Maine Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

There are two types of Canadian border crossing records:  

In 1895 Canadian shipping companies agreed to keep passenger lists, or manifests, of people who were in transit to the United States. These lists allowed U.S. immigration officials to inspect passengers bound for the United States via Canada. The U.S. inspectors worked at Canadian seaports and major cities of the interior, such as Quebec and Winnipeg. The manifests from all Canadian seaports and emigration stations were gathered together at St. Albans, Vermont.  

U.S. immigration officials kept records of passengers arriving by train along the Canadian border in the states from Washington State to Maine. The records of Canadian border crossings into any state between Washington and Maine, including Maine, were also gathered together at St. Albans, Vermont.  

The Family History Library has copies of both kinds of immigration records. Since the records were sent to St. Albans, they are called Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, Vermont, District. Despite the name, the manifests are actually from ports and railroad stations all over Canada and the northern United States, not just Vermont.  

Border Crossing Lists may include information such as the person's name, port or station of entry, date of entry, literacy, last residence, previous visits to the United States, and place of birth. The passenger lists are reproduced in two series:  

United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service. ''Book Indexes, Portland, Maine Passenger Lists 1907- 1930''. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Record Service, 1944. (Family History Library {{FHL|341129|title-id|disp=films 1375989-6000}}.) These are by arrival of ship 1907-1926, 1930.