Switzerland Emigration and Immigration
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Online Resources
- 1348-1798 Switzerland, Basel City, Local Citizenship Requests, 1348-1798 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
- 1837-1857 Registres des passeports à l'étranger, 1837-1857 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
- 1904-1914 Germany, Bremen Passenger Departure Lists, 1904-1914 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Switzerland
- Switzerland, Schaffhausen Genealogies and City Directories - FamilySearch Historical Records
The percentage of emigrants who left Switzerland without permission and paying the obligatory “moving-away tax” was fairly high, so there may be no record of their departure. Passports were not registered until the mid-19th Century. Some passport indexes for Canton Bern have been published by Picton Press on CD-Rom. The FamilySearch Catalog can be checked for additional resources using “[canton] – emigration/immigration”. If the canton of origin of a pre-1848 emigrant is known, one can contact the appropriate State Archive for further information. To obtain information concerning emigrants who left after 1848, the Schweizer Bundesregierung, Bundeshaus, CH-3000 Bern, Switzerland, can be contacted.
Resources:
- http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/CH/emigra-m.htm - lists emigration sources by canton.
Emigration Records and Passports
(Abschiedsbücher und Reisepäße
Rôles de citoyens absents du pays, demandes des passeports)
Research use: Very valuable for making proper connections to place of origin and residence in Switzerland. Many researchers do not know their ancestor's birth place.
Record type: Lists of citizens absent from the canton with names, towns of origin and sometimes current place of residence, lists of passports issued.
Time Period: 1300-present.
Content: Emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, birth dates and places, residences, destination; wife’s and children’s given names and ages or number of children; reasons for emigration; taxes paid; occupation, religion, military service, etc.
Location: State and city archives.
Population coverage: 5-10%.
Reliability: Very good.[1]
Limited Bibliography of Emigration Sources
- Emigrants, Refugees, and Prisoners: an Aid to Mennonite Family Research Item 15 on film. Vol. 1 contains chronological lists of Swiss Mennonite refugees from Cantons of Berne, Zürich and Aargau who came to the Netherlands, German Palatine and Holstein regions between 1648 and 1711; passenger lists of Mennonite emigrants to Pennsylvania colony between 1709-1776; and genealogies of Swiss Mennonite families covering the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries.
Steinemann, Ernst, ed. “A List of Eighteenth-Century Emigrants from the Canton of Schaffhausen to the American Colonies, 1734-1752.” Pennsylvania German Folklore Society 16 (1951): 185-96. (FHL US/CAN 974.8 C4fg V.16, p. 185-196)
Swiss Immigration Entries of Genealogical Value from Der Stern, 1869-1901. (FHL INTL 949.4 B2ds).
German Speaking Emigrants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
German Speaking Emigrants from Switzerland, Austria and Germany from 1869-85 coming through Liverpool were recorded in "Der Stern" . The call number is 940 B2ds
Departure dates and ship names are listed below:
25 Aug. 1869 Ship SS Minnesota
13 Jul. 1870 Ship SS Manhatten
21 Jun 1871 Ship SS Wyoming
6 Sep. 1871 Ship SS Nevada
12 Jun 1872 Ship SS Manhatten
10 Jul 1873 Ship SS Nevada
10 June 1874 Ship SS Nevada
8 July 1874 Ship: SS Minnesota
2 Sep. 1874 Ship SS Wyoming
16 June 1875 (Ship unknown)
29 June 1876 Ship SS Idaho
27 June 1877 Ship SS Wisconsin
15 June 1878 Ship SS Montana
15 Sep 1878 Ship SS Wyoming
24 May 1879 (Unknown ship)
4 Sep. 1880 Ship SS Nevada
21 May 1881 Ship SS Wyoming
3 Sep 1881 Ship SS Wyoming
17 May 1882 Ship SS Nevada
2 Sep 1882 Ship SS Wyoming
16 May 1883 Ship SS Nevada
30 Aug 1884 Ship SS Wyoming
In the years 1888 to 1900 the following information is listed:
1. Names of the families in alphabetical order
2. Places of origin in Germany and Switzerland
3. Places of destination and residents in the United States.
References
- ↑ The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Switzerland,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1984-1998.