Hawaii Emigration and Immigration

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United States

U.S. Emigration and Immigration

Hawaii

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 ($); includes those with Destination of Hawaii; Also at MyHeritage; index only ($)
• 1843-1900 Hawaii, Collector of Customs, Ships' Passenger Manifests, 1843-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritage - index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Hawaii
• 1895-1964 All U.S., Border Crossings from Mexico to U.S., 1895-1964 at Ancestry - index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Hawaii
• 1900-1952 Index to Passengers Arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, 1900-1952 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1900-1952 Hawaii, Honolulu Index to Passengers, Not Including Filipinos, 1900-1952 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1900-1953 Hawaii, Honolulu Passenger Lists, 1900-1953 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at Findmypast — index & images ($); MyHeritage — index & images ($)
• 1900-1959 Honolulu, Hawaii, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900-1959 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1912-1946 United States, California, Certificates Surrendered at San Francisco from Aliens Previously at Honolulu, Hawaii, 1912-1946 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

• 1941-1948 Hawaii, Passenger Lists, 1941-1948 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1942-1948 Hawaii, Passenger Lists of Airplanes departing Honolulu, 1942-1948 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1947-1948 California, Airplane Passenger Lists from Honolulu, Hawaii, 1947-1948 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild at MyHeritage - index only ($)

Cultural Groups

• 1852-1900 Departures of Chinese from Hawaii, 1852-1900, images
• 1888-1898 Chinese entry permits, 1888-1898, images
• 1891-1898 Index to entry permits for Chinese minors, 1891-1898, images
• 1893-1898 Hawaii State Archives, Chinese Immigration Labor Permit Records, 1893-1898 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1900-1952 Hawaii, Index to Filipino Passengers Arriving at Honolulu, 1900-1952 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1903-1944 Hawaii, U.S., Index to Chinese Exclusion Case Files, 1903-1944 at FamilySearch; index only ($)
• 1906-1977 Filipino Laborers Collection, 1906 to about 1977; index & images
• 1909-1910 Hawaii, Harbin File - Russian Immigrant Laborers Index A-Z, 1909-1910 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of Hawaii
• 1946 Hawaii, Index to Filipino Arrivals to Honolulu, 1946 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• Hawaii State Archives Index to Chinese Passenger Manifests
• Hawaii State Archives Japanese Passenger Manifests Index
• Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of Hawaii
• Italians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage - index only ($); includes those with Destination of Hawaii

Passport Records Online

• 1874-1898 Hawaii, Passport Records, 1874-1898 at FamilySearch — How to Use This Collection - index and images
• 1795-1925 United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925 at FamilySearch; index and images — How to Use this Collection
• 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 Public 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

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

• Less than 1 percent of Hawaii's population is pure-blooded Hawaiian.
• Many immigrant groups originally came as contract laborers to work in the sugar fields. The Chinese began arriving in 1852, followed by the Portuguese in 1878, the Japanese in 1884, Koreans in 1903, and Filipinos in 1906.
• Those of Japanese descent presently constitute about 30 percent of the total population, and are the largest ethnic group in Hawaii.
• American missionaries from New England started coming in 1820, but the number of Americans was not significant until about 1875.

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.

The Chinese were one of the first groups to arrive in Hawaii for contract labor. The Records of the Chinese Bureau are available online at the Digital Archives of Hawai'i. Many of these records are available in microfilm format and the following is a list in chronological order:

• Ship Manifests, 1843-1900
• Chinese Arrivals, 1847-1880
• Departures of Chinese from Hawaii, 1852-1900
• Card index to Chinese passports, 1884-1898
• Chinese passports, 1884-1890
• Chinese entry permits, 1888-1898
• Chinese immigration applications, 1890-1892
• Special residence permits of Chinese, 1891
• Index to entry permits for Chinese minors, 1891-1898
• Chinese emigration permits of Chinese laborers and domestics, 1893-1897
• Chinese Immigration Labor Permit Records, 1893-1898
• Certificates of identification of Chinese immigrants, 1895-1897
• Labor permits of Chinese persons who died in Hawaii 1895-1897, rejected permits, 1895-1897
• Chinese work permits, 1895-1897
• Records of deceased Chinese contract laborers, 1898
• Certificates of identification of Chinese immigrants, index
• Chinese immigration certificate of identity, Hawaii, 1908-1909

