New York Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

=== Colonial Settlers  ===

The original inhabitants of New York were Algonquian (Lenni Lenape, Mohegan, and Wappinger) and Iroquoian tribes (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca). The Tuscarora tribe from North Carolina migrated to New York and joined the Iroquois confederacy in the 1700s.  

In the 1620s and 1630s, the Dutch and Walloons (French-speaking Belgians) settled in the Hudson Valley and on western Long Island. The Dutch West India Company made settlements at New Amsterdam (New York City) and Ft. Orange (Albany) in 1624 and 1625. Later settlements were at Beverwyck (outside Fort Orange), Esopus (Kingston), and western Long Island. In 1664 the English captured New Netherland and renamed it New York. Many Dutch families of New York can be found in:  

*Epperson, Gwenn F. ''New Netherland Roots.'' Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994. (Family History Library book {{FHL|651271|title-id|disp=974.7 D27e}}.) Discusses and quotes examples from passenger lists, early government records, marriage registers, church records, and court records of New Netherland. Also discusses early Dutch, German, Belgian, French, and Scandinavian sources.

In the 1640s New England settlers came to eastern Long Island. New Englanders continued to migrate to the lower Hudson Valley in the early and mid-1700s.  

In the hundred years after the English took control in 1664, French Huguenots, German Palatines, Scots, and Irish also found their way to New York. During the next century, settlement expanded west along the Mohawk River and north along the Hudson.  

Huguenots settled on Staten Island and in New Harlem, Bushwick, and Flushing in 1657 and 1658. New Paltz, Ulster County, was founded in 1677 by Huguenots. In 1688 the Huguenots established New Rochelle in Westchester County. Non-Huguenot French Catholics from Quebec later settled large areas of the northern Adirondacks.  

German "Palatines" came in 1709/10 to the upper Hudson Valley, near present-day Germantown, Columbia County. Many had been lured to America after reading the "Golden Book," published by British authorities, to promote the colonization of America. It portrayed the New World as a paradise. Some lived in England for a few years. After arriving in New York and working in the tar and naval stores industries to pay off their passage, they found themselves landless, and in an undeveloped wilderness. The British failed to keep their promise to grant each immigrant 40 acres of land for emigrating. Many ventured to the unsettled Schoharie Valley backcountry and purchased land from Indians. They established seven villages. 1709ers include Valentin Bresseler (ancestor of Elvis Presley) and Jost Hite "Baron of the Shenandoah."<ref name="hank" />  

*Jones, Henry Z., Jr. ''The Palatine Families of New York: A Study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710''. Two Volumes. Universal City, California: Henry Z. Jones, 1985. (Family History Library book {{FHL|237941|title-id|disp=974.7 D2j}}.) May include births, marriages, deaths, and source citations.

*Diffenderffer, Frank Reid. (1897)&nbsp;''The German exodus to England in 1709. ''Lancaster, PA: The Pennsylvania-German Society. Read online here: http://openlibrary.org/books/OL6973084M/The_German_exodus_to_England_in_1709.

In the early 1770s Scottish and Irish immigrants settled in the upper Hudson and Delaware valleys. Ulster Scots, or Scotch-Irish, settled near the Hudson River in Orange and Ulster counties in the late 1600s. Millions (approximately 3 million) Irish (mostly Catholic) immigrated to the United States. Hundreds of thousands&nbsp;settled&nbsp;in New York City in especially the mid to late 19th Century. Some stayed for a few years and then migrated into the rest of the United States. Their migration fanned out into the midwest, i.e. Chicago St. Louis, south (Alabama and Georgia) and out west. Visit the [http://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=180&cat=GP44&tf=F&bc=sl Famine Emigrants 1846-1851 database at the NARA] website for an online search of nearly 700,000 Irish Famine Immigrants, representing one of the most significant&nbsp;immigration epics of all time in America's history. In 1855, one in every four, or 54 percent of New York City's foreign-born population were Irish with over 200,000 registered as "born in Ireland". The largest New York immigrant passenger-list index, available for the first time for the years 1820 to 1957, is now online at [http://search.ancestry.com/search/DB.aspx?dbid=7488 Ancestry.com] with 68 million names. Here is&nbsp;an enlarged [[List of Irish Emigration]] websites for locating Irish ancestors on ships.  

*Dobson, David. ''Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625–1825'' (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1984–, Volumes 1–7. Family History Library book {{FHL|213085|title-id|disp=970 W2d}}). Each volume has its own index. Often the town or city of origin in Scotland is mentioned. About a quarter of the families settled in New York.

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society will search their indexes and files at no charge. Supply the individual ancestor's name as spelled at the time of arrival and, if known, the year and port of entry and relatives traveling with the ancestor. It also helps to give birth and last known address. Records of Jewish immigrants since 1909 are at:  

The Dutch brought the first Blacks to New York during colonial times. Blacks composed about 10 percent of the population during the eighteenth century. The greatest migration of Blacks came from the southern states and Caribbean after World War II.  

Records of major ethnic groups, including Dutch, Swedes, German, French Huguenots, Quakers, and Jews, are listed in the Family History Library Catalog Locality Search under:  

=== Migration Patterns  ===

[[New York, New York, Index to Passenger Lists (FamilySearch Historical Records)]] For information on using this collection, see [[Free Online New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1897|Free online New York Passenger Lists 1820-1897]].  

== Web Sites  ==