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Expert Question: I am unsure what
documents would contain information about the immigration of my relatives to
Canada and the United States. Did they have any papers to leave the country they
were emigrating from? Do you know?
Expert Answer: It all depends upon the country. Some places,
like Hamburg, Germany, had emigration lists. These were just like
passenger lists, however, they were created before leaving the port of
departure. In most countries, there were passenger lists made either
during the voyage or once they landed at the port of arrival.
While many ports in the United
States have been indexed, many are still un-indexed and require you to know
the date and ship of arrival. Canada has not indexed any (or very few) ship
passenger lists. In order to determine when they arrived, here are a few
suggestions for you specifically for the United States. Canada and other
countries will have like documents, however, not exactly the same years..
- Depending upon the time period, the best starting point may
be a naturalization. Naturalizations after 1906 were handled at the
Federal level and usually contain the date (or estimation), port and
possibly the ship that they arrived on.
- Many census records provide the date of immigration.
If they were here in 1930 or 1920, start by searching the 1920
Census or 1930
Census for those records and see what year is referenced. You can
access them at
- City Directory - If you cannot find the naturalization or
census, you may have to go year-by-year through the city directory.
Start with the most current year you can find him and work backwards.
Still have questions, Ask
the Expert.
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