Are you interested in finding immigration records for your ancestor from the 1800s? In this post, learn what you need to know to find these records, including where to look.
If you can find immigration records about your ancestor, it is often a goldmine. These records can help us learn a lot more about our ancestor, such as where they came from, when they came, who they came with, and where they went after they arrived.
Depending on the type of record we are able to find, we might also learn who paid for their passage, their occupation, the name of the town where they came from, the name of the ship they arrived on, and more.
I have used immigration records to help me know when a record belongs to the person I am researching, and when the record is actually about someone with a similar name. For example, in the image below you will note that Ant. Reitz is listed on this passenger list from 1872.
Reitz was a fairly common last name among German immigrants to the United States. By learning that he arrived in 1872, I was able to learn that the Reitz families living in New Jersey prior to 1872 were not the same one that I was researching.
So, how do we find these valuable records? I included my favorite tip at the very end of this article – so be sure to stick around!
What kind of immigration records are available for the 1800s?
The type of immigration records that might be available for your ancestor will depend on when they may have arrived to the United States. Those who arrived very early in the 1800s may have little to no record of their arrival, while those who came later on in the century may have a variety of immigration and travel records available.
Prior to 1875, the United States essentially had free and open borders, meaning that anyone who could cross a land border or take a ship to the United States could live here. In 1875 and 1882, Congress passed the Page Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act, which were the first of a long history of strict immigration policies.
Even though there were few immigration restrictions prior to the late 1800s, the government was interested in learning information about the new arrivals to the US. Beginning with the Steerage Act of 1819, ship captains were required to submit passenger manifests to the customs officials at their port of arrival.
You might be able to find passenger manifests or lists for your ancestor and their travel companions for free on Family Search or with a subscription on Ancestry.
In the 1890s, millions of immigrants on the east coast were processed through a basic immigration system at Ellis Island, and those records are easy to find for free on Family Search.
Were passports a thing in the 1800s?
While passports have been around for centuries, they were required everywhere, and were not as commonly used as they are today. Even so, the US State Department issued more than 500,000 passports between 1810 and 1909.
Some countries used passports as a way to control or measure emigration. For example, in Hamburg, Germany, people had to apply for a passport in order to leave the country.
In order to know whether there might be a passport record for your ancestor, you will need to know where they were living in their country of origin. Then, you should research the local laws about emigration at the time, and where records of passport applications may be held.
What about citizenship records?
Certain people were eligible for United States citizenship after immigrating based on the rules from the Naturalization Act of 1790. The rules about how long someone had to live in the United States to be eligible for citizenship varied from 5-14 years during the 1800s.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 excluded women, and everyone who was not white, from becoming citizens. A woman’s citizenship was primarily established through her husband.
It is important to know that while Congress set the rules for who could become a citizen and the few requirements they would need to meet, the actual process was managed by the states. This means that any citizenship records for your ancestor from the 1800s will be held at a town or county courthouse or state archives, depending on the laws and customs of the state where your ancestor lived.
Some of these records might be available at the National Archives location in the state where your ancestor lived when they petitioned to be a citizen.
Immigration records from before 1820 are hard to locate – or might not exist
Prior to January 1, 1820, the federal government did not require ship captains to keep a passenger list or present it to anyone upon arrival to the United States. However, at certain ports of arrival, such as Philadelphia and New Orleans, there may have been local requirements and some of those records do persist.
If you think that your ancestor may have arrived prior to 1820 in Philadelphia, you can try browsing the images of passenger manifests available for free at archive.org. Ancestry also has an index of these arrivals, which you can access if you have a subscription, and this can help you know where to look in the images for the full record.
Louisiana kept records of arrivals beginning about 1813, and you can search those records on Ancestry (subscription required) or for free on Genesearch.com, which are organized by year beginning with 1813.
Essentially, this means that anyone who could to the come the United States prior to 1820 could just, well, arrive without having to say much of anything to anyone about who they were or where they came from. There may not have been any record of their arrival, or it may have been discarded, damaged, or destroyed in the 200 years that have passed since then.
