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 Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Resources for Tracing Hispanic Roots
Posted by Diane
Today’s the start of Hispanic Heritage month, honoring the histories of the United States’ 46.9 million residents of Hispanic origin, who according to the Census Bureau make up the nation's largest ethnic minority.
About 64 percent of the country’s Hispanic residents have a Mexican background; 9 percent are Puerto Rican; 3.5 percent, Cuban; 3.1 percent, Salvadoran; and 2.7 percent, Dominican.
Four Hispanic surnames ranked among the 15 most common last names in the 2000 US census: Garcia (placing eighth with 858,289 occurrences), Rodriguez (ninth), Martinez (11th) and Hernandez (15th).
Researching Hispanic roots? Here are some places to start:
- Our online Hispanic Heritage Toolkit has resources and tips for learning about Mexican, Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, Central and South American ancestors.
See our advice for research in the Caribbean, too.
The site also has a growing collection of church, civil registration and census records from the Caribbean and Central and South America. Besides researching your Hispanic roots, here are a couple of other ways to mark the occasion:
- PBS is airing "Latin Music USA," a documentary series, Mondays, Oct. 12 and 19, from 9 to 11 p.m. ET.
Ancestry.com | FamilySearch | Hispanic Roots | immigration records | International Genealogy
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 2:50:25 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00) 
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Friday, September 11, 2009
$10 Off Our Upcoming Immigration Webinar
Posted by Allison
 Just a reminder that today's the last day to take advantage of the early bird rate on this month's webinar, Online Immigration Records: Retracing Your Ancestors' Journey on Sept. 22.
The discounted price of $39.99 expires at midnight tonight. After that, registration will cost $49.99.
If you haven't participated in one of our webinars, you could think of it as a "souped up" online genealogy seminar. Besides participation in the live event—which you can attend in your jammies if you want—you get a link to the recording so you watch the session as many times as you'd like, a PDF of the presentation slides and an e-book of related how-to guides for further reading.
Diane will be hosting the immigration webinar, which starts at 7 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Central/5 p.m. Mountain/4 p.m. Pacific. You'll find more details on the registration page.
Genealogy Events | immigration records | Webinars
Friday, September 11, 2009 9:53:15 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, September 02, 2009
If Your Ancestor Was an Alien
Posted by Diane
I got a letter from the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Friday. For a split second I was worried—like if you get an unexpected letter from the IRS. But then I remembered that way back in May I'd requested the case file number for my great-grandfather’s alien registration.
I was inspired to put in my request back in May, when I was editing our November 2009 article on getting federal government records. (This issue goes on sale next week at newsstands and FamilyTreeMagazine.com.)
In the paragraphs on the USCIS genealogy service, David A. Fryxell explained how the Smith Act of 1940 required non-citizens age 14 or older to register as aliens. I remember putting what seemed like dozens of semicolons in the long list of what the "AR-2" form asked of registrants:
- biographical information such as name, name at arrival and occupation
- relatives' names
- physical description
- arrival date, place and ship name
- membership in clubs and organizations
- whether and where citizenship papers had been filed
- any arrests
... and more. AR-2 forms date from August 1940 to March 31, 1944. I put together the pieces and realized that my great-grandfather, who immigrated in 1900 and declared his intention to become a citizen in 1942, would've had to register. Maybe I'd get some clues for stretches of time when I can’t find records on the family.
I stopped my editing immediately and took four minutes to send my online Genealogy Program request. (A benefit of this job is that doing a little research counts as verifying information.)
USCIS staff are working through a request backlog. As soon as I got the AR-2 file number Friday, I sent off my request for a copy of the form. (Because I’m moving, I'm having it sent to my parents. I told them not to worry if they get a letter from the USCIS with my name on it.)
I wish you could order both the number and the record at the same time, but alas, it’s a two-step process that takes a total of $55 and about six months.
