New Jersey Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

Dutch, Swedes, and Finns. The northeastern part of New Jersey was the first to be settled because of its close proximity to New Amsterdam (New York City). Bergen (now Jersey City), on the west bank of the Hudson River, was the first permanent Dutch settlement in 1660. After the English conquest in 1664, the Dutch continued to spread into Bergen County and the Raritan Valley and then into Somerset and northern Monmouth in the 1680s and 1690s. Many of these settlers came from Kings County, New York. For more details about the Dutch influence in the area see the "[[New Jersey Court Records|Court Records]]" and "[[New Jersey Probate Records|Probate Records]]" sections of the [[New York|New York Research Outline]], and:  

The first Swedish and Finnish settlers came to the site of modern Wilmington, Delaware, on the Delaware River in 1638. The growth of New Sweden was very slow. Raccoon (now Swedesboro) and other Swedish villages were not settled until the 1670s. See the [[Delaware|Delaware Research Outline for]] more information. By the 1690s, about 900 Swedes and Finns had crossed the river to settle in Cape May, Gloucester, and Salem counties, West Jersey.  

'''Cape May''', along New Jersey's southern coast, was settled in 1690 by New Englanders (many of Mayflower descent) from Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Hartford. For information about these families, see:  

'''Scots'''. The proprietors of East Jersey actively solicited Scottish settlers. From the 1680s to 1750, many Presbyterian Lowlanders from eastern Scotland came to East Jersey, particularly to the present counties of Monmouth, Middlesex, Somerset, and Mercer. Hundreds left Scotland between 1683 and 1685 to settle New Perth at Amboy Point (now Perth Amboy), Plainfield, Freehold, and wilderness areas of the Watchung Mountains. Immigration from Scotland declined after 1690, but the Scots continued to spread west through central New Jersey, eventually reaching the Delaware Valley.  

'''Germans'''. The first German Palatines to settle in Bergen County arrived in New York in 1710. Between 1714 and 1750, German Lutherans followed the Raritan River through Monmouth and Somerset counties into northeastern Hunterdon County. A few of the Germans who later arrived at Philadelphia in the 1720s and 1730s crossed over to New Jersey. Those that did went to southern Hunterdon, Morris, and Sussex counties. For information about early German families, see:  

Other books with information on German families in New Jersey are:  

'''Nineteenth Century Immigration'''. Beginning in the 1840s, immigration to New Jersey increased dramatically. About 80 percent of these new arrivals were from Germany and the British Isles. They supplied the needed manpower for the state's growing industries. Paterson was the major industrial center by 1850.  

For more information about ethnic groups see:  

*Cunningham, Barbara, ed. ''The New Jersey Ethnic Experience''. Union City, New Jersey: William H. Wise & Co., 1977. (Not available at the Family History Library.)  

=== Immigration Records  ===

'''Colonial Lists'''. While passenger lists for most colonial immigrants do not exist, an index to these various early immigration list sources is:  

For a comprehensive list of about 140,000 immigrants to America from Britain, see:  

'''Federal Immigration Lists'''. The National Archives, the National Archives — Northeast, and the Family History Library have microfilm copies of:  

'''Other Ports'''  

Additional information on U.S. immigration sources is in the [http://www.familysearchwiki.org/../united-states-research-outline United States Research Outline].  

[[Category:New_Jersey]]