Montana Emigration and Immigration

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U.S. Emigration and Immigration

Montana

Emigration and Immigration

United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records

Online Records

• 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s at Ancestry; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Montana; Also at MyHeritage; index only ($)
• 1862-1867 Index of Wagon Train Emigrants From Minnesota to Montana; index only
• 1865-2009 Montana, Granite County Records, 1865-2009 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1880-2009 Montana, Cascade County Records, 1880-2009 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1894-1954 - United States, Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1894-1954 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1895-1954 Border Crossings:From Canada to U.S., 1895-1954 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
• 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritge; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Montana
• 1895-1964 All U.S., Border Crossings from Mexico to U.S., 1895-1964 at Ancestry; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Montana
• 1897-1903 Klondike Pioneers From Montana; index only
• 1923-1956 Montana, Manifests of Immigrant Arrivals and Departures, 1923-1956 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• Society of Montana Pioneers; constitution, members and officers, with portraits and maps.

Cultural Groups

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

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.

Background

• Pre-statehood settlers of Montana were trappers, missionaries, miners, cattlemen, farmers, and lumbermen. They came primarily from the mid-western states, although refugees from Confederate states came to the early mining camps.
• Some immigrants from Europe came to work in the mines, and others joined mid-westerners in homesteading parts of eastern Montana.
• Between 1910 and 1920 a homestead boom brought thousands of settlers, but years of drought in the 1920s caused many of them to leave the state.
• In 1920 nearly half the Montana population was foreign-born. Most immigrants were from Germany, Canada, Ireland, Norway, England, Sweden, or Austria.
• Many overseas immigrants to Montana came through the port of New York or other East Coast ports.

In-Country Migration

• In the 1860s, many gold seekers took steamboats from Saint Louis to Fort Benton, Montana, where they joined the Mullan Wagon Road leading to the camps.
• Other settlers traveled from the east by way of the Northern Overland Road, or the Bozeman Cutoff and other branches of the Oregon Trail.
• From the west, some took the Mullan Road at its terminus in Walla Walla.
• Others took an older route from Salt Lake City.
• The era of steamboats and trails finally came to an end in the 1880s when transcontinental railroads from Utah and Minnesota reached Montana.
  
• In the 1890s and 1900s, the building of branch railroad lines encouraged new mining and homesteading.

References

• Montana Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Family History Department, 1998, 2001. (NOTE: All of the information from the original research outline has been imported into the FamilySearch Wiki and is being updated as time permits.)