Besides AR-2 forms, the Genealogy Program also gives you access—for a fee—to naturalization certificate files (Sept. 27, 1906, to March 31, 1956), visa files (July 1, 1924, to March 31, 1944), registry files (March 2, 1929, to March 31, 1944) and immigrant files (April 1, 1944, to May 1, 1951; these are being transferred to the National Archives 100 years after the birth of the immigrant named). See the USCIS genealogy page for more on making your request.
immigration records | Research Tips
Wednesday, September 02, 2009 5:57:59 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, July 31, 2009
Did Your Immigrant Ancestors Sail the Red Star Line?
Posted by Diane
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation folks sent us a note on behalf of a future museum in Antwerp, Belgium, about the history of the Red Star Line.
The Red Star Line was a steamship company that transported thousands of European immigrants across the Atlantic between 1873 and 1935. Museum organizers are looking for individual stories and original photos that'll bring personal history to the museum.
If you know or are a descendant from a person who sailed the Red Star Line from Antwerp to settle in the United States, please e-mail museum staff.
The museum is slated to open in 2012, but the Web site is already up and
running.
Read more about the Red Star Line, get a list of ships and see photos on RedStarLine.eu. You can view postcards of ships and 1908 menu cards here.
The Belgian Roots Project explains how Red Star Line was a trade name, not a corporation. Scroll down the linked page for a fleet list, then click a ship name for a list of voyages and links to free passenger lists, when available.
immigration records | International Genealogy | Museums
Friday, July 31, 2009 1:53:03 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Search Canadian Passenger Lists Free Through July 3
Posted by Diane
To celebrate Canada Day, subscription genealogy data service Ancestry.ca—the Canadian sister site to Ancestry.com—is making its collection of passenger lists from Canadian ports free through July 3.
The lists cover 1865 to 1935 and include names of more than 5.6 million individuals. An estimated 37 percent of Canada’s population has ancestors in the lists. US residents also may have relatives who arrived in Canada, then later traveled south to settle in the States.
See the full announcement here.
Access the Canadian passenger list collection here.
Canada Day, formerly Dominion Day, is July 1. It celebrates the anniversary of the British North America Act of 1867, which united Canada as a country of four provinces.
Canadian roots | immigration records
Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1:43:55 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, June 05, 2009
Genealogy News Corral, June 1-5
Posted by Diane
Got several genealogy news items to cover this week, so without further ado:
Get more details on the site in this Genealogy Insider blog post.
- Millions of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services' alien case files (also called A-files) dating from 1944 and later were signed over to the National Archives (records will be relocated to the National Archives’ San Francisco and Kansas City facilities later this year).
Henceforth, USCIS can forward files 100 years after the birth date of the person whose file it is. The USCIS press office tells me you’ll still be able to order the 1944-to-1951 A-files through the USCIS Genealogy Program (through which you also can order naturalizations and alien registrations).
- Subscription site Ancestry.com is letting you preview upcoming changes to the family tree pages—to see them, click Family Trees on Ancestry.com's home page, then click the light blue bar at the top that says “Check out the new look.” (You must have a tree on Ancestry.com to see the preview.)
The new look will make pages load faster, be easier to navigate and display more information, says Kenny Freestone on the Ancestry.com blog. Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings describes the changes in detail.
Ancestry.com | Genealogy Web Sites | immigration records | UK and Irish roots
Friday, June 05, 2009 6:46:42 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Monday, June 01, 2009
Finding Ancestors' Border-Crossing Records
Posted by Diane
Entry laws tightened today for those crossing the US/Canadian or the US/Mexican border on land—now you must have a passport or an acceptable equivalent to get across.
It’s a bit more of a hassle, but at least future genealogists will have records. Plenty of our ancestors immigrated, then up and moved across the border. Some went back and forth several times.
Border-crossing records start later than ship passenger lists. Here's a rundown of what's available:
Canada to the United States
Until 1895, border crossings from Canada to the United States weren’t recorded at all. Thereafter, most border crossings are on microfilm known as the St. Albans lists (after the Vermont town where the US Immigration and Naturalization Services had its main office), with geographic coverage varying by year:
- 1895-June 1917: All border crossings
- June 1917-July 1927: Crossings east of the North Dakota/Montana state line
- After July 1927: Crossings east of Lake Ontario
Other 1895-and-later crossings also are microfilmed. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Web site has a handy list of the film. They’re digitized in the subscription site Ancestry.com’s immigration collection, too.
