How to Find My Immigrant Ancestors
Your immigrant ancestors are waiting to be discovered in the many records that exist about migration to the United States. You may be able to determine where your ancestors came from, the time period during which they immigrated and the place where they settled. Often you can discover the name of the ship they sailed on, their port of departure and arrival, and where they first went when they disembarked. Each fact you discover can lead to more, allowing you to get a full picture of your immigrant ancestors.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Look at any documents your family may have, such as birth, death or marriage certificates, school or military records, passports and wills.
-
2
Look up your family names in online databases that hold such information. You can subscribe to some of these and find others free of charge.
-
-
3
Request civil records from municipalities, counties or states where your family lived.
-
4
Record the data you find, making an entry for each individual and the significant dates of events in his life. Record the family line, beginning with yourself and going back through your parents to their parents and so on until you come to the end of your knowledge.
-
5
Search the federal census (also found online), looking for an ancestor you know to have been in the country when the census was published. Each census beginning in 1850 will tell you the names, birth dates and locations of each household member.
-
6
Trace your family back through each census until you find an ancestor who was not born in the United States. This is your first immigrant ancestor. If you discover no foreign births for your ancestors in the censuses after 1850, look at prior censuses, though these will not show birthplaces, just names.
-
7
Match the census information with supporting records such as ships' manifests, naturalization applications, allegiance oaths and indentured servant contracts. This is easier to do if you have discovered the birth country, but it can still be done by cross-referencing several kinds of documents.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Many immigrants came in groups from their home places and settled near one another once in the United States. Study immigrant trends to help in your search. For example, most Irish famine refugees settled in New York or Boston.
The U.S. has always had a certain number of immigrants who were never documented or were not correctly documented.
Every immigrant group had individuals with identical names. Be sure not to assume the one you first discover is your ancestor.
Many immigrants anglicized their names or in some other way changed them after arrival. Do not assume ethnicity based on names.
Do not assume family relationships based on household composition or groups traveling together.
