New Jersey Emigration and Immigration

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Emigration and Immigration

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Online Resources

• 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s at Ancestry; index only ($); Also at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of New Jersey
• 1795-1925 U.S. Passport Applications for New Jersey, 1795-1925 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
• 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of New Jersey
• 1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of New Jersey
• 1956-1964 New Jersey, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1956-1964 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
• Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild at MyHeritage; index only ($)
• Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of New Jersey
• Italians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of New Jersey
• Russians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of New Jersey

Background

Dutch. The Dutch of New Netherland intermittently occupied Fort Nassau (now Brooklawn, Camden, New Jersey) starting in 1623. The northeastern part of New Jersey was the first to be permanently settled because of its close proximity to New Amsterdam (New York City). Bergen (now Jersey City), on the west bank of the Hudson River, was the first permanent Dutch settlement starting in 1630.

Swedes and Finns. The first Swedish and Finnish settlers came to the site of modern Wilmington, Delaware, on the Delaware River in 1638. The growth of New Sweden was slow. Raccoon (now Swedesboro, Gloucester, New Jersey) and New Stockholm (now Bridgeport, Gloucester, New Jersey) were not settled until 1642.

Scots. The proprietors of East Jersey actively solicited Scottish settlers. From the 1680s to 1750, many Presbyterian Lowlanders from eastern Scotland came to East Jersey, particularly to the present counties of Monmouth, Middlesex, Somerset, and Mercer. Hundreds left Scotland between 1683 and 1685 to settle New Perth at Amboy Point (now Perth Amboy), Plainfield, Freehold, and wilderness areas of the Watchung Mountains.

A second Lowlands migration, to Monmouth County, began in 1715 and continued through the 1720s, with settlers coming primarily to Middlesex, Essex, Somerset, Hunterdon, and northern Burlington counties. A third migration in about 1750 affected mostly Morris, Hunterdon, Sussex, and Salem counties.

Ulster Scots. Immigrants from Ulster started coming in 1710, but most arrived after 1725. Most entered at Philadelphia and settled in East Jersey, following much the same pattern of settlement as the first Scottish immigrants.

French Huguenots. Between 1677 and the early 1700s, Dutch-speaking French Huguenots from Harlem and Staten Island, New York, settled at Schraalenburgh (now Bergenfield) in the Hackensack Valley of Bergen County. Other Huguenots settled in Monmouth County.

Germans. The first German Palatines to settle in Bergen County arrived in New York in 1710. Between 1714 and 1750, German Lutherans followed the Raritan River through Monmouth and Somerset counties into northeastern Hunterdon County. A few of the Germans who later arrived at Philadelphia in the 1720s and 1730s crossed over to New Jersey. Those that did went to southern Hunterdon, Morris, and Sussex counties.

Nineteenth Century Immigration

Beginning in the 1840s, immigration to New Jersey increased dramatically. About 80 percent of these new arrivals were from Germany and the British Isles. They supplied the needed manpower for the state's growing industries. Paterson was the major industrial center by 1850. The Irish were the largest foreign-born group in the two decades before the Civil War. The Germans were the largest group from 1870 to 1900. The English, Scots, and Welsh also came in significant numbers until about 1890.

Twentieth Century Immigration

Blacks are now the largest minority group in New Jersey. They were first brought into New Jersey during colonial times by the Dutch. The black population of New Jersey was proportionally larger than that of any other northern state. Many southern blacks, who first came as migratory workers between 1870 and 1910, stayed to work in the cities, causing the black population to nearly triple. Migration to the cities continued between the two world wars. The surge which came during and following the second world war did not abate until the 1960s.

After the turn of the century, immigration to New Jersey was predominantly from central and southeastern Europe, particularly Italy. New Jersey also attracted large numbers of Poles, Russian Jews, Greeks, Czechs (Bohemians), Finns, Armenians, Hungarians, Latvians, and Lithuanians. Beginning in the 1950s, Cubans and Puerto Ricans have come to the large cities. Hispanics have comprised New Jersey's largest immigrant group since World War II.