Alabama Emigration and Immigration

United States

U.S. Emigration and Immigration

Alabama

Emigration and Immigration

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Local Research Resources

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United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records

Online Resources

• 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s at Ancestry; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Alabama; Also at MyHeritage; index only ($)
• 1820-1835 Atlantic Ports, Gulf Coasts, and Great Lakes Passenger Lists, Roll 7:1820-1835 at Ancestry; index only ($)
• 1820-1870 Atlantic Ports, Gulf Coasts, and Great Lakes Passenger Lists, Roll 4:1820-1870 at Ancestry; index only ($)
• 1820-1874 United States, Index to Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports, 1820-1874 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images ($)
• 1821-1822 Mobile ship news at FamilySearch; images only
• 1845-1849 Atlantic Ports, Gulf Coasts, and Great Lakes Passenger Lists, Roll 8:1845-1849 at Ancestry; index only ($)
• 1890-1924 Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at ports in Alabama 1890-1924 at FamilySearch; images only
• 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritge; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Alabama
• 1895-1964 All U.S., Border Crossings from Mexico to U.S., 1895-1964 at Ancestry; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Alabama
• 1904-1962 Alabama, U.S., Arriving Passenger Lists, 1904-1962 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
• Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild at MyHeritage; index only ($)

Cultural Groups

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

Passport Records Online

• 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

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

• 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.

Alabama Ports in NARA Records

• Mobile, Alabama, 1832-1852 and 1890-1924

U.S. Citizenship and and Immigration Services Genealogy Program

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

• 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.

Requesting a Record

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

Finding Town of Origin

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

During the early 1700s, some French and Spanish families immigrated to the southern coastal area, but most pre-statehood settlers of Alabama came from the older southern states, especially North Carolina and Georgia. Many of these were brought to the state. Most American Indians cotton planters of English or Ulster Scots origin. Many slaves were were moved westward to Oklahoma by 1839, but a few hundred Creek Indians still live in southern Alabama.

Southern Ports

• Hageness, MariLee Beatty. Passports and Ship Passengers 1849-1862: Mobile, Alabama. Anniston, Ala.: M.B. Hageness, 2002.

Colonial Settlers

• DeVille, Winston. "Anglos and Anglo-Americans in Early Alabama," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 70 (1982):243-245. Digital version at National Genealogical Society website ($); FHL Book 973 B2ng v. 70

Migration

A source listing persons traveling through Indian lands is:

• Potter, Dorothy Williams. Passports of Southeastern Pioneers, 1770–1823: Indian, Spanish, and Other Land Passports for Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North and South Carolina. Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press, 1982. FHL book 975 W4p. During the period from 1798 to 1819 Alabama was part of the Mississippi Territory. These records list people going from the Mississippi Territory elsewhere, or coming into the Mississippi Territory from other states. The records also mention people who obtained passports from the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee Indian agencies to pass through their land. The book is well indexed.

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.

How did your migrant ancestor find the correct destination in Alabama? Quite possibly they had a copy of Brown's book:

• Brown, Samuel R. The Western Gazetteer or Emigrant's Directory, Containing a Geographical Description of the Western States and Territories, viz. The States of Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi: and the Territories of Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Michigan, and North-Western. Auburn, N.Y.: H.C. Southwick, 1817. Digital versions at NIU Library Digitization Projects and World Vital Records ($).

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National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.