United States Emigration and ImmigrationEdit This Page

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Nearly fifty million people have immigrated to America. Significant patterns of immigration and settlement can be observed during three periods: Pre-1820. An estimated 650,000 individuals arrived in America before 1820. The majority (60 percent) were English and Welsh. Smaller numbers of German, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Dutch, French, Spanish, African, and other nationalities also arrived. For the most part these immigrants settled in small clusters in the eastern, middle-Atlantic, and southern states.  
 
Nearly fifty million people have immigrated to America. Significant patterns of immigration and settlement can be observed during three periods: Pre-1820. An estimated 650,000 individuals arrived in America before 1820. The majority (60 percent) were English and Welsh. Smaller numbers of German, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Dutch, French, Spanish, African, and other nationalities also arrived. For the most part these immigrants settled in small clusters in the eastern, middle-Atlantic, and southern states.  
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A general overview of emigration and immigration including historical trends, port history, and the naturalization process can be found in this [http://www.mesarfhc.org/powerpoint_training/pdf_files/imigration_naturalization.pdf slide presentation].
  
 
'''1820-1880.''' Over ten million immigrants came from northern Europe, the British Isles, and Scandinavia during these years. There was a significant increase in the number of immigrants from Germany and Ireland beginning in the 1840s and 1850s. While some of the new arrivals settled in large eastern and mid-western cities, most migrated to the midwest and west.  
 
'''1820-1880.''' Over ten million immigrants came from northern Europe, the British Isles, and Scandinavia during these years. There was a significant increase in the number of immigrants from Germany and Ireland beginning in the 1840s and 1850s. While some of the new arrivals settled in large eastern and mid-western cities, most migrated to the midwest and west.  

Latest revision as of 16:25, 19 February 2013

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News and Events

New York passenger arrival lists (Ellis Island) 1892-1924 index and images are now featured on the Internet at the FamilySearch Historical Records - New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island) 1892-1924 page.

United States  Gotoarrow.png  Emigration and Immigration

Immigrants Behold the Statue of Liberty.jpg
Ellis Island.jpg

The Tracing Immigrant Origins Wiki pages can help you identify an immigrant ancestor's original hometown. Those pages introduce the principles, search strategies, and additional record types you can use.

Contents

Purpose

Emigration records list the names of people leaving and immigration records list those coming into the United States. There are passenger lists for ships coming into the United States and border-crossing records of people leaving Canada or Mexico for the United States. These records may include an emigrant’s name, age, occupation, destination, and sometimes the place of origin or birth.

Historical Background

Nearly fifty million people have immigrated to America. Significant patterns of immigration and settlement can be observed during three periods: Pre-1820. An estimated 650,000 individuals arrived in America before 1820. The majority (60 percent) were English and Welsh. Smaller numbers of German, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Dutch, French, Spanish, African, and other nationalities also arrived. For the most part these immigrants settled in small clusters in the eastern, middle-Atlantic, and southern states.

A general overview of emigration and immigration including historical trends, port history, and the naturalization process can be found in this slide presentation.

1820-1880. Over ten million immigrants came from northern Europe, the British Isles, and Scandinavia during these years. There was a significant increase in the number of immigrants from Germany and Ireland beginning in the 1840s and 1850s. While some of the new arrivals settled in large eastern and mid-western cities, most migrated to the midwest and west.

1880-1920. More than twenty-five million immigrants, primarily from southern and eastern Europe, were attracted to this country. The largest numbers (in order) came from Germany, Italy, Ireland, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and England. Many of these immigrants settled in the larger cities, including New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

An in-depth description of colonial and federal immigration lists is:


Ireland

Millions of Irish (mostly Catholic) immigrated to the United States (a slight majority to New York City) in especially the mid to late 19th Century. Their migration fanned out into the midwest, i.e. Chicago St. Louis, the south, i.e. Alabama and Georgia and out west. Visit the Famine Emigrants 1846-1851 database at the NARA website for an online search of nearly 700,000 Irish Famine Immigrants. A significant (60+ million-name) database is now searchable online at Ancestry.com from early to 1960 for emigrant passengers to the United States.

Here is an enlarged List of Irish Emigration websites for locating Irish ancestors on ships. View FamilySearch online tutorials on Irish immigration by clicking here.

England

Two main regions of early colonization were New England and Virginia. Nearly all of 14,000 pre-1624 Virgina settlers came from the London area. England's Civil War of 1642-1649 and the subsequent Interregnum years up to 1660 significantly impacted the New World settlements. Royalists, at the be-heading of King Charles I, fled England and found refuge in the Virgina Colony. Because King Charles' war-like campaigns so terrorized the Nonconformists (i.e. Puritans), it likewise caused thousands to flee England for Leyden, Holland and North America. Plymouth Colony, created in 1620, by English Separatists (Pilgrims), had by 1650, become populated with numerous Puritans and other English Nonconformists who crossed the ocean seeking religious freedom. The Massachusetts Bay Colony began around this period, with its first inhabitants who came from counties Devonshire, Dorset and Somerset. Later, during the Civil War, this colony was comprised of emigrant 'refugees' from England's cradle of Puritanism--counties Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, NW Essex and east Hertfordshire. 

The Carolinas were populated with English emigrants as well as Connecticut, New Hampshire and portions of Maryland and Maine.

Research Tools

Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:

Ports of Arrival

Major Ports
Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports
Baltimore, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts
Detroit, Michigan
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York City, New York
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Minor Ports by State
Alabama
Alaska
California
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Louisiana
Maine

Maryland
Massachusetts
Mississippi
New York (not New York City)
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Texas
Washington
Wisconsin

United States

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  • This page was last modified on 19 February 2013, at 16:25.
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