Welcome Back! Family History Month is causing a stir! People are reading my posts and looking into their family’s genealogy. That makes my heart sing! In the last post, we discussed finding your ancestors with little available information. I helped a Facebook friend find several great grandparents, 2x great grandparents and one set of 3x great grandparents with only her mother’s information and limited maternal grandparents’ information. I discovered that several of her 2x great grandparents were born abroad. What now? How do you conduct international family research? Let’s talk about it!
Census Records
If you know your ancestors were born in a foreign country, look for the first census record they appeared on. Immigration came in waves depending on the nationality. Most came in the mid 1800s to 1920s for various reasons – religious persecution, industrialization, national tragedies and economic opportunity. Look for their birthplace on the census record; this is the first clue. The 1900 census noted citizenship status in columns 16 (year of immigration), 17 (number of years in the United States) and 18 (year of naturalization). This information is important so write it down for future reference.
Immigrant Intake Centers
In my April 2022 newsletter, I wrote that Ellis Island did not process all the immigrants that came to America. Actually, there were 300 immigrant processing centers in America during the 1800s and early 1900s. Country of origin, financial status, labor force and cultural communities determined which port of entry an immigrant would arrive.
Other immigration centers included New Bedford (MA), Castle Garden (Battery Park, NY), Angel Island (San Francisco, CA), Boston (MA), Providence (RI), Port of Philadelphia (PA), Port of Baltimore (MD), New Orleans (LA) and Key West (FL) to name a few. Above all, Ellis Island was well-known due to the Statue of Liberty and the fee for transport was the most affordable. If you are certain that your ancestor came through Ellis Island, you can research their passenger lists here.
Passenger Lists
Passenger ships were required to have manifest lists from their country of origin. Those lists are a wealth of information! They contained the place of origin, place of arrival, final destination, the name of the ship, occupation and family members they were traveling with and their ages. Although immigrants arrived at these centers, some had other destinations to travel to. Usually a family member or friend sponsored them while in the United States, giving them a place to stay or finding them a job. These manifests often contained their final destination, including an address. From there, you can track your ancestors from census records.
Border Crossings
International family research also applies to our northern and southern neighbors, not just overseas countries. Mexican border crossings into the United States were recorded through a registry. Similar to the ship manifest records, immigrants had a record of registry upon arrival to the Uinted States from Mexico at the border crossings in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. The same goes for Canada who had border crossings in Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin and several other northwestern states.
Naturalization Records
Naturalization records contain the most important information to trace your ancestor to their country of origin and the city where they were born. This leads to baptismal records. Prior to birth certificates, church records were used to record all major events – the birth of a child, marriage and death. Baptismal records are the key to bring you to your international ancestor. Most churches have their baptismal records online. This is where the digging beginnings – genealogy websites, google searches for libraries, genealogical, regional and cultural Facebook groups, and historical societies can help you retrieve this information. DON’T GIVE UP! International family research can be done! Finding your family will pay off in the end.
For those interested, AncestryDNA is having a sale on DNA kits. The kits are regularly $99 but they are on sale for $59 until October 10, 2022.
If you’re interested in knowing your family history but you don’t have the time or resources to do so, I have affordable packages to do the research for you. If you book the Kati or Kubwa packages during October 2022, you will get a 10% discount plus a free gift!* Click here to contact me.
*You must book and pay the 50% non-refundable deposit before 11:59pm on 10/31/22 in order to receive the discounted services and free gift.