Mesa Arizona Regional Family History Center
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Immigration Before 1820 Quick Start

Not all passengers were recorded before 1820. The US did not require passenger arrival lists until 1820. Most early lists of immigrants prior to 1820 have been published. Other types of records are helpful in this early period: newspaper records for names of immigrants, naturalization oaths, indenture lists, grants, church records etc.

To search for existing passenger lists, record what you already know:

Full name________________________________________________

Approximate date of arrival__________________________________

Approximate age__________________________________________

Nationality_______________________________________________

Place of settlement_________________________________________

Resources at the Mesa Regional Family History Center:

Code for location: REF = West reference wall

S = Stacks (the book shelves)

General resources:

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index 1500’s – 1900’s

Most of the known arrival lists have been published and many have been indexed in P. Wm. Filby’s Passenger and Immigration Lists Index 1500’s-1900’s. The easiest and most complete access to this resource is on Ancestry.com. (Free at the MRFHC)

Immigration CD’s

Colonial Pennsylvania Naturalization Records	CD #: 9000138
Scottish Immigration to North America (70,000 names)	CD#: 9000046
Passenger and Immigration Records	CD#: 9000001

Internet Indexes:

Cyndi’s List – Immigration and Naturalization
http://cyndislist.com/immigrat.htm

Cyndi’s List – Ships & Passenger Lists
http://www.cyndislist.com/ships.htm

U.S. Immigration Collection
http://www.ancestry.com (Ancestry.com can be used for free at the Family History Center)

Many colonists financed their voyages as indentured servants

http://www.immigrantservants.com

InGeneas Canadian Passenger Records – 18^th to 20^th century

http://www.inGeneas.com/ingeneas/index.html

Irish Passenger Lists – From Ireland to the U.S. & Canada

http://vzone.virgin.net/alan.tupman/sites/irish,htm

Mayflower Passenger List – Includes biographical information

www.mayflowerhistory.com/Passengers/passengers.php

Passenger Lists for emigrants, mainly from the U.K. and Continental Europe

http://freespace.virgin.net/alan.tupman/sites/ships.htm

Passenger Lists for Pictou (Nova Scotia) – 1767 to 1848

http://www.rootsweb.com/~pictou/mainpass.htm.

The Great Migration Begins – Immigration to New England, 1620-1633

http://www.ancestry.com (Ancestry.com can be used for free at the Family History Center)

Other sites may be found by using a search engine like Google and entering the words “immigration” and “genealogy”.

Other Published Indexes

British Emigrants

Coldham, Peter W. The Complete Book of Emigrants…, 1607- 1699. 4 vol. – about 76.000 names	973 W2col S
Coldham, Peter W. Bonded Passengers to America, vol 1-9	973 W2c S
Dobson, David. Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625 – 1825. (Vols 1-7)	941 W2dd S
Dobson, David. The Original Scots Colonists of Early America, 1612 – 1783. 7,000 names	973 W3do S
Dobson, David. Scots – Irish Links, 1575-1725.	941 W2do S

Germanic and others

Hocker, Edward W…German Settlers of Pennsylvania…from Newspapers…1743 – 1800. 3,500 names	974.8 D2h S
Jones, Henry A., Jr. The Palatine Families of New York…German Immigrants Who Arrived…in 1710. 2 vols., about 30.000 names	974.7 D2j S
Jones, Henry Z., Jr. More Palatine Families.	974.7 D2ja S

Canadian Immigrants

Smith, Leonard H., Jr. Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867. 2 Vols	971.6 W2s S
Whyte, Donald. A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to Canada before Confederation. 30,000 names of immigrants who came before 1867	971 F2wd S

All Nationalities

Bentley, Elizabeth and Tepper, Michael. Passenger Arrivals at the Port Of Philadelphia 1800 – 1819.

974.811 W3p

Many books are being digitized and put online – use a Google search to find Immigration books online.

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