your 19th century ancestors looked like—all
in an era before photographs were commonplace. A declaration of
intention usually preceded proof of residence or a petition to
become a citizen by two or more years. After five years (except
for a brief period when the laws changed) in the United States,
an alien could petition a court to be naturalized, though most
aliens waited more than the required five years to become naturalized
(and many never completed the process by petitioning for naturalization).
Naturalization
petitions are instruments by which those who had declared their
intention to become a U.S. citizen and who had met the residence
requirements made formal application for U.S. citizenship. Courts
held hearings on the petition of an alien and took testimony from
witnesses to determine whether the alien met residence and character
requirements. When the petition was accepted, the alien took the
oath of allegiance and the court recorded the final naturalization
order or certificate.
Learn
More About Naturalization Records >> |
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This
Immigration Collection Includes:
| • |
Over
10 million names |
| • |
New
York Passenger Lists, 1800s |
| • |
Passenger
& Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s |
| • |
Passenger
lists from all major US ports including Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore & New Orleans |
| • |
Naturalization
records, 1700s-1900s |
| • |
Immigrant
records from over 100 countries |
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What
You Can Find:
| With
Immigration records you can often find: |
| • |
Occupation |
| • |
Place
of origin |
| • |
Destination
in the US |
| • |
Occupation |
| • |
Name
of ship & registry # |
| • |
Type
of ship |
| • |
Port
& date of departure |
| • |
Port
& date of arrival |
| • |
National
Archives location #s |
|
| With
naturalization records you can often find: |
| • |
Birthplace |
| • |
Birth
date |
| • |
Port
& date of departure |
| • |
Port
& date of arrival |
| • |
Last
foreign address |
| • |
Court
location & date of petition/oath of allegiance |
| • |
Person’s
physical description |
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