Immigration Records are some of the richest genealogy record sets and can provide excellent clues as well as data about your ancestors. Specifically, when they came to America, or traveled but did not immigrate. Emigration records can tell you when they left their homeland and can direct you when they might have immigrated, if you are having trouble finding the immigration record.
What types of information are available in these records? First of all, let me clarify that naturalization records are a related type of record. You can discover online naturalization collections and records available via links on this website on the Naturalizations Page. In the Petition for Naturalization record for example, where and when the applicant arrived in the U.S. is stated. And the Certificate of Arrival is another immigration document used in the naturalization process.
Here's an article that will list the information available: 45 Reasons to Research Immigration Records
Regarding immigration - it bears repeating - not EVERYONE came through Ellis island. It was open between 1892 and 1954. Approximately 12 million people came through that immigration station. The highest year was 1907, when just over 1,000,000 people came through. For immigrants landing at U.S, ports in the 19th century and early 20th century, the busiest ports were New York, Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. There were almost 100 ports that were used by immigrants to enter the U.S., via the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes.
Below are state by state links to a page that lists links to immigration and travel collections that are available for free to search and browse.
It is also helpful to review emigration records as well. It sometimes occurs that an immigration record is not available online for a variety of reasons, but you might find some useful information from emigration records where one of you're ancestors embarked on their journey to America.
Here are a few free online sites that have online emigration records available.
Denmark - The Digital Danish Emigration Archives
Finland - Emigrant Register Internet Databases (free and pay options)
Norway - Digital Archives - Emigrant Records
Germany - Oldenburg Emigrants Database
Ireland - Irish Famine Emigrants 1846-1851 database
Russia - Russians to America Passenger Data File, 1834 - 1897
Germany - Germans to America Passenger Data File, 1850 - 1897
Italy - Italians to America Passenger Data File, 1855 - 1900
Germany - Hamburg Passenger List
Also listed are passenger lists for travel that may not have been immigration related. I have discovered interesting clues and information from non-immigration travel records as well.
Below, listed by state are links to Free Online Immigration and Travel Collections.
Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.
(Updated January, 2020; recently added links are in BOLD):
United States
- Germans from Russia, Miscellaneous Passenger Manifests
- Index to Naturalizations of World War I Soldiers, 1918
- Mormon Migration Database, 1840-1932
- New York, Castle Garden
- New York, Ellis Island
- Pilgrim Ship Lists Early 1600's - Several Arrival States
- U.S., German Immigrants, 1712-1933 (free index, images require a subscription)
- United States Immigration, Ship Arrivals & Passenger Lists
- United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1894-1954
- United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States,, 1895-1956
- United States, Border Crossings from Mexico to United States,, 1903-1957
- United States, Famine Irish Passenger Index, 1846-1851
- United States, Germans to America Index, 1850-1897
- United States, Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
- United States, Index to Alien Case Files, 1940-2003
- United States, Index to Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports, 1820-1874
- United States, index to passenger lists, 1820-1940
- United States, Italians to America Index, 1855-1900
- United States, Japanese Americans Relocated During World War II, 1942-1946
- United States, Japanese Immigration Index
- United States, Passport Applications, 1795-1925
- United States, Russians to America Index, 1834-1897
Delaware
- Delaware, County Naturalization Records, 1796-1958
- Delaware, New Castle County, New Castle Port, passenger and crew lists, 1831-1942
- Ships Passenger Lists to Delaware
District of Columbia
- Abstract of reports of aliens made to the clerk of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia 1801-1829
- Ships Passenger Lists to District of Columbia
Maryland
- Charles County, Residents in 1658 : their immigration/transportation records
- Charles County, The Women and Immigration Info. 1658-1677
- Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, 1897-1952
- Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore (city passenger lists) 1833-1866
- Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore (Federal passenger lists) 1820-1897
- Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, (city passenger lists) 1833-1866
- Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1897
- Jewish immigrant aid societies' records of Jewish Arrivals, 1913-1947
- Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists Index, 1820-1897
- Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948
- Maryland, Baltimore, Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels and Airplanes, 1954-1957
- Maryland, Naturalization Indexes, 1797-1951
- Maryland, Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1931
- Maryland, Piney Point Crew Lists, 1950-1956
- Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1891
- Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1948 ; Quarterly abstracts of Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1869
- Passenger Lists of Vessels for Baltimore and Philadelphia
New Jersey
- Atlantic County Library System, Digitized Immigration Records
- New Jersey, County Naturalization Records, 1749-1986