United States to Canada
Ancestors crossing to Canada weren’t recorded until April 1908. Even then, those considered returning Canadians, or who crossed where ports didn’t exist or were closed, weren’t listed. Library and Archives Canada has records; see the Canadian Genealogy Centre for information.
They're also on Ancestry.ca.
Mexico to the United States
Microfilmed records for ancestors who entered the United States from Mexico—which includes many Asians, Syrians and South Americans, as well as US citizens returning home—start as early as 1903 at some ports. Records begin later for other ports. NARA has an online guide and list of film. These records also are on Ancestry.com.
immigration records
Monday, June 01, 2009 8:20:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Ellis Island Hosts Stars, Expands Museum
Posted by Diane
Our lucky New York-based colleague Guy LeCharles Gonzalez attended the Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards yesterday. He got the scoop on the latest Ellis Island exhibits and rubbed elbows with the stars (well, at least he was in the same room).
Here’s Guy’s report:
Emilio and Gloria Estefan (below) accepted the inaugural B.C. Forbes Peopling of America Award in a star-studded 8th Annual Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards ceremony yesterday, hosted by actress Candice Bergen in the historic Great Hall on Ellis Island.
The awards celebrate the lives and work of individuals who immigrated to America and their descendants; with the Forbes honor going to those who arrived through a port other than Ellis Island. It reminds us that America continues to be the destination for those seeking freedom, hope and opportunity.
Accepting the award alongside her husband, musician Gloria Estefan noted the common denominator shared with the day’s other honorees—Joe Namath, Eric Kandel and Jerry Seinfeld—that no matter where they or their families had come from, or when, they all sought to escape some form of tyranny. In America, they’d found a home where they could live freely and pursue their dreams.
Sponsored by the Forbes family in honor of patriarch B.C. "Bertie" Forbes, the Peopling of America award is also named for the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation's newest project: the Peopling of America Center.
The center will expand the Ellis Island Immigration Museum to include the entire panorama of the American immigrant experience—from native American groups to today's New Americans, whose numbers are growing exponentially.
The new center is an ambitious $20 million effort to make Ellis Island even more compelling and relevant for the coming decades, with the goal of telling all of our stories about being and becoming Americans.
Its precursor, the Peopling of America exhibit, is in the Great Hall's former Railroad Ticket Office, where immigrants could make travel arrangements to their final destinations in the United States. Several displays visually chronicle the more than 60 million people who’ve come to the United States, voluntarily and by force, since 1600.
This map details sources and destinations of the Atlantic slave trade:
This exhibit compares immigration (blue arrows) to emigration (red arrows) by decade:
Other displays include an interactive Map of Diversity, which can show the number of people in each state who claim a certain race or ancestry (based on US census data); maps and charts of historical immigration patterns; and the American Flag of Faces, a "living and interactive exhibit" to which anyone can add a photo (names and captions are searchable online).
See more photos of the ceremony and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum here.
Celebrating your heritage | immigration records | Museums | Social History
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 4:16:27 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, May 08, 2009
"Today Show" Visit Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty
Posted by Diane
The "Today Show" broadcast today from Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The Ellis Island video features a “walk-through” of immigrants’ experiences with host Meredith Vieira and Save Ellis Island director Judith R. McAlpin. Here’s the video.
Another clip shows the anchors’ also climbed inside the Statue of Liberty to announce the crown will re-open to the public July 4. Read and watch on the Today Show site.
Also read our article (from the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine) about the immigrant hospital on Ellis Island.
immigration records | Videos
Friday, May 08, 2009 3:00:02 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Ancestry.ca Adds Border Crossings into Canada
Posted by Diane
Those who used the May 2009 Family Tree Magazine article on immigrants to Canada will be pleased to learn that Ancestry.ca, sister site to Ancestry.com, has added border-crossing records from the United States to Canada between 1908 and 1935. ( Thanks to Dick Eastman for the tip.) The database may hold the key for "missing" immigrant ancestors. Between 1901 and 1914, more than 750,000 people entered Canada over the US border. Many were European immigrants who originally settled in the American West. Americans also routinely crossed the border to visit friends and family. But this database isn’t available with the $155.40 US-focused Ancestry.com subscription, reports Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings. You need an Ancestry.ca or a World Deluxe subscription to access it. Note Canadian citizens returning home weren’t recorded, nor were those who had a Canadian parent. And Lisa A. Alzo, who wrote our May 2009 article, says those who crossed where ports either didn’t exist or were closed wouldn’t be listed.
