North Carolina Emigration and Immigration

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United States

U.S. Emigration and Immigration

North Carolina

Emigration and Immigration

United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records

How to Find the Records

Online Resources

• 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s at Ancestry - index only ($); Also at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of North Carolina
• 1774-1775 Records of Emigrants from England and Scotland to North Carolina, 1774-1775
• 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritage - index & images ($); includes those with Destination of North Carolina
• 1908-1958 North Carolina, Passenger and Crew Lists at MyHeritage — index & images ($)
• 1908-1958 North Carolina, Wilmington and Morehead City Passenger and Crew Lists, 1908-1958 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1908-1958 United States, Passenger and Crew Lists - North Carolina, Wilmington And Morehead City Passenger Lists, 1908-1958 at Findmypast - index & images ($)

Cultural Groups

• British Aliens in the United States During the War of 1812, e-book
• 1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of North Carolina
• Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of North Carolina
• Italians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of North Carolina
• Russians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of North Carolina

Passport Records Online

• 1795-1925 United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1795-1925 U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 Index and images, at Ancestry ($)

North Carolina’s treacherous coastline prevented significant immigration by sea. Most immigrants arrived at major northern ports such as New York, Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia. *Immigrants to New Jersey frequently arrived in the United States at nearby larger ports with better harbors, especially New York; Wilmington, Delaware; Boston, Massachusetts; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

• Delaware Emigration and Immigration Online Resources
• Massachusetts Emigration and Immigration Online Resources
• New York Emigration and Immigration Online Resources
• Pennsylvania Emigration and Immigration Online Resources

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.

North Carolina Ports in NARA Records

• Beaufort, North Carolina, 1865
• Edenton, North Carolina, 1820
• Morehead City, North Carolina, 1908-1958
• New Bern, North Carolina, 1820-1865
• Plymouth, North Carolina, 1820-1840
• Washington, North Carolina, 1820-1848
• Wilmington, North Carolina, 1908-1958

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

• The earliest pre-statehood settlers of North Carolina were generally of English descent and came from Virginia and South Carolina to the Coastal Plain region, between 1650 and 1730.
• In the early 1700s, small groups of French Huguenot, German Palatine, and Swiss immigrants founded towns on the coast.
• Between 1729 and 1775, several thousand Scottish settlers came directly from the Scottish Highlands and the Western Isles to settle the upper Cape Fear Valley.
• During the same period, many Ulster Scots and Germans came overland down the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road into the central and western portions of the state.
• African Americans were brought to North Carolina very early and now constitute about one-fifth of the state’s population.
• North Carolina did not attract heavy settlement after the Revolutionary War and lost much of its population in the westward movement to Tennessee, Illinois, and other new states and territories.

Immigration Records

Immigration refers to people coming into a country. Emigration refers to people leaving a country to go to another. Immigration records usually take the form of ship's passenger lists collected at the port of entry. See Online Resources.

What can I find in them?

Information in Passenger Lists

• Before 1820 - Passenger lists before 1820 included name, departure information and arrival details. The names of wives and children were often not included.

• 1820-1891 - Customs Passenger Lists between 1820 and 1891 asked for each immigrant’s name, their age, their sex, their occupation, and their country of origin, but not the city or town of origin.

• 1891-1954 - Information given on passenger lists from 1891 to 1954 included:
  • name, age, sex,
  • nationality, occupation, marital status,
  • last residence, final destination in the U.S.,
  • whether they had been to the U.S. before (and if so, when, where and how long),
  • if joining a relative, who this person was, where they lived, and their relationship,
  • whether able to read and write,
  • whether in possession of a train ticket to their final destination, who paid for the passage,
  • amount of money the immigrant had in their possession,
  • whether the passenger had ever been in prison, a poorhouse, or in an institution for the insane,
  • whether the passenger was a polygamist,
  • and immigrant's state of health.

• 1906-- - In 1906, the physical description and place of birth were included, and a year later, the name and address of the passenger’s closest living relative in the country of origin was included.

Information in Passports

Over the years, passports and passport applications contained different amounts of information about the passport applicant. The first passports that are available begin in 1795. These usually contained the individual's name, description of individual, and age. More information was required on later passport applications, such as:

• Birthplace
• Birth date
• Naturalization information
• Arrival information, if foreign born

In-Country Migration

North Carolina Migration Routes

Atlantic Coast Ports · Black Fox Trail · Catawba and Northern Trail · Catawba Trail · Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad · Fall Line Road Southern Road · Fayetteville, Elizabethtown, and Wilmington Trail · Great Valley Road · Jonesboro Road · King's Highway · Lower Cherokee Traders' Path · New River and Southern Trail · Occaneechi Path · Old Cherokee Path · Rutherford's War Trace · Secondary Coast Road · Unicoi Trail · Upper Road · Wilmington, Highpoint, and Northern Trail

For Further Reading

The FamilySearch Library has additional sources listed in their catalog:

• United States, North Carolina - Emigration and immigration
• United States, North Carolina - Minorities