Virginia Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Virginia
Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Virginia
Italians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Virginia
Russians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Virginia

Passport Records Online[edit | edit source]

1795-1925 - United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925 at FamilySearch — index and images
1795-1925 - U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 Index and images, at Ancestry ($)

Offices to Contact[edit | edit source]

Although many records are included in the online records listed above, there are other records available through these archives and offices. For example, there are many minor ports that have not yet been digitized. There are also records for more recent time periods. For privacy reasons, some records can only be accessed after providing proof that your ancestor is now deceased.

National Archives and Records Administration[edit | edit source]

The National Archives (NARA) has immigration records for arrivals to the United States from foreign ports between approximately 1820 and 1982. The records are arranged by Port of Arrival (See Part 5).

You may do research in immigration records in person at the National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.

Some National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regional facilities have selected immigration records; call to verify their availability or check the online Microfilm Catalog.
Libraries with large genealogical collections, such as the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah and the Allen County Piblic Library also have selected NARA microfilm publications.

Order copies of passenger arrival records with NATF Form 81.

U.S. Citizenship and and Immigration Services Genealogy Program[edit | edit source]

The USCIS Genealogy Program is a fee-for-service program that provides researchers with timely access to historical immigration and naturalization records of deceased immigrants. If the immigrant was born less than 100 years ago, you will also need to provide proof of his/her death.

Immigration Records Available[edit | edit source]

A-Files: Immigrant Files, (A-Files) are the individual alien case files, which became the official file for all immigration records created or consolidated since April 1, 1944.
Alien Registration Forms (AR-2s): Alien Registration Forms (Form AR-2) are copies of approximately 5.5 million Alien Registration Forms completed by all aliens age 14 and older, residing in or entering the United States between August 1, 1940 and March 31, 1944.
Registry Files: Registry Files are records, which document the creation of immigrant arrival records for persons who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, and for whom no arrival record could later be found.
Visa Files: Visa Files are original arrival records of immigrants admitted for permanent residence under provisions of the Immigration Act of 1924.^[1]

Requesting a Record[edit | edit source]

Web Request Page allows you to request a records, pay fees, and upload supporting documents (proof of death).
Record Requests Frequently Asked Questions

Library of Virginia[edit | edit source]

The Virginia Colonial Records Project at the Library of Virginia can help Americans trace their European immigrant origins. Scholars visited United Kingdom and other European archives searching for references to colonial-era Virginians. Their 14,704 records survey reports contain half a million names of persons and ships which are searchable at the Library's web site. They also microfilmed about two-thirds of the records they located. The 963 reels of microfilm are held at the Library of Virginia and are available for interlibrary loan. The Library's About the Virginia Colonial Records Project provides more information. See also: *Riley, Edward M. "The Virginia Colonial Records Project," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 2 (June 1963):81-89. FHL Book 973 B2ng v. 51.

Finding Town of Origin[edit | edit source]

Records in the countries emigrated from are kept on the local level. You must first identify the name of the town where your ancestors lived to access those records. If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it.

U. S. Immigration Records: Finding the Town of Origin

Background[edit | edit source]

The original European settlers came in the early 17th century from the midland and southern counties of England.^[2] They first settled in Virginia's tidewater (coastal plain). Many colonists had connections to Barbados.^[3] The earliest Africans to Barbados was in 1619. Starting in 1680, large numbers of Africans were captured and brought as slaves to Barbados. It has been estimated that 75% of white colonists arrived in bondage as indentured servants or transported convicts.^[4] Small landholders moved westward to the Piedmont, where they were joined by a new wave of English and Scottish immigrants.

In the early 1700s, French Huguenots arrived, followed by German workers imported between 1714 and 1717 to work iron furnaces in the Piedmont area. During the 1730s and 1740s, a large number of settlers of Ulster Scot and German descent moved southward from Pennsylvania down the Allegheny Ridges into the Shenandoah Valley.

Beginning in the late 18th century, Virginia lost many residents as families moved westward to new states and territories. There was very little foreign immigration to Virginia after 1800.

German Immigrants[edit | edit source]

A group of Germans created a settlement called Germanna in early eighteenth-century Virginia. Several books have been published about the history and genealogy of these families, such as:

Germanna Foundation maintains a visitor's center with genealogical library. They work to promote historic preservation as well as family history information and research.

Virginians in English archives[edit | edit source]

Waters and Withington, like the Virginia Colonial Records Project scholars, sought out references to Virginians in English archives:

Waters, Henry F. Genealogical Gleanings in England. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1885-1889. Digital versions at Internet Archive: Vol. 1 (1st Part) | Vol. 1 (2nd Part) | Vol. 1 (3rd Part). 1901 edition; also at Internet Archive: Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 - all free.

Withington also located a list of people arriving in England who had been in Virginia in the years 1655 and 1656.^[5] g Company 1969 (lists pre-1616 settlers)

Scottish and Irish Immigrants[edit | edit source]

Many Scottish merchants established stores where British goods were imported in eighteenth-century Virginia.

Scots-Irish settlement was particularly concentrated in the Shenandoah Valley during the eighteenth-century in places such as Augusta County, Virginia.

David Dobson has dedicated many years to establishing links between Scots and their dispersed Scottish cousins who settled throughout the world. For Virginia connections, see publications by David Dobson.

A helpful book about Scottish Highlanders in America is:

MacLean, J.A.P. An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America Prior to the Peace of 1783 Together with Notices of Highland Regiments and Biographical Sketches. Cleveland, Ohio: The Helman-Taylor Company, 1900. Digital version at Internet Archive.

French Immigrants[edit | edit source]

Huguenots came in 1700. Their settlement, in King William Parish, near Richmond on the James River, was known as Manakin Town.^[6] They and many of their descendants lived in Henrico, Goochland, Cumberland, and Powhatan counties.

