If you aren't fortunate enough to find your ancestor online or in one of these compiled indexes, you'll
want to search the microfilmed indexes of
the ships' passenger lists at the
National Archives or in the
Family History Library Catalog
(look under locality records for your port of interest and search under the subject of "emigration and immigration").
Many major libraries also have these microfilms.
When searching these indexes, be sure to consider every possible spelling of your ancestor's surname.
If you still don't manage to find your ancestor or suspect he or she came through a port during a period
for which the records have not yet been indexed, you may have to get more creative. If you haven't already,
try to find some evidence of the ancestor's arrival date through naturalization or other records. If you are
fairly certain of the port from which your ancestor would have embarked, try looking for
emigration records. These may be available through the original
repository, the FHL Catalog, and/or online.
Consult They Came in Ships: A Guide to Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor's Ship by John Phillip Colletta
for still more ideas of how to find this elusive record. And if all else fails, consider working on other
aspects of your genealogy for a while and returning to the immigration search later. The remaining unindexed
port records are being transcribed by various groups, and with each year, more of these records are being made
available. For instance, if you believe your ancestor came through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1896 -
currently unindexed years - you will probably be able to find him or her in the database that the
American Family Immigration Center
will launch in 2001.
To find a naturalization record, identify the area in which your ancestor most likely lived when he would
have filed papers. The more recent census records of 1900, 1910 and 1920 may help you narrow the time period
of naturalization by noting if an individual is an alien, has filed papers, or has been naturalized. Once
you've done this, locate and contact the local court (most often a county court, but possibly a federal or
municipal court) in that area. Records for naturalizations that occurred after 1906, when the
Immigration and Naturalization Service
assumed responsibility for these records, may or may not exist at the local court, but it is surprising how
often county courts continued to maintain a complete set.
Alternatively, search the FHL Catalog by the place
in which the court is situated and the topic of "naturalization and citizenship." You may find indexes and
possibly copies of the naturalization records themselves. If your ancestor was likely naturalized after 1906,
you can also submit a request to the
Immigration and Naturalization Service
to obtain a copy of his records.
In all cases, provide as complete information as possible - name, place, approximate date, approximate age,
where your ancestor was originally from, and any other details that may be useful. You may also wish to note
some of the spellings you have found for your ancestor's surname, especially if you are dealing with an unusual
or hard to pronounce name.
* Photos courtesy of The Statue of Liberty Foundation, Inc.
America is a nation of immigrants, so the entry into this country is a dramatic turning point in most of our
family histories. This is the chapter in our respective stories where our ancestors gave up all that was familiar
to them and embarked on radically different lives, usually in search of a brighter future for themselves, their
children and all their descendants.*
*
It is a rare genealogist who hasn't wondered about what it must have been like for their immigrant forebears,
what conditions they must have endured. Fortunately, as interest in this topic grows, more resources are
becoming available to help us answer these questions. In England, the
