Immigration & Naturalization
Immigration
There were four basic periods of immigration to the US - before 1820,
1820-1880, 1880-1920, and 1920-1960.
Before 1820
- Most immigrants were English and Welsh, but there were a significant number
of other nationalities such as German, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Dutch, French,
Spanish, and African.
- Not everyone immigrated voluntarily. Some were prisoners or indentured servants.
- The major entry points were Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans.
- Ships were not required to keep passenger lists, leaving only a slim
chance of finding your ancestor on a passenger arrival list.
- You could also check if your ancestor was listed on a departure list.
- Many settled in groups along the eastern or southern coastline.
1820-1880
- Until this time, most ships had been designed for transporting goods, not people.
Overcrowding attributed to increasing fatalities during the voyages. The Steerage Act
of 1819, aka Manifest Immigrants Act, was enacted to improve passenger travel conditions.
Passenger Lists with information about each passenger were required at port arrival.
- Most immigrants were from the British Isles, northern Europe, and Scandinavia.
Through the 1840s and 1850s, an increased number came from Germany and Ireland.
- These people tended to settle in the mid-western and western parts of the US.
1880-1920
- Most immigrants were from southern and eastern Europe, especially from
Germany, Italy, Ireland, Austria-Hungary, Russia and England.
- These people mostly settled in the large cities, such as New York City,
Chicago, and Philadelphia.
- The Immigration Act of 1891 established a federal immigration agency regulate
foreign arrivals, to collect a tax, and require more passenger information, etc.
- Starting during this period, you are likely to find a wide variety of
information about your ancestor, such as name, age, gender, nationality, state of
health, physical description, occupation, marital status, whether a polygamist,
place of birth, previous residence, whether they had been to the U.S. before and
details of any previous visit, the name and address of closest living relative
in US and their relationship, final destination in US, whether in possession of
a train ticket to their final destination and who paid for the passage, purpose
for coming, amount of money the immigrant had in their possession, whether able
to read and write, whether they had ever been in prison or a poorhouse or an
institution for the insane, and if they intended to become a citizen.
1920-1960
- Most immigrants were from western, central, and northern Europe, and Latin
America.
- The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 restricted the number of immigrants from any
given country to 3% of the number of people from that country shown to be living
in the US in the 1910 census. It was the first of the immigration laws enacted
during this period.
- Beginning in April 1944, A-Files records were created for immigrants not yet
naturalized. They may include visas, photographs, affidavits, and correspondence
leading up to an alien's naturalization, permanent residency, death, or deportation.
Popular ports of arrival include New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, Galveston, and San Francisco.
- Castle Garden, located at the southern tip of Manhattan NY, was the first official US
immigrant processing station. It started out as a US Army fort in 1811, and in 1817 was
known as Castle Clinton. It became Castle Garden, an entertainment center, from 1823 to 1854.
It operated as an immigration center from 1855 until 1890.
- Ellis Island was in operation from 1892-1954. There was a fire there in 1897 that
destroyed lots of hospital and office paperwork dating back to 1855, but fortunately,
many of the passenger lists survived.
- Angel Island in San Francisco was the largest immigration port on the West Coast from
1910 until 1940. Immigrants from China, India, Japan, Russia, the Philippines,
Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Latin America, and more, came through Angel
Island. In the late 1930s, many Jewish refugees escaped through Russia to reach
Asian ports, where they started the voyage across the Pacific Ocean to the US.
- Galveston TX records were lost during the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900.
Of course, not everyone arrived by ship. Some came through Canada
through border crossing stations, which were scattered between Buffalo and
Seattle. Some came through Mexico.
The major international departure ports were Antwerp (Belgium), Liverpool (England),
La Havre (France), Bremen (Germany), Hamburg (Germany), Genoa (Italy), Naples (Italy).
They may have traveled from their home country to depart from a port in another country.
Sometimes one member of a family to come to the US first and sent for the rest
of the family after getting established. Or, they may have made a trip back to home
country and stayed for months or years before returning to US. In this case, there may
be records for multiple arrivals at different ports of entry.
Work from what you know, or think you know, about your ancestor, their name,
country of birth, date of birth, age, and with whom may have traveled. Census
records, naturalization records, a biographical sketch, an obituary, passports,
family sources, and other US or international records may help you narrow down
when they arrived in the US. It is valuable to have an arrival timeframe because
the states managed immigrants and kept the early records. After 1891, the
federal government took over the process and records. It was common for multiple
people to have the same name. You can use what you know to confirm or rule out results as you
search online passenger and immigration records for your ancestor.
Naturalization
When you're checking for naturalization records, make sure that you check
with the courts in all locations where your ancestor lived during his or her
lifetime. Early on, say before 1880, to be naturalized, the person went to a
Federal Court. Sometime after 1900, a person no longer had to go to a
Federal Courthouse to be naturalized; the local county courthouse was the
place to go. So, these are other places to check.
Many times minor
children were naturalized with their parents and there are no separate
records for them. And, in the earliest years, women did not have
naturalization records. For some time, anyone who entered the U.S. under the
age of 21 years was eligible to receive his Naturalization on the same day
he applied for citizenship.
The naturalization process took several
years, because:
- First, the person had to file papers of intent. (This may not be in the
county where they did their residency requirement).
- Second, the person had to have sponsors which may have been relatives
or friends from the old country.
- Third, the person had to fill the residency requirement, usually five
years and in the county with their sponsors.
- Fourth, the person would have to file final papers for the court where
they were naturalized. This means that the papers that you need might not
be located in the area where the individual was living at the time that
he or she became a citizen.
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