Scottish Voyages[edit | edit source]

Dr. David Dobson has compiled a detailed list of ships voyaging between Scotland and America. Volume 4 includes information gleaned from the Virginia Gazette:

Dobson, David. Ships from Scotland to America, 1628-1828. 4 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. Publisher's bookstore: Vol. 1; Vol. 2; Vol. 3; Vol. 4. FHL Books 973 W3d v. 1-v. 3 FHL has Volumes 1 to 3.

1783 to Present[edit | edit source]

The Family History Library and the National Archives have many of the post-1820 passenger lists and indexes for Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other major ports. These are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog Locality Search under [STATE], [COUNTY], [CITY] - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION.

The Family History Library and the National Archives also have incomplete passenger lists for the following ports.

Alexandria, 1820-1865 FHL 830231
East River, 1830 FHL 830232
Hampton, 1820-1821 FHL 830234
Norfolk and Portsmouth, 1820-1857 FHL 830236
Petersburg, 1820-1821 FHL 830238
Richmond, 1820-1844 FHL 830246

The above lists are included in Copies of Lists of Passengers Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts . . . (in the FamilySearch Catalog Locality Search under UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION; FHL 830231-FHL 830246. These lists are indexed in Supplemental Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports . . . (in the FamilySearch Catalog Locality Search under UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION - INDEXES; FHL 418161-FHL 418348

American Immigration[edit | edit source]

Many settlers from Maryland and Pennsylvania migrated down into Virginia during the colonial period. The Great Valley Road, which passed through the Shenandoah Valley was a popular route.

Many Virginians moved to Georgia immediately after the American Revolution.^[7] Barlow published records identifying some of them:

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 ($).

What was it like to move from Virginia to Kentucky in the early 1800s? Daniel Trabue's journal makes a fascinating read:

Young, Chester Raymond. Westward into Kentucky, The Narrative of Daniel Trabue. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1981. FHL Book 976.9 H2td.

What was it like to move from Virginia to Alabama in the early 1800s? Owen's journal of his trip is available online at Internet Archive - free.^[8]

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

Robertson compiled a list of Virginians in Kansas in 1860:

Robertson, Clara Hamlett. Kansas Territorial Settlers of 1860 Who were Born in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina: A Compilation with Historical Annotations and Editorial Comment. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976. FHL 978.1 H2ro; digital version at World Vital Records ($).

British Mercantile Claims identify migrations made by many Virginians during the period 1775 to 1803. The folks listed owed debts to overseas British merchants at the opening of the Revolutionary War and after the War was over, the merchants came to collect their debts, only to find that many of these people had moved. Dorman published these records in The Virginia Genealogist, beginning with Volume 6. Digital version at American Ancestors ($). FHL Book 975.5 B2vg v. 6 (1962).

Dr. Koontz wrote a helpful article about life on "The Virginia Frontier, 1754-1763," Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1925). Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library.

Websites[edit | edit source]

Immigrant Servants Database 20,000+ colonial immigrants, primary focus: Chesapeake Bay colonies (Virginia and Maryland)
Virtual Jamestown Indentured servant registers from colonial period, which identify English indentured servants shipped to America

References[edit | edit source]

↑ "Genealogy", at USCIS, https://www.uscis.gov/records/genealogy, accessed 26 March 2021.
↑ David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). FHL Book 973 H2fis.
↑ David L. Kent, Barbados and America (Arlington, Va.: C.M. Kent, 1980). FHL Book 972.981 X2b.
↑ Wesley Frank Craven, White, Red, and Black: The Seventeenth-Century Virginian (Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1971).
↑ Lothrop Withington, "Arrivals from Virginia in 1655," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jan. 1912):186-187; Lothrop Withington, "Arrivals from Virginia in 1656," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Apr. 1913):258-262. Digitized by JSTOR - free.
↑ "Manakin Town: The French Huguenot Settlement in Virginia 1700-ca. 1750," National Humanities Center Resource Toolbox. Becoming American: The British Atlantic Colonies, 1690-1763, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/growth/text4/frenchvirginia.pdf, accessed 23 June 2012.
↑ John Frederick Dorman, "Review of Research in Georgia," in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1981):147. Digital version at American Ancestors ($). FHL Book 975.5 B2vg v. 25 (1981)
↑ "John Owen's Journal of His Removal from Virginia to Alabama in 1818," Publications of the Southern History Association, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Apr. 1897):89-97. Digitized by Internet Archive.

[1] "Genealogy", at USCIS, https://www.uscis.gov/records/genealogy, accessed 26 March 2021.

[2] David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). FHL Book 973 H2fis.

[3] David L. Kent, Barbados and America (Arlington, Va.: C.M. Kent, 1980). FHL Book 972.981 X2b.

[4] Wesley Frank Craven, White, Red, and Black: The Seventeenth-Century Virginian (Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1971).

[5] Lothrop Withington, "Arrivals from Virginia in 1655," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jan. 1912):186-187; Lothrop Withington, "Arrivals from Virginia in 1656," The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Apr. 1913):258-262. Digitized by JSTOR - free.

[6] "Manakin Town: The French Huguenot Settlement in Virginia 1700-ca. 1750," National Humanities Center Resource Toolbox. Becoming American: The British Atlantic Colonies, 1690-1763, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/growth/text4/frenchvirginia.pdf, accessed 23 June 2012.

[7] John Frederick Dorman, "Review of Research in Georgia," in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1981):147. Digital version at American Ancestors ($). FHL Book 975.5 B2vg v. 25 (1981)

[8] "John Owen's Journal of His Removal from Virginia to Alabama in 1818," Publications of the Southern History Association, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Apr. 1897):89-97. Digitized by Internet Archive.

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