Ancestry.com | Canadian roots | immigration records
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 7:59:15 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Ellis Island Honors Immigrants' Contributions
Posted by Diane
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation announced the recipients of this year’s Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards, to be celebrated at a luncheon May 19. You’ll probably recognize them: - Eric R. Kandel, MD, won a Nobel Prize in 2000 for his studies in the molecular basis of memory. He immigrated from Vienna as a child in 1939, after Germany annexed Austria.
- Football legend and Hall of Fame member Joe Namath’s father and maternal grandparents immigrated from Hungary.
- Jerry Seinfeld, of course, is a comedian, television star and producer. I also credit him with helping “Seinfeld” fans instantly bond over entire conversations consisting solely of quotes from the show. His maternal grandparents came from Syria.
- Gloria and Emilio Estefan, formerly of the band Miami Sound Machine and now, respectively, a singer and music producer, will receive the BC Forbes Peopling of America Award. Both fled Cuba with their families after the rise of Fidel Castro.
The awards honor immigrants (through Ellis Island or another port) and their descendants who've made significant contributions to the American experience. Read more about the honorees at EllisIsland.org.
Celebrating your heritage | immigration records
Tuesday, April 14, 2009 8:06:48 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, March 13, 2009
Genealogy News Corral
Posted by Diane
It’s Friday and time to round up the week’s genealogy news bits. - From Research Buzz’s Tweet yesterday, the National Library of Scotland has two new resources. One is a digital archive of images including WWI photos, Walter Macfarlane’s collection of genealogies of ancient Scottish families (compiled around 1750), and items from the first printing presses in various Scottish towns.
The library's new digital maps collection gives you access to high-resolution images of more than 6,000 county, town and military maps dating from 1560 to 1935.
Ancestry.com also added more city directories covering 1935 to 1945, which you can use as a kind of 1940 census substitute. (Don’t be alarmed—the 1940 census isn’t missing. It’s just not yet available, and won’t be until 2012, when we’ll all have a big party outside the National Archives.)
- Dick Eastman and others have blogged and Tweeted about the New York Times' Immigration Explorer Map. Choose a foreign-born group and a year, and see where in the United States people from that group were congregating at the time. It's fun to play with, and if your ancestors have gone missing for a span of time, you might get some clues for where to look.
Ancestry.com | Genealogy Industry | immigration records | UK and Irish roots
Friday, March 13, 2009 7:42:03 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Chinese Canadians Profiled on Genealogy Wiki
Posted by Diane
Canada’s Vancouver Public Library (which started the Chinese-Canadian Genealogy Web site) and Library and Archives Canada have created a genealogy wiki centered around the country’s Chinese Immigration List. The list bears the names of Canadian-born Chinese who registered with the government as required by the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923. Designed to curtail Chinese immigration to Canada, the act joined a procession of laws levying head taxes on Chinese immigrants. The regulations were finally lifted in 1947. The wiki contains transcribed information on 461 people recorded on the list, covering the years from Won Alexander Cumyow’s birth in 1861 to Lee Kang Gee’s birth in 1900 (both were born in British Columbia, where most of Canada's Chinese residents lived). Researchers with more details on any of the 461 individuals can help build their profiles— see the Participate page to get started. You can search 98,361 names from Canada's General Registers of Chinese Immigration at the online Canadian Genealogy Center. See the May 2009 Family Tree Magazine (now mailing to subscribers; on sale March 10) for more help researching immigrants to Canada from all over the world.
