Virginia Emigration and Immigration

Portal:United States Emigration and Immigration >Virginia

The original European settlers came in the early 17th century from the midland and southern counties of England. They first settled in Virginia's tidewater (coastal plain). Although the first blacks arrived in 1619, large numbers of blacks were imported beginning about 1680. Small landholders moved westward to the Piedmont, where they were joined by a new wave of English and Scottish immigrants.

In the early 1700s, French Huguenots arrived, followed by German workers imported between 1714 and 1717 to work iron furnaces in the Piedmont area. During the 1730s and 1740s, a large number of settlers of Ulster Scot and German descent moved southward from Pennsylvania down the Allegheny Ridges into the Shenandoah Valley.

Beginning in the late 18th century, Virginia lost many residents as families moved westward to new states and territories. There was very little foreign immigration to Virginia after 1800.

Records

Most surviving lists of colonial Virginia immigrants have been published in various sources. Almost all names of colonial immigrants listed in published sources are indexed in P. William Filby, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, described in Tracing Immigrants Arrival Emigration and Immigration. This lists several other important sources for finding information about immigrants. These nationwide sources include many references to people who settled in Virginia. Tracing Immigrant Origins introduces the principles, search strategies, and additional record types you can use to identify an immigrant ancestor's original hometown.

The Biographical Dictionary of Early Virginia, 1607- 1660 lists many immigrants. See the “Biography” section of this outline.

A comprehensive list of about 140,000 immigrants to America from Britain is:

• Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1776, and Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775. Novato, California: Brøderbund Software, 1996. (Family History Library compact disc no. 9 pt. 350[does not circulate to Family History Centers].) Includes numerous Virginia immigrants. May show British hometown, emigration date, ship, destination, and text of the document abstract.

The major port in Virginia was Norfolk, but many settlers arrived at Baltimore, Philadelphia, or other ports and then migrated to Virginia.

The Family History Library and the National Archives have many of the post-1820 passenger lists and indexes for Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other major ports. These are listed in the Family History Library Catalog Locality Search under [STATE], [COUNTY], [CITY] - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION.

The Family History Library and the National Archives also have incomplete passenger lists for the following ports.

• Alexandria, 1820-1865 FHL 830231
• East River, 1830 FHL 830232
• Hampton, 1820-1821 FHL 830234
• Norfolk and Portsmouth, 1820-1857 FHL 830236
• Petersburg, 1820-1821 FHL 830238
• Richmond, 1820-1844 FHL 830246  

The above lists are included in Copies of Lists of Passengers Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts . . . (in the Family History Library Catalog Locality Search under UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION; FHL 830231-FHL 830246. These lists are indexed in Supplemental Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports . . . (in the Family History Library Catalog Locality Search under UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION - INDEXES; FHL 418161-FHL 418348

Records of ethnic groups, including Huguenots, Mennonites, Scots, Germans, and blacks, are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under the subject heading VIRGINIA - MINORITIES. The following contains abstracts and indexes to wills, mentioning about 5,000 immigrants to Virginia:

• Nugent, Nell M. Early Settlers of Virginia. Baltimore:  Genealogical Publishing Company 1969 (lists pre-1616 settlers)
• O'Brien, Michael J. Irish In America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company 1965. FHL 973 F2oi
• Withington, Lathrop. Virginia Gleanings in England: Abstracts of 17th and 18th-Century English Wills and Administrations Relating to Virginia and Virginians. FHL 975.5 P28w 

Westward Migrants

• Robertson, Clara Hamlett. Kansas Territorial Settlers of 1860 Who were Born in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina: A Compilation with Historical Annotations and Editorial Comment. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976. FHL 978.1 H2ro; digital version at World Vital Records ($).

Bibliography

• Fothergill, Gerald. A List of Emigrant Ministers to America, 1690-1811. London: E. Stock, 1904. Digital versions at Ancestry ($); Google Books; Internet Archive, 1965 reprint: FHL 973 W2f 1965
• Greer, George Cabell. Early Virginia Immigrants 1623-1666. Richmond, Virginia: W.C. Hill Printing Co., 1912. Digital book at Google Books (full-view).
• Stanard, W.G. Some Emigrants to Virginia: Memoranda in Regard to Several Hundred Emigrants to Virginia During the Colonial Period Whose Parentage is Shown or Former Residence Indicated by Authentic Records. Richmond, Virginia: Wm. Ellis Jones' Sons, Inc., Printers, 1911. Digital book at Google Books (full-view).

Web Sites

• http://www.alexandria.lib.va.us/lhsc_genealogy_resources/citizen/citizen.html
• Immigrant Servants Database 20,000+ colonial immigrants, primary focus: Chesapeake Bay colonies (Virginia and Maryland)
• Virtual Jamestown Indentured servant registers from colonial period, which identify English indentured servants shipped to America

References

Virginia Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Family History Department, 1998, 2001.