Georgia Emigration and Immigration

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United States

U.S. Emigration and Immigration

Georgia

Emigration and Immigration

United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records

Online Resources

• 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s - Georgia, USA at Ancestry; index only ($); Also at MyHeritage; index only ($)
• 1733-1783 The Germans of Colonial Georgia, 1733-1783 at Ancestry; images only ($)
• 1890-1924 Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at ports in Georgia 1890-1924 at FamilySearch; images only
• 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 to Georgia at MyHeritge; index & images ($)
• 1895-1964 All U.S., Border Crossings from Mexico to U.S., 1895-1964 at Ancestry; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Georgia
• 1904-1939 Georgia, Brunswick Passenger Lists, 1904-1939 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1904-1962 Georgia, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1904-1962 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
• 1906-1945 Georgia, Savannah Passenger Lists, 1906-1945 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 to Georgia at MyHeritge; index only ($)
• Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild at MyHeritge; index only ($)
• United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records, list of nationwide databases
• Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($)
• Italians Immigrating to the United States - Georgia at MyHeritage; index only ($)

People

Colonial settlers of Georgia generally came from the Carolinas, from Virginia, or directly from England and Scotland. The first large group of immigrants came from the British Isles to the Savannah area with James Oglethorpe in 1733. Though it was designed to be a penal colony, most English convicts were transported to Virginia and Maryland, rather than Georgia.

The total non-native population of Georgia in 1752 has been estimated at 5,000. Small groups of Protestants from France, Switzerland, and what is now Germany. Religious groups included Moravians. The most important of these groups were the 1,500 Salzburgers who had settled at Ebenezer in present-day Effingham County beginning in 1734.

An important group of 350 Puritans from South Carolina, accompanied by 1,500 blacks, arrived in Georgia beginning in 1752. They first settled in the Midway District. Their ancestors had previously settled the towns of Dorchester in both Massachusetts and South Carolina. In 1758 these Puritans established the seacoast town of Sunbury.

Between 1802 and 1820 thousands of Americans moved to Georgia seeking free or inexpensive land. The Creek and Cherokee Indians were removed from the state before 1840.

Overland Immigration

Barlow published abstracts of some Virginians migrating to Georgia:

• Barlow, Lundie W. "Some Virginia Settlers of Georgia, 1773-1798," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1958):19-27. Digital version at American Ancestors ($).

Colonial Period

Scattered records of colonial immigrants survive and have usually been published.

• Austin, Jeannette H. Emigrants from Great Britain to the Georgia Colony. Riverdale, Ga.: J.H. Austin, 1970. FHL film 1597743 Item 2.
• Coulter, E. Merton and Albert Berry Saye. A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1949. At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL book 975.8 W2L
• Davis, Robert Scott. "Scottish and English Immigrants to the Georgia Frontier, 1774-1775," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 70 (1982):190-196. Digital version at National Genealogical Society website ($); FHL Book 973 B2ng v. 70 (1982).

Records of ethnic groups including Indians, Quakers, and Salzburgers are listed in the place search of the FamilySearch Catalog under the subject heading GEORGIA - MINORITIES. ==

Though they do not include names of passengers, records kept by the Colonial Office and stored at The National Archives (Kew, England), document ships' arrivals and departures from Georgia ports between 1752 and 1767. FamilySearch microfilmed these records. They are useful for learning about the history of ships entering the colony:

• Shippings Lists for Georgia, 1752-1767 FHL Film 964005.

Dr. Marianne S. Wokeck created a detailed list of "German Immigrant Voyages, 1683-1775" to Colonial America. Destinations include Georgia (1730s-1750s). She published the list in an Appendix to:

• Wokeck, Marianne S. Trade in Strangers: The Beginnings of Mass Migration to North America. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999. FHL Book 970 W2w.

British Naval Office Shipping Lists, 1678-1825, have been digitized by British Online Archives (site requires subscription). Names of passengers are not included.

1783 to Present

The Family History Library at www.familysearch.org and the National Archives at have passenger lists for Savannah for portions of the years 1820 to 1826, 1831, 1847 to 1851, and 1866 to 1867 FHL film 830246.

Lists of arrivals in Georgia and other southern ports beginning in 1890 are also available at the National Archives. The Family History Library has an index to these lists for 1890 to 1924 FHL films 1324938–63. These are in the Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, 1890-1924 listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION - INDEXES.

The library also has Savannah lists for 1906 to 1945 FHL films 1375955 and 1414793–95.

Westward Migrants

Records about many families who passed through Georgia on their way west are included in:

• Bryan, Mary. Passports Issued by Georgia Governors, 1785-1809, and 1810-1820, Two Volumes. (Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1959, 1964; FHL book 975.8 P4b

• Georgia State Department, Passports Issued by Governors of Georgia, 1785-1820 (Atlanta, Georgia : Georgia Dept. of Archives and History,1962) FHL film 361879

Dorothy Williams Potter in Passports of Southeastern Pioneers 1770-1823 (FHL Book 975 W4p) identifies some migrants from Georgia into territories that are now Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri.

Free native-born Georgians, alive in 1850, who had left the state, resettled as follows:

State	Persons Born in Georgia	Percentage
Alabama	~60,000	50%
Mississippi	~17,000	14%
Florida	~11,000	9%
Texas	7,639	6%
Arkansas	6,367	5%
Louisiana	5,917	5%
Tennessee	4,863	4%
Illinois	1,341	1%
Missouri	1,254	1%
Kentucky	892	1%
California	876	1%
Indiana	764	1%
Total	~120,000	98%

References

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