Asian roots | Canadian roots | Free Databases | immigration records
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 7:27:10 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Monday, February 09, 2009
Finding Ancestors on Passenger Lists: What Can Go Awry (and How Not to Let It)
Posted by Diane
I’m 90 percent sure my long search for my immigrant great-grandparents' passenger list has come to an end. A few small but significant details dragged out my search—maybe my “lessons learned” will help you. I’d searched passenger lists on Ancestry.com, the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Ellis Island and the Canadian Genealogy Center. I tried crazy name variations, no names and 10-year arrival windows. Once, I realized I was on the 75th page of search results. Since my ancestors tooled around the South for years, I decided they must’ve immigrated through Galveston and the 1900 hurricane ruined their records. Then last week’s naturalization record discovery provided a port and date of arrival (New York, Oct. 15, 1900), and my great-grandfather’s name in Syria: Fadlallah. But I still couldn’t find the passenger list! So I went to Stephen Morse’s enhanced one-step search for Ellis Island, where you can search by date (rather than just year). First I entered the search terms straight from the naturalization papers. Nothing. I tried other months in late 1900. Nope. Then the key step: I removed the first name and searched a month at a time. Fadlo Hadad jumped out on a Nov. 4 list. My great-grandfather used Fadlow on his WWI draft registration, and made it his son’s middle name. Could it be a short form of Fadallah? (If anyone’s in the know on this, feel free to comment.)  Beneath Fadlo on the record was wife Maria. My great-grandmother Mary also shows up in various records as Mattie and Marianna. The Ellis Island indexer kindly recorded her as Maria Hadad rather than wife. I probably came across this record early in my research and discounted it because I didn’t recognize Fadlo. The 10 percent uncertainty level comes from the name, their ages—17 and 21, both two years too old, according to other records—and the origin of Turkey (albeit with the last residence Arabo, as the ship’s Neopolitan clerk recorded it). I do have another record giving Turkey as my Syrian ancestor’s homeland, and I haven't found any other Fadlos or Fadlows close to my ancestor's age in US records. But I still couldn’t find Fadlo in Ancestry.com’s immigration collection. I searched on Maria Fadlo, and Maria showed up, indexed as Maria Fadlo Wife. Below her in the results was her husband, indexed with Hadad as the first name, Fadlo as the last. Another look at the list—the ship’s clerk switched from recording passengers last-name-first to recording them first-name-first. The Ancestry.com indexer transcribed exactly what was on the record; the Ellis Island indexer did some genealogical deduction. So, my lessons learned: - Look for evidence of different names your ancestor may have used, and repeat searches as you learn more.
- Search different databases.
- Try last-name only searches.
- Search for women on the first name wife (another lady on the list was recorded the same way).
- Try switching the first and last names in your search.
- If you have a rough idea of an arrival date, browse by date.
immigration records | Research Tips
Monday, February 09, 2009 2:05:41 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Monday, February 02, 2009
Genealogical Lightning Strikes Twice
Posted by Grace
Diane wasn't the only one getting lucky with Footnote in the office today—I found my great-grandfather's naturalization papers in Footnote's Northern Ohio naturalizations collection! My great-grandfather's witnesses on his petition for naturalization have opened up a few new avenues into discovering Wasyl's life. (I don't recognize either of the names.) I feel lucky to have found such a great photo of him—I only have one other—and a signature, to boot? Goldmine!  I had a little fun with Google Maps, too—it turns out that Diane's great-grandfather and my great-grandfather lived a mere 2 miles from each other on Cleveland's West Side around 1940. Maybe they once met! 
Family Tree Firsts | Footnote | immigration records
Monday, February 02, 2009 8:45:40 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Naturalization Records Found—O Genealogy Joy!
