Finding Your Ancestors in Immigration Records

Jerry Carbone and Wayne Blanchard explore how to find ancestors in immigration records using ship manifests, border crossings, naturalization records and census records that asked citizenship questions.  

The presentations explained the use of  websites, such as, http://stevemorse.organd http://ancestry.com to find Ellis Island records and other ports of entry to the U.S. to include Boston, Baltimore, Galveston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

For those with ancestors who immigrated earlier than the Ellis Island era, other methods must be used. Using journals and court records, for example, it is possible in some cases to learn a lot about how English ancestors came to New England during the Great Migration of the 1630s.

"Our goal is to assist genealogists and history enthusiasts in finding their ancestors and tracing their journey to the United States," said Blanchard. "By understanding how to access immigration records, attendees will be able to uncover the stories of their forebears and learn more about their family history."The Windham County (VT.) Genealogy Interest Group is an informal organization whose members are dedicated to genealogy education, research, and best practices. Meetings are held every other month on Zoom and at Rockingham Public Library in Bellows Falls, Vermont or Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro, Vermont. The meetings and membership is free to all who would like to join our community.The sessions are usually recorded and are available on the WCGIG YouTube Channel, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpnDZOgRIhTVRWysbesYpzA.The topics covered are: improving your search results in http://FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com; using family tree software; navigating the crowd sources cemetery database, Find A Grave; using land records for genealogy research; using AmericanAncestors.org, the database of the New England Historic Genealogical Society; finding people in the newly released 1950 U.S. Census.For more information please contact windhamcountygig@gmail.com.