US AND LDS IMMIGRATION

©2012 by Donald R. Snow

This page was last updated 2012-07-17 for class on 2012-07-18.
Return to the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's Class Listings Page .
    WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

  1. These classes are free and usually on 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 1-2:30 PM in Provo.  See the schedule in the E9 Ward Bulletin and on the website http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html where the notes are stored.  You can set an icon on your desktop to go to the schedule and notes page directly.  Each class is independent, so attend when you can.  Instructors are Donald R. and Diane M. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu , dmsnow34@gmail.com .
  2. Tip: hold down the Control Key while clicking on a link to open the link in a new window so you don't lose your place where you were.
  3. Don and Diane's classes coming up
    1. Wed 2012-08-01, 1-2:30 PM -- Digitizing and Transcribing Audio Files -- at Family History Update Class, Provo
    2. Thu 2012-08-02, 11 am-noon -- Your Personal Genealogy Library: Family History Books Online -- at BYU 2012 Conference on Family History and Genealogy, 31 Jul - 3 Aug 2012, Provo, Utah
    3. Fri 2012-08-03, 11 am-noon -- The Best Things in Life are Free: Freeware for Family History -- at BYU 2012 Conference on Family History and Genealogy, 31 Jul - 3 Aug 2012, Provo, Utah
    4. Wed 2012-08-15, 1-2 :30 PM -- Freeware for Family History -- at Family History Update Class, Provo
    5. Wed 2012-09-05, 1-2 :30 PM -- Picasa and Photo FilmStrip to Organize and Present Your Photos -- at Family History Update Class, Provo
    6. Sat 2012-09-15, 10 am-noon -- What to do with a Letter Collection Using Erastus Snow's Family Letters as an Illustration -- at Riverton FamilySearch Library, Riverton, Utah
    7. Wed 2012-09-19, 1-2:30 PM -- Genealogy a la Google -- at Family History Update Class, Provo
  4. FamilySearch Family Tree interface for your nFS data
    1. Use your LDS account and sign up (just need to do this once) at https://familysearch.org/invite/familytree_tab -- Then when you sign in on https://www.familysearch.org  (upper right hand corner) with your LDS account you see a new tab called "Family Tree" which takes you to the new interface to nFS 
    2. Helpful 9-Generation Pedigree Fan Chart of your nFS data -- http://www.createfan.com/ -- use your LDS Account to log in -- Can generate a 9-generation chart for anyone in nFS by going to http://www.treeseek.com , log in with your LDS account, and enter their PID (their nFS Personal Identifier number) in the box
    3. New BYU 20-Minute Genealogist -- https://twenty.byu.edu/ -- Log in with your LDS Account and see a chart of your FS FT data with whose data and ordinances are complete and whose aren't
  5. 1940 US Census was released recently (2 Apr 2012) and anyone 72 or older and in the US in 1940 should be in it.  It's already more than half indexed on FamilySearch; images are posted several places including  http://1940census.archives.gov/ -- To find people without the index, since they might be indexed wrong (as DRS is), you can first find the Enumeration District at  http://www.stevemorse.org .  Everyone can help index the 1940 US Census by signing up at  http://the1940census.com/?cid=fsHomeT1940Plt .
  6. Today's FH Update Class is on US and LDS immigration to help you verify, fill out families, and find stories of your ancestors

  7. INTRODUCTION TO IMMIGRATION RECORDS

  8. Definitions:  emigration = out; immigration = in; migration = both in, out, and travel within; but all are sometimes used interchangeably
  9. Immigration info helps organize, verify, extend, and complete your home database and in nFS
  10. May show family members traveling together, additional family members, friends, origins, destinations; also returning LDS missionaries, so you may find ancestors in immigration databases even though not immigrants
  11. Most immigrant ancestors are those born outside the US, but died in the US -- can search your home database for these to get a partial list of your immigrant ancestors 
  12. US censuses 1900 through 1930 included year of immigration; 1940 only asked whether born in US