Posted by Diane
My grandfather’s resume says his father was naturalized in 1944 in Cleveland. So a couple of years ago, I sent off a Freedom of Information Act request for those records to the Citizenship and Immigration Service. No dice. Then when I noticed the subscription records site Footnote was posting citizenship papers from the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern District, I started eyeing the “percent completed” bar as it ticked upward. Every once in awhile, I’d search. Still nothing. I wondered if my grandfather fibbed, thinking he’d have a better chance at a job if his dad were a citizen. (Grandpa made himself 10 years younger on the same resume.) Friday I tried again. I clicked on a match, even though the first name was all wrong. And it was my great-grandfather! His address and birth date; his wife’s death information; and the kids’ names and birth dates confirmed it. Looks like his name in Syria was Fadlallah. I knew him only as Mike in US records—I guess if you're gonna Americanize your name, you might as well go all the way. Best of all, his picture’s on the 1942 declaration of intention (also called “first papers”). I’d never seen him.  Also part of the file was an oath sworn by two associates and a 1944 petition for naturalization (“second papers”). Naturalization papers state the immigrant’s date and port of arrival, and ship name (though I’m pretty sure my great-grandparents didn’t really sail on the SS Unknown). Now it’ll be a piece of cake, I thought, to find them on a passenger list. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Aside from getting creative with passenger list searching (I’m going to try Steve Morse’s Ellis Island One-Step Search), here are some things for follow-up: - Naturalization papers give birthplaces for the applicant's children, so I'll look for birth records for my great-unces and great-aunt.
- The declaration of intention says my great-grandfather filed first papers in Cleveland in 1918—they would’ve expired without being followed up by second papers within seven years. I didn't find a 1918 record, so I'll look into what's going on with that.
- Research the guys who swore oaths on my great-grandfather’s behalf.
See FamilyTreeMagazine.com for guidance on locating your ancestors' naturalization records. Footnote's naturalization records collection is here.
Family Tree Firsts | Footnote | immigration records
Monday, February 02, 2009 2:42:12 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
Ellis Island Hospital Documentary Airs in February
Posted by Diane
Forgotten Ellis Island, a documentary based on film producer Lorie Conway’s book of the same name about the immigrant hospital at America’s busiest port of arrival, is set to air on many PBS stations Feb. 2 at 10 p.m. (It'll air Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. in some places.) See the Forgotten Ellis Island Web site and check local TV listings for updates. (The online schedule for our PBS affiliate let me set up an automatic e-mail reminder.) I interviewed Conway for the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine, and the Ellis Island hospital is among my favorite topics I’ve covered. Conway shared photos and stories of immigrants treated there, revealing the hospital’s history and how the staff handled patients' varying cultures, languages and illnesses—while trying to balance a mission of humanity with a duty to protect the US population from diseases. As mentioned in the November 2008 article, patient records are missing except a few documents scattered in other files. The hospital buildings are under the care of Save Ellis Island and awaiting restoration.
Family Tree Magazine articles | immigration records | Social History
Thursday, January 29, 2009 4:42:11 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Monday, December 29, 2008
In Case You're Wondering (Genealogy FAQs)
Posted by Diane
At Family Tree Magazine, we hear many of the same family tree-related questions over and over. I thought I’d answer a few of them here. You’ll find even more FAQs (and the answers) on our Web site. Q. How am I related to … [insert description of relative]? A. It depends who’s the most-recent shared ancestor between you and the relative in question, and how many generations lie between each of you and that ancestor. Find an explanation here and a chart to help you figure it all out here. Q. We’ve always heard we’re related to [fill in the famous name—John Brown, Daniel Boone and Abraham Lincoln are common ones]. How do we know for sure? A. Lots of families have stories like this, and they’re not all true. To find out about yours, carefully research your family tree using reliable sources. You’ll also need to find the family tree of the person you might be related to ( link to several famous trees here) and compare the trees to find people common to both. Q. Why can't I find my ancestor on the Ellis Island Web site?
A. Ellis Island, open from 1892 through 1924, was the busiest US port of immigration, but it wasn't the only one. Cities all along the coasts received immigrants, including Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Galveston, San Francisco and others. Your ancestor may have arrived at one of these ports, or before Ellis Island opened, or overland from Canada or Mexico. See a list of ports and existing records for each on the National Archives Web site. Q. My daughter learned she and her fiancé share an ancestor. Can they still marry?