Citizenship records prior to 1820
Some people did apply to become citizens of the United States prior to 1820. In fact, this process was available going back as far as 1790.
However, becoming a US citizen has always been a voluntary process. Many people lived in the United States without formally becoming citizens.
It was likely an extra expense and hassle without clear advantages – especially during those early decades of our country’s history. Since there was no immigration process managed by the federal government, each state had its own rules and citizenship was declared by a judge within that state.
Those people who might be lucky enough to find a naturalization certificate for an ancestor who became a citizen prior to 1820 would find that those records, if they haven’t been lost or destroyed, are kept at the county courthouse or state archives where their ancestor lived at the time they became a citizen.
Family Search has a very good overview that explains exactly where to look for citizenship records by state. Scroll to the bottom of the page on this link and click on the state where your ancestor lived to see all of the possible places your ancestor’s citizenship application could be.
Special note about Canadian and Mexican immigration in the 1800s
If your ancestor came to the United States from Canada or Mexico in the 1800s, there may not be any record of their arrival to the US, or departure from Canada or Mexico. There are no records for Canadian or Mexican entries prior to 1895.
Prior to 1895, there was very limited border control between the United States, Canada and Mexico. People could, and did, travel very freely back and forth.
It is also important to mention that about 15% of the contiguous United States was Mexican territory prior to the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 and the Gadsen Purchase of 1853. If your ancestor was from Mexico during this time, they may not have actually immigrated, but the place that they lived suddenly became a different country.
What if you don’t know where to start finding your ancestor’s immigration records?
If you are excited about finding your ancestor’s records, but you have no idea where to start, don’t worry. There are a few details that you can learn about your ancestor that might help you begin your search.
Find out when your ancestor may have immigrated
If your ancestor has a common name and it shows up in multiple years on searches you do, you need to narrow things down. For example, if you can find out the year that your ancestor may have immigrated, this can be a big help.
A good place to look for an approximate immigration year is their year of immigration, which you might be able to find on the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 US Federal Census forms, as long as your ancestor was still living at the time and was surveyed for the census.
You might also be able to estimate when they may have emigrated by searching other types of records, such as city directories. If your great-grandfather was John T. Johnson, a barber by trade, you might be able to figure out when he arrived by examining city directories for each year.
When you get to a year where you don’t find him, that might be the year that he immigrated.
Find out what country they came from
You can also learn what country your ancestor came from on the US Federal Census records that were taken every ten years between 1850-1890. This can help you identify other places you might look for passenger lists or records, such as published lists of emigrants from specific countries.
For clues about where the records might be, trace their movements
If you are looking for your ancestor’s citizenship records from the 1800s, you should consider tracing their movements during their adulthood to see if they lived in another location within the US. Their citizenship records may be held in that state or locality.
Find out whether your ancestor applied for citizenship
If you aren’t sure whether your ancestor applied for citizenship, you should know that questions about naturalization status were included on census records from 1820, 1830, 1870, 1900, and 1910-1950. In other words, almost every census in the 1800s included questions about immigration status.
You should locate your ancestor on every US census form possible to see if you can identify when and where they may have applied for citizenship.
Don’t forget to find their departure passenger list or record
I saved the best for last in this article, and this is my favorite advice for finding immigration records. Rather, these are more like emigration records.
During the later part of the 1800s, many countries in Europe found that a great number of their citizens were leaving. This caused some interest in record taking to begin, and we can find that there is often a “duplicate” passenger list for many ship manifests issued by the immigrant’s country of origin.
We can view this list as a departure record, and they can often provide information that we can’t learn from the arrival records. Ancestry has a large number of indexed records like this, though they are usually only available with the World Explorer subscription, and are often in a different language.
Conclusion
I hope that you have enjoyed this article about immigration records and are inspired to search for your ancestors’ records the next time you sit down to research your family tree.
If you have any questions about something you read here, be sure to join in the discussion below.
Thanks for reading!