Georgia Emigration and Immigration

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Online Resources[edit | edit source]


People[edit | edit source]

Colonial settlers of Georgia generally came from the Carolinas, from Virginia, or directly from England and Scotland. The first large group of immigrants came from the British Isles to the Savannah area with James Oglethorpe in 1733. Though it was designed to be a penal colony, most English convicts were transported to Virginia and Maryland, rather than Georgia.[1]

The total non-native population of Georgia in 1752 has been estimated at 5,000. Small groups of Protestants from France, Switzerland, and what is now Germany. Religious groups included Moravians. The most important of these groups were the 1,500 Salzburgers who had settled at Ebenezer in present-day Effingham County beginning in 1734.

An important group of 350 Puritans from South Carolina, accompanied by 1,500 blacks, arrived in Georgia beginning in 1752. They first settled in the Midway District. Their ancestors had previously settled the towns of Dorchester in both Massachusetts and South Carolina. In 1758 these Puritans established the seacoast town of Sunbury.

Between 1802 and 1820 thousands of Americans moved to Georgia seeking free or inexpensive land. The Creek and Cherokee Indians were removed from the state before 1840.

Colonial Period[edit | edit source]

Scattered records of colonial immigrants survive and have usually been published.

Records of ethnic groups including Indians, Quakers, and Salzburgers are listed in the place search of the FamilySearch Catalog under the subject heading GEORGIA - MINORITIES. ==

Though they do not include names of passengers, records kept by the Colonial Office and stored at The National Archives (Kew, England), document ships' arrivals and departures from Georgia ports between 1752 and 1767. FamilySearch microfilmed these records. They are useful for learning about the history of ships entering the colony:

Dr. Marianne S. Wokeck created a detailed list of "German Immigrant Voyages, 1683-1775" to Colonial America. Destinations include Georgia (1730s-1750s). She published the list in an Appendix to:

  • Wokeck, Marianne S. Trade in Strangers: The Beginnings of Mass Migration to North America. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999. FHL Book 970 W2w.

British Naval Office Shipping Lists, 1678-1825, have been digitized by British Online Archives (site requires subscription). Names of passengers are not included.

1783 to Present[edit | edit source]

The Family History Library at www.familysearch.org and the National Archives at have passenger lists for Savannah for portions of the years 1820 to 1826, 1831, 1847 to 1851, and 1866 to 1867 FHL film 830246.

Lists of arrivals in Georgia and other southern ports beginning in 1890 are also available at the National Archives. The Family History Library has an index to these lists for 1890 to 1924 FHL films 1324938–63. These are in the Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, 1890-1924 listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION - INDEXES.

The library also has Savannah lists for 1906 to 1945 FHL films 1375955 and 1414793–95.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Peter Wilson Coldham, British Emigrants in Bondage; E. Roger Ekirch, Bound for America.


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