A. It’s common for spouses to share an ancestor somewhere back
in time—in fact, all states allow marriage between second or
more-distant cousins. See a summary of state laws governing cousin marriages at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Celebrity Roots | immigration records | Research Tips
Monday, December 29, 2008 3:48:05 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Free Database of the Week: Cook County Naturalization Records
Posted by Diane
If your immigrant ancestor settled in Chicago or the surrounding area, here's one for you: Cook County, Ill. (home of Chicago), has posted a database of transcribed information from declarations of intention filed in the county’s circuit court between 1906 and 1929. A declaration of intention, sometimes called “first papers,” was the first step toward becoming a US citizen. Records are still being added. So far, the database contains information from more than 150,000 of the 400,000 declarations of intention filed. A grant from the National Archives’ National Historical Publications and Records Commission funds the project. The search is pretty flexible: You can search on a name or part of a name, birthdate, birth place, occupation or other parameters. My search on Syria as the country of birth netted 94 matches. Click on a match to see the date the intention was filed, birth information, occupation, current residence, port of departure for the United States and date of arrival. To order the original declaration of intention (for a search fee of $9, plus photocopying charges), click the How to Order link at the bottom of the page. See Family Tree Magazine's online guide to learn more about finding your ancestors’ naturalization records.
Free Databases | Genealogy Web Sites | immigration records
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 6:54:43 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Friday, September 19, 2008
Free Database of the Week: Immigrants' Deaths in Quarantine
Posted by Diane
After perusing the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine article on the book and documentary Forgotten Ellis Island, reader Joan Griffis tipped us off to a free resource: a listing of immigrants who died in quarantine before reaching Ellis Island. Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, located in New York’s outer harbor, had hospitals that served as quarantine stations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most of the sick were immigrants whom medical inspectors removed from ships before they arrived at Ellis Island. Griffis sent us a link to researcher Cathy Horn’s listing of 418 people who died at the quarantine stations from November 1909 through June 1911. Their names and death information come from death certificates in Richmond County, NY. You can search the names or browse them. Check out the background information about the quarantine stations, too.
Free Databases | immigration records
Friday, September 19, 2008 9:39:20 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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101 Best Web Sites: Free Immigration Info and Swedish Records
Posted by Diane
Here are the two 101 Best Web Sites picks we're highlighting this week: - Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild: This guild of volunteers has tirelessly transcribed more than 8,000 passenger manifests, many from less-famous ports. Search by surname, captain's name, port of arrival or departure, and ship name.
And there's more: The guild’s Compass section offers how-to help for researching immigrants; a new adoption section has advice for adoptees and birth parents who want to reunite with their biological family members.
- Genline: Genline delivers images of 16 million-plus pages of church records (virtually everything available) to your computer. Subscriptions start at about $23 for 20 days. You also can go to the resources section to learn Swedish terms you’ll encounter in your research and get how-to articles.
Link to the rest of our 101 list on FamilyTreeMagazine.com.
Genealogy Web Sites | immigration records | International Genealogy
Friday, September 19, 2008 8:10:07 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Ancestry.de Subscription Price Drops
Posted by Grace
German genealogy blog Abenteuer Ahnenforschung pointed out today that the price of Ancestry.de's basic membership has been lowered to 9.95 euros a year—about $14.65. (For comparison's sake, Ancestry.com's US-only membership package costs $155.40 a year.) If your family history research focuses on Germany—and you've got a good grasp on the language—this is a total steal. The records available to Ancestry.de subscribers (as well as Ancestry.com users with a World Deluxe Membership) include German city directories from 1797-1945 containing 32 million names, and soon 100 years of Deutsche Telekom phone books with an estimated 70 million names. Time to brush up on your Deutsch...
Ancestry.com | immigration records | International Genealogy
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 10:27:46 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Friday, May 23, 2008
USCIS Genealogy Service to Handle Citizenship Record Requests
Posted by Diane
A rule published in last Thursday’s Federal Register announces the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly the INS) will set up a fee-based Genealogy Program for responding to historical naturalization records requests. The rule takes effect Aug. 13. Currently, requests are processed through the Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act (FOIA/PA) program, which according to the agency, delays fulfillment. The new program's fees will be $20 for an index search, $20 for record copies from microfilm, and $35 for copies of paper records. USCIS initially proposed charging $16 to $45 in April 2006. During the ensuing public comment period, the agency received 33 comments, 28 of them positive and many addressing fee levels. You can see a comments summary in the Federal Register announcement. Records you can request through this program include: - Naturalization Certificate Files (C-Files) dated Sept. 27, 1906, to April 1, 1956
- Alien Registration Forms on microfilm from Aug. 1, 1940 to March 31, 1944.
