Maine Emigration and Immigration

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United States

U.S. Emigration and Immigration

Maine

Emigration and Immigration

United States Emigration and Immigration lists several important sources for finding information about immigrants. Tracing Immigrant Origins introduces the principles, search strategies, and additional record types you can use to identify an immigrant ancestor's original hometown.

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 ($); includes those with Destination of Maine; Also at MyHeritage; index only ($)
• 1795-1925 U.S. Passport Applications for Maine, 1795-1925 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
• 1894-1954 United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1894-1954 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1894-1962 Maine, Passenger Lists, 1894-1962 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
• 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritge; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Maine
• 1906-1953 Maine, Alien Arrivals, 1906-1953 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1911-1954 United States, New England Passenger and Crew Lists, 1911-1954 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1947-1954 - Maine Crew Lists Arriving at Robbinston 1947-1954 at FamilySearch— index and images
• 1949-1958 Maine, Crew List Arriving at Eastport, 1949-1958 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild at MyHeritge; index only ($)
• United States, Passenger and Crew Lists - New England Passenger And Crew Lists at FindMyPast; index & images ($)

Cultural Groups

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

People

Pre-statehood settlers of Maine were generally of English and Ulster Scots descent. They came from Massachusetts and New Hampshire or directly from England. There were also a few hundred persons of Irish origin and free blacks in Maine. A large group of Germans came to the Waldo County area in the late 1700s.

Two groups of French descent compose 15 percent of the present population. The Acadians from Nova Scotia settled the Saint John Valley after 1763. A later French Canadian immigration from Quebec began after the Civil War.

During the 19th century, jobs in textile and lumber mills also attracted European immigrants of many nationalities, especially the Irish. In the 1870s the state recruited Swedish settlers to farms in Aroostook County.

Records

The major port of entry for immigrants who settled in New England is Boston. Other ports of entry include New York and Canadian ports. The article United States Emigration and Immigration lists several important sources for finding information about immigrants to this country. These sources include many references to people who settled in Maine.

Passenger Lists for Maine

• United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Portland, Maine, 1893-1943; Index, 1893-1954. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Record Service, 1944, 1986. FHL film 1412619; passenger lists FHL films 1449398-430

• United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Book Indexes, Portland, Maine Passenger Lists 1907- 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Record Service, 1944. FHL films 1375989-6000 These are by arrival of ship 1907-1926, 1930.

• United States. Bureau of Customs. Copies of Lists of Passengers Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and at Ports of the Great Lakes, 1820-1873. National Archives Microfilm Publication. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1964. FHL films 830231-44 Includes incomplete 19th century passenger lists for Portland-Falmouth, 1820 to March 1868, and Passamaquoddy, 1820 to 1859

Canadian Border Crossing Records

Canadian border crossing records are of particular interest for Maine since it lies on the border of Canada. They are valuable genealogical records because they may include information such as the person's name, port or station of entry, date of entry, literacy, last residence, previous visits to the United States, and place of birth. There are two types of Canadian border crossing records:

• In 1895 Canadian shipping companies agreed to keep passenger lists, or manifests, of people who were in transit to the United States. These lists allowed U.S. immigration officials to inspect passengers bound for the United States via Canada. The U.S. inspectors worked at Canadian seaports and major cities of the interior, such as Quebec and Winnipeg. The manifests from all Canadian seaports and emigration stations were gathered together at St. Albans, Vermont.

• U.S. immigration officials kept records of passengers arriving by train along the Canadian border in the states from Washington State to Maine. The records of Canadian border crossings into any state between Washington and Maine, including Maine, were also gathered together at St. Albans, Vermont.

Since the records were sent to St. Albans, they are called Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, Vermont, District. Despite the name, the manifests are actually from ports and railroad stations all over Canada and the northern United States, not just Vermont.

The passenger lists are reproduced in two series:

• 1895-1954 Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, Vermont District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1895-1954. FHL films 1561087 (first of 608 rolls). These are from seaports and railroad stations all over Canada and the northern United States. The Family History Library only has the manifests to January 1921.

• 1895-1924 Soundex Index to Canadian Border Entries through the St. Albans, Vermont District, 1895-1924 (Family History Library FHL films 1472801-1473201

• 1924-1952 Soundex Index to Entries into the St. Albans, Vermont District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1924-1952 (Family History Library FHL films 1570714- 1570811.

• 1929-1949 Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, Vermont District through Canadian Pacific Ports, 1929-1949 FHL films 1549387 (first of 25 rolls) Lists those in transit to the United States from Canadian Pacific seaports only.

Indexed and digitized on-line Border Crossing records between Canada and the United States

• 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1895-1956 Also at Ancestry.com ($)

• 1908-1935 Border Crossings: From U.S. to Canada, 1908-1935. At Ancestry.com ($)

Websites

• National Archives

• Border Crossings US/Canada)

• Massachusetts On-line Databases - Passenger Manifest

References

Maine. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Family History Department, 1998, 2001.

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