- New Jersey, Naturalization Records, 1796-1991
- Ship passenger lists, New York and New Jersey, 1600-1825
- Ships Passenger Lists to New Jersey
New York
- Alphabetical card Manifests of Alien Arrivals at Alexandria Bay, Cape Vincent, Champlain, Clayton, Fort Covington, Mooers, Rouses Point, Thousand Island Bridge, and Trout River, New York, July 1929-April, 1956
- Arrival of Vessels at the Port of New York, 1797-1801
- Book Indexes to New York Passenger Lists, 1906-1921
- List of Immigrants recorded at New York, 1802-1814
- Manifests of Alien Arrivals at Buffalo, Lewiston, Niagara Falls, and Rochester, New York, 1902-1954
- New York Book Indexes to Passenger Lists, 1906-1942
- New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924
- New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924
- New York, Book Indexes to Passenger Lists, 1906-1942
- New York, Castle Garden
- New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980
- New York, Eastern District Naturalization Petitions, Index, 1865-1957
- New York, Ellis Island
- New York, Index to Passengers Arriving at New York City, compiled 1944-1948
- New York, Indexes and Lists of Passengers, Crew and Vessels, 1906-1942
- New York, Naturalization Index (Soundex), 1792-1906
- New York, New York City, Manifests of Alien Passengers and Crew Members, 1887-1952
- New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957
- New York, New York, Index to Alien Crewmen Who Were Discharged or Who Deserted, 1917-1957
- New York, New York, Soundex to Passenger and Crew Lists, 1887-1921
- New York, New York, Soundex to Passenger and Crew Lists, 1887-1921
- New York, Northern Arrival Manifests, 1902-1956
- New York, Ogdensburg Passenger and Crew Lists, 1948-1972
- New York, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1945-1974
- New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924
- New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1891
- New York, Rouses Point and Waddington Crew Lists, 1954-1956
- New York, Southern District Index to Petitions for Naturalization, 1824-1941
- New York, Southern District Naturalization Index, 1917-1950
- New York, Southern District, U.S District Court Naturalization Records, 1824-1946
- New York, Western District, Naturalization Index, 1907-1966
- Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1897-1942; Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, June 16, 1897- June 30, 1902 ; Index (soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, July 1, 1902-July 1, 1948
- Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1944-1957
- Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1820-1897 ; Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving in New York, 1820-1846
- Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1820-97
- Passport applications, 1795-1925 ; Indexes, 1830-1831, 1850-1852, 1860-1923
- Register of Vessels Arriving at the Port of New York from Foreign Ports, 1789-1919
- Ship Passenger Lists, New York and New Jersey, 1600-1825
- Ships Passenger Lists to New Netherland, New York 1624 to 1664
- Soundex card Manifests of Alien and Citizen Arrivals at Hogansburg, Malone, Morristown, Nyando, Ogdensburg, Rooseveltown, and Waddington, New York, July 1929-April
Pennsylvania
- Amish Immigrant Ships : a list of Amish immigrants to the new world
- Early Immigrants to Pennsylvania 1680s-1726
- German Ships to Philadelphia 1727-1739
- German Ships to Philadelphia 1740-1752
- German Ships to Philadelphia 1753-1772
- German Ships to Philadelphia 1773-1795
- German Ships to Philadelphia 1796-1808
- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Philadelphia Arrivals Vol. 1
- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Philadelphia Arrivals Vol. 2
- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Philadelphia Arrivals Vol. 3
- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Philadelphia Arrivals Vol. 4
- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Philadelphia Arrivals Vol. 5
- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, Philadelphia Arrivals Vol. 6
- Immigration lists, Oaths of Allegiance, Books A-G, 1728-1775
- Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750
- Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at Philadelphia, 1800-1906
- Index to the names of 30,000 immigrants - German, Swiss, Dutch and French - into Pennsylvania, 1727-1776
- Palatine German Ship Passenger Lists to PA
- Passenger Lists of Vessels for Baltimore and Philadelphia
- Pennsylvania German pioneers :Arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808
- Pennsylvania German pioneers; a publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808
- Pennsylvania, Allegheny, Pittsburgh, Naturalization Card File Index, 1906-1990
- Pennsylvania, Crew Lists arriving at Erie, 1952-1957
- Pennsylvania, Eastern District Naturalization Indexes, 1795-1952
- Pennsylvania, Landing Reports of Aliens, 1798-1828
- Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Case Files of Chinese Immigrants, 1900-1923
- Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger List Index Cards, 1883-1948
- Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists Index, 1800-1906
- Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1882
- Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1883-1945
- Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, immigration (Lazaretto register), 1847-1893
- Pennsylvania, Wayne County, Court of Common Pleas, Naturalization Records, 1799-1906
- Records of the Russian Consular Offices in the United States
Virginia
- Passengers to Norfolk & Portsmouth, Virginia in 1823
- Ships Passenger Lists to Virginia
- Virginia, Alexandria Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels, 1946-1957
- Virginia, Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1929
West Virginia
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
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