- Visa Files from July 1, 1924, to March 31, 1944
- Registry Files, from March 2, 1929 to March 31, 1944. These records document the creation of immigrant arrival records for persons who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, and for whom no arrival record could be found later.
- Alien-Files (A-Files) numbered below 8 million (as in A8000000). A–files were the official file for all immigration records after April 1, 1944. A–numbers ranging up to approximately 6 million correspond to aliens and immigrants who were in or entered the country between 1940 and 1945. A-numbers from 6 to 7 million date from about 1944 to May 1, 1951.
Documents dated after May 1, 1951, even if they’re in an A–File numbered below 8 million, are still subject to FOIA/PA restrictions.
Starting Aug. 13, you’ll be able to submit requests and credit card fee payments through the USGIS Web site on Form G–1041. For records naming someone born less than 100 years ago, you’ll have to prove the person is deceased. To request an index search, you’ll need to supply the immigrant’s full name and date and place of birth (at least as specific as a year). To request copies of records, you’ll need to provide a file number. Before the naturalization process was centralized under INS Sept. 27, 1906, local and federal courts kept citizenship records. See the May 2008 Family Tree Magazine and FamilyTreeMagazine.com for tips on finding pre- and post-1906 naturalization records.
Family Tree Magazine articles | immigration records | Public Records
Friday, May 23, 2008 6:26:46 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, March 04, 2008
NARA Posts Free Passenger Indexes Online
Posted by Diane
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has added passenger lists of Russian, German and Italian immigrants to its free Access to Archival Databases (AAD) service. (Irish passenger lists already were available here.) Each collection consists mostly of immigrants who identified their nationality as Russian, German or Italian and arrived at the ports of New York, Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans or Philadelphia during the 19th century. The database for each nationality also contains some names of immigrants from other places. For example, 90 percent of people in the German records said they were from Germany or a “German” area—the other 10 percent came from elsewhere. The data are from passenger list indexes created by the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies. Keep in mind they’re not complete listings of all Russian, German, Italian or Irish immigrants. For each collection, you'll see a Manifest Header Data File and a Passenger Data File. The search isn't the most intuitive we've ever seen, so get started with these tips: 1. From AAD, click Passenger Lists under Genealogy/Personal History. Then, click the Search button to the right of a Passenger Data File to look for an ancestor. (NARA calls the search terms you enter “values.”)
2. In your results, click View Record on the left to see first and last name, age, sex, occupation, last residence, destination and other information.
3. Use the ship manifest identification number to determine the port of arrival. Click View the FAQs and scroll to the chart showing ports and the range of manifest numbers assigned to each port’s records.
If you think you've found an ancestor, you can search the database for his or her passenger manifest identification number. That lets you see all passenger records from that ship—handy for finding traveling companions.
In the Manifest Header Data File, you can search for all ships with a particular manifest identification number, ship name, departure port or arrival date. For example, say you know your German ancestor arrived March 16, 1846. Click the Search button next to the German Manifest Header Data file and enter 03/16/1846 in the Arrival field. You'll get all the ships included in this database that arrived that day. Then you can go back to the Passenger Data File and search for the passengers on each ship. I highly, highly recommend reading the FAQ document—each database has its own, linked at the top of the search screen. It’ll help you search the databases and understand your ancestor’s record. Some places of origin or other data are difficult to interpret. You’ll want to see your ancestor’s orginal passenger list, which you can do on microfilm at major genealogy libraries, NARA facilities and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Family History Library. You can view records online through the subscription Web site Ancestry.com.
Genealogy Web Sites | immigration records | International Genealogy | Libraries and Archives
Tuesday, March 04, 2008 3:21:37 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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