The Japanese immigrated in higher numbers and there are many "away from home" [dekasegi] records also available on microfilm, listed in chronological order:

• Reports from the Consulate General of Japan in Hawaii, regarding people returning to Japan due to termination of contract, childbirth, death, etc. 1892-1895, 1896

• Japanese “away-from-home” workers in Hawaii, actions against men of military conscription age, court procedures, births and deaths, November 1884-July 1886
• Japanese “away-from-home” workers in Hawaii, February 1885-June 1894
• Japanese “away-from-home” workers in Hawaii: termination of labor contracts and return to Japan, June 1885 to October 1892
• Japanese “away-from-home” non-contract emigrants, 1886-1887
• Examinations of rejected Japanese immigrants, 1897
• Japanese denied admission to Hawaii, March 1897-December 1898
• Japanese emigrants who died in Hawaii, January 1901-December 1916
• Reserve fund payments to families of deceased Japanese workers in Hawaii, 1902
• Japanese denied admission to Hawaii, December 1902-September 1904
• List of names of Japanese emigrants April 1903-December 1904
• Japanese “away-from-home” workers in Hawaii, February 1909-October 1916
• Japanese “away-from-home” workers in Hawaii, December 1909-April 1918

Other ethnic groups within records, chronological:

• Passenger Arrivals and Departures from 1843-1899
• Passenger Manifests by Collector of Customs, 1843-1900
• Indexes to Vessels Arriving at (1852-1948) and Departing from (1900-1949) Honolulu, Hawaii, NARA microfilm A3391. Note: These are not digitized and are available on microfilm at several NARA branches.
• Passport Records, 1874-1898 includes a card index for Chinese passports for 1884-1898, Madeira to Hawaii 1878-1884
• Ship passenger lists [Portuguese] 1878-1913  
• Gerald Paiva, List of Portuguese Passengers on Ships Bound for Hawaii, 1878-1899
• Robert S. De Mello, Passport Registrations: Portuguese immigrants from Azores to Sandwich Isles, 1879-1883 (Honolulu: De Mello Publishing Co., 1978).
• Certificates of identification by the Department of Interior, 1895-1899
• Passenger Lists, 1900-1921
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, 1900-1953
• Honolulu Index to Passengers (excluding Filipinos), 1900-1952
• Honolulu Index to Filipino Passengers, 1900-1952
• Russian Immigrant Laborer Index, 1909-1910 (Harbin File)
• Shipping lists 1909-1910, 1910-1914 for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association
• Alien Certificates surrendered at San Francisco, 1912-1946, for aliens that arrived at Honolulu
• Passports from the Portuguese Consulate, Honolulu, 1924-1939
• California immigration registers of Japanese, Filipinos, and Hawaiians at San Francisco, 1928-1942
• Certificates of Portuguese Citizens in Hawaii, 1929-1939
• Passenger lists of airplanes departing Honolulu, 1942-1948
• Index to Filipino arrivals to Honolulu, 1946
• California airplane passenger lists from Honolulu, 1947-1948

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.

National Archives Catalog RG 85 Immigration and Naturalization Service - District 17, Honolulu

• Register of Japanese Arrivals and Register of Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans Detained for Boards of Special Inquiry, 6/27/1899 - 6/20/1905
• Registers of Arrival and Disposition of Chinese Persons, 12/31/1899 - 12/17/1941
• Registers of Arrivals of Japanese Free People, 12/4/1898 - 6/12/1900
• Index to Hawaiian Certificates of Identity, pre, 1898 Images

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

For Further Reading

The FamilySearch Library has additional sources listed in their catalog:

• United States, Hawaii - Emigration and immigration
• United States, Hawaii - Emigration and immigration - Indexes
• United States, Hawaii - Minorities

This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Some subscription websites are available for free at your local FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.

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