  13.   IMPORTANT IMMIGRATION DATABASES AND INFORMATION

  14. PowerPoints of immigration records
    1. "Isle of Hope" sung by the Irish Tenors
    2. Examples from databases
  15. Ellis Island New York 1892-1924 -- http://www.ellisisland.org/ -- 90% of US immigrants before about 1950 came through Ellis Island and about 40% of US have at least one immigrant ancestor coming through Ellis Island
  16. Castle Garden New York 1820-1892 -- http://www.castlegarden.org/
  17. Ancestry's Immigration Index and Collection -- http://ancestry.com -- available at FHC's
    1. New York Passenger Lists 1820-1910
    2. US Passport Applications
    3. Filby's Immigration Index 1500s-1900s -- references from published sources to immigrants
  18. Mormon Migration website (crossing the oceans) 1841-1900 -- http://lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/
    1. LDS companies of converts immigrating to America -- includes names, companies, ships, dates of immigration, plus quotes from documents and journals of fellow passengers
    2. Includes data from and supersedes the old Mormon Immigration Index CD from LDS Church Distribution Centers; ; constantly being updated
    3. Search brings back passenger name as well as quotations from documents and journals mentioning him
  19. Mormon Pioneer Overland Travels (Crossing the Plains) 1847-1868 -- http://lds.org > Menu - The Church, History > Mormon Pioneers
    1. Information at http://www.lds.org/ch/pdf/CH_Overland_Database_Brochure.pdf and from FamilySearch Wiki (Learn) at Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel From 1847 to 1868
    2. LDS companies crossing the plains -- includes names, companies, ships, dates of immigration, plus quotes from documents and journals of fellow passengers; constantly being updated -- Parentheses after names in search results are ages at the time
    3. Some journals now available on http://www.lds.org from Church History Library -- released on DVD's in Selected Collections several years ago, but now posted online -- Example:  Erastus Snow's account of entering the Salt Lake Valley with Orson Pratt on 21 Jul 1847 ahead of Brigham Young's Company -- see Erastus Snow's Journals > 1847 Apr-Dec > 27 Jun 1847-2 Aug 1847 > Image 92
    4. Melvin L. Bashore of Church Historian's Office is also compiling "Crossing the Plains Index Database" -- info at http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/resources.htm
  20. BYU Immigrant Ancestors Project -- http://immigrants.byu.edu/ -- finding emigrants leaving Europe using Euroean records, not US entry records
  21. Early LDS database 1830-1900 -- http://earlylds.com/ -- was one of Don and Diane Snow's assignments in Nauvoo Mission -- many LDS immigration examples

  22. ADDITIONAL IMMIGRATION INFORMATION

  23. LDS and Utah immigration from FamilySearch Wiki (Learn) -- LDS Emigration and Immigration -- also free courses on US immigration and citizenship -- https://familysearch.org/ > Learn > Research Courses > Migration and Citizenship > Unites States 
  24. Books online -- Latter-day Saint Church Emigration and Church Chronology by Andrew Jenson, Church Historian
  25. Nauvoo Databank -- available in a few FHC's -- lots of information and stories about LDS
  26. Maps of the Mormon Trek Westward -- http://lds.org/gospellibrary/pioneer/pioneerstory.htm
  27. Tracing Mormon Pioneers web page -- http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/pioneer.htm
  28. Perpetual Emigrating Fund (sometimes incorrectly called Perpetual Emigration Fund) -- information from FamilySearch Wiki and from FSC Names of Persons and Sureties Indebted to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company from 1850 to 1877 Inclusive (FHL film #25686) -- pdf copy at Mormon Historical Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 2000, 141-242
  29. Mormon immigration info, passenger lists, ships, etc. -- http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/pioneer_search3.htm
  30. Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters, 1846-1869 -- journals and letters in BYU Library -- http://overlandtrails.lib.byu.edu/
  31. Steve Morse's One-Step search engines for Ellis Island, Castle Garden, and many other US ports -- http://www.stevemorse.org
  32. See additional immigration links in Don's notes TRACING YOUR US IMMIGRANT RELATIVE at http://uvtagg.org/ > Class Outlines > Don's Listings or directly at http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-tracing.html 

    CONCLUSION

  33. Lots of good data and stories in these websites for family nights, talks, and family reunions and clues to where your ancestors came from in the old country
  34. Do screenshots and save images of what you find so you will have the references and stories; can enter these into your home database and into FS FT

  35. Return to the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's Class Listings Page .