Georgia Emigration and Immigration
[[United States Genealogy|United State] [[Image:Gotoarrow.pn] [[Georgia Genealogy (state)|Georgi] [[Image:Gotoarrow.pn] [[Georgia_Emigration_and_Immigration|Emigration and Immigratio]
People
Colonial settlers of [[Georgia Genealogy (state)|Georgi] generally came from the Carolinas, from [[Virginia Genealogy|Virgini], 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 Genealogy|Virgini] 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 Genealogy|Franc], Switzerland, and what is now [[Germany Genealogy|German]. 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, Georgia Genealogy|Effingham Count] beginning in 1734.
An important group of 350 Puritans from [[South Carolina Genealogy|South Carolin], 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|Massachusett] 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.
Overland Immigration
Barlow published abstracts of some Virginians migrating to Georgia:
- Barlow, Lundie W. "Some Virginia Settlers of Georgia, 1773-1798," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1958):19-27. Digital version at [http://www.americanancestors.org/Search.aspx?Ca=098&Da=285 American Ancestor ($).
Overseas Immigration
Colonial Period
Scattered records of colonial immigrants survive and have usually been published.
- Austin, Jeannette H. Emigrants from Great Britain to the Georgia Colony. Riverdale, Ga.: J.H. Austin, 1970. FHL film 1597743 Item 2.
- Coulter, E. Merton and Albert Berry Saye. A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1949. At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL book 975.8 W2L
- Davis, Robert Scott. "Scottish and English Immigrants to the Georgia Frontier, 1774-1775," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 70 (1982):190-196. Digital version at National Genealogical Society websit ($); [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/39597 FHL Book 973 B2ng v. 70 (1982).
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.
Colonial Ships
Though they do not include names of passengers, records kept by the Colonial Office and stored at [[England The National Archives|The National Archive] (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:
- Shippings Lists for Georgia, 1752-1767 FHL Film 964005.
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.
1783 to Present
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.
Westward Migrants
Records about many families who passed through Georgia on their way west are included in:
- Bryan, Mary. Passports Issued by Georgia Governors, 1785-1809, and 1810-1820, Two Volumes. (Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1959, 1964; FHL book 975.8 P4b
- Georgia State Department, Passports Issued by Governors of Georgia, 1785-1820 (Atlanta, Georgia : Georgia Dept. of Archives and History,1962) FHL film 361879
Dorothy Williams Potter in Passports of Southeastern Pioneers 1770-1823 (FHL Book 975 W4p) identifies some migrants from Georgia into territories that are now [[Alabama Genealogy|Alabam], [[Florida Genealogy|Florid], [[Louisiana Genealogy|Louisian], [[Mississippi Genealogy|Mississipp], and [[Missouri Genealogy|Missour].
Free native-born Georgians, alive in 1850, who had left the state, resettled as follows:[2]
| State | Persons Born in Georgia | Percentage |
| Alabama | ~60,000 | 50% |
| Mississippi | ~17,000 | 14% |
| Florida | ~11,000 | 9% |
| Texas | 7,639 | 6% |
| Arkansas | 6,367 | 5% |
| Louisiana | 5,917 | 5% |
| Tennessee | 4,863 | 4% |
| Illinois | 1,341 | 1% |
| Missouri | 1,254 | 1% |
| Kentucky | 892 | 1% |
| California | 876 | 1% |
| Indiana | 764 | 1% |
| Total | ~120,000 | 98% |
Websites
References
- ↑ Peter Wilson Coldham, British Emigrants in Bondage; E. Roger Ekirch, Bound for America.
- ↑ These statistics do not account for the large number of Georgians who had migrated and died before the year 1850. See: William O. Lynch, "The Westward Flow of Southern Colonists before 1861," The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Aug. 1943):303-327. Digital version at JSTOR ($).
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