US AND LDS IMMIGRATION
©2018 by Donald R. Snow
This page was last updated 2018-09-08. Return to the Utah Valley
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ABSTRACT: A major problem in ancestor research is finding where the immigrant ancestors came
from in the "old country" and everyone in the United States has immigrant ancestors, unless they are
entirely Native American. Most immigrants to the U.S. after 1800 came through New York City,
through Castle Garden and Ellis Island. Ellis Island was the main gateway for the 50 years from
1892 to 1942 with 17 million immigrants and it is estimated that 40% of U.S. citizens today have at
least one ancestor who came though there. For the LDS Church, with missionary work starting in
the 1830's in England and the rest of Europe, many early converts came to the U.S. as "Zion".
We will discuss these groups, their records, and stories. These notes with active URLs and
additional information in other notes and articles are posted at
http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html .
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
- Instructor is Donald R. Snow ( snowd@math.byu.edu
) of Provo and St. George, Utah.
- The notes with active URLs and
additional information in other notes and articles are posted at
http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
- Tips: (1) To put an icon on your
desktop for these notes, or any webpage, just
drag the icon from in front of the address in
your browser onto your desktop.
(2) To open a link, but keep your place
in these notes, hold down the Control key
while clicking the link.
- The problem for today: Finding
and using United States and Latter-day
Saint immigration records.
IMMIGRATION RECORDS
- Video: "Isle of Hope" by The
Irish Tenors about Ellis Island
- Definitions: emigration = out;
immigration = in; migration = both in, out,
and travel within; but all are sometimes used
interchangeably
- Reasons to do immigration research --
organize, verify, extend, and complete your
home database and in FamilySearch; may show
additional family members, friends, origins,
destinations, and fill in gaps and tell stories about your ancestors; returning LDS
missionaries are often in immigration databases, even though they are not
immigrants
- To get a list of most of your immigrant ancestors search your database for born outside the U.S., but died in the U.S.; requires your home database to have birth
and death place data, even if only
assumptions; this leaves out immigrants who died while outside the U.S., e.g. on trips back home
- US Censuses from 1900 through 1930 included year of immigration; 1940 Census
only asked whether born in US
IMPORTANT DATABASES
- Article and links to New York immigration lists 1820-1957, online and free -- https://www.lds.org/church/news/entire-ellis-island-immigrant-records-now-available-online?lang=eng&cid=email-IN_090418_English_news2
- Castle Garden, New York 1820-1892 -- https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1849782?collectionNameFilter=false and http://www.castlegarden.org/ and (Castle Clinton) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Clinton
- Ellis Island, New York 1892-1924 -- https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1368704?collectionNameFilter=false and http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_Island
-- 90% of US immigrants before about 1950
came through Ellis Island and about 40% of
US have at least one immigrant ancestor
coming through there
- New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, and 1925-1957 -- https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1923888?collectionNameFilter=false
- Steve Morse's One-Step search engines for Ellis Island, Castle Garden, and many other
US ports -- http://www.stevemorse.org
- Ancestry's Immigration Index and Collection (ommercial website) -- http://ancestry.com
- New York Passenger Lists 1820-1910
- Filby's Immigration Index 1500s-1900s --
references from published sources of
immigrants
- Mormon Migration website (crossing the
oceans) 1841-1900 --
http://lib.byu.edu/mormonmigration/
- LDS companies of converts immigratingto America -- includes names, companies,
ships, dates of immigration, plus quotes from documents and journals of fellow
passengers
- Extends the old Mormon Immigration Index CD from LDS Church Distribution Centers
to about 1924; constantly being updated
- Search brings back passenger name as well as quotations from documents and
journals mentioning him or her
- BYU Immigrant Ancestors Project -- http://immigrants.byu.edu/
-- BYU project to find emigrants by using European exit records, not US
entry records; usually gives more data
- LDS immigrants from Germany and Switzerland listed in book -
Entries of Genealogical Research Value Published In Der Stern 1869-1901
-- FamilySearch > Search > Books -- can download the searchable pdf
- Mormon Pioneer Overland Travels (Crossing
the Plains) 1847-1868 -- https://history.lds.org/overlandtravels/
- Information at https://history.lds.org/article/mormon-pioneer-overland-travels-how-to-use?lang=eng
and https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Mormon_Pioneer_Overland_Travel_from_1847_to_1868
- 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 that time
- Some journals now available on the
Church History Library website --
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 -- go
to the Church History Website and search
for Erastus Snow's journals > View
Register > 1847 Apr-Dec > 21 Jul
> Image 92
- Melvin L. Bashore of Church
Historian's Office is also compiling
"Crossing the Plains Index Database" --
info at
https://user.xmission.com/~nelsonb/pioneer.htm
http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/resources.htm
- Journal History of the Church -- Church
History Library > Research
Center > Digital and Web Resources
> Journal
History of the Church
- Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and
Letters, 1846-1869 -- journals and letters
in BYU Library -- http://overlandtrails.lib.byu.edu/
- Passport
Applications 1795-1925 -- collection
on FamilySearch; many immigrants and others
went back to visit relatives; includes missionaries
- Early LDS database 1830-1900 -- http://earlylds.com/
-- Don and Diane Snow's assignment in Nauvoo
Mission -- many LDS immigration examples
ADDITIONAL IMMIGRATION INFORMATION
- Instructions and helps about immigration
research
- FamilySearch Wiki -- https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Genealogy
> Emigration and Immigration; https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Immigration_(arriving_U.S.)
- Tracing Immigrant Origins -- https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Tracing_Immigrant_Origins
and https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/LDS_Emigration_and_Immigration
- Tracing LDS Ancestors -- https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Tracing_LDS_Ancestors
> Emigration and Immigration
- LDS Emigration and Immigration -- https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/LDS_Emigration_and_Immigration
- U.S. Naturalization and Citizenship -- https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Naturalization_and_Citizenship
- Free courses on US immigration and
citizenship -- https://familysearch.org/
> Get Help > Learning
Center > Unites States
> Migration and Citizenship --
several courses available
- The
Family History Guide -- http://www.thefhguide.com/project-4-united-states.html#goal-d1
-- helpful resources and information
- Scholarly articles online at BYU Library
website -- https://mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu/explore
- Books online -- Latter-day
Saint Church Emigration
and Church
Chronology by Andrew Jenson,
Church Historian
- Immigrant's name may be in original language -- see ForeignVersionsOfEnglishNames-USDeptOfJusticeImmigrationAndNauturalization-1973--IE4499792 on FamilySearch Books
- Nauvoo
Databank -- available in a few FHC's
-- lots of information and stories about LDS
- Maps of the Mormon Trek Westward -- http://lds.org/gospellibrary/pioneer/pioneerstory.htm
- 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
http://mormonhistoricsites.org/
> Publications > Mormon Historical
Studies and go to Vol. 1, No. 2,
Fall, 2000, pages 141-242 -- http://mormonhistoricsites.org/mormon-historical-studies-fall-2000-vol-1-no-2/
- Mormon immigration info, passenger lists,
ships, etc. -- http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/pioneer.htm
and http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/pioneer_search3.htm
- Tracing Mormon Pioneers -- http://www.findyourroots.biz/mormon/mormon%20pioneers.htm
- Article on finding US immigration records -- Allen County Public Library Genealogy Gems Newsletter , Feb 2018
CONCLUSION
- Lots of good data and stories in these
websites for family nights, talks, family
reunions, and research clues
- Save the URL's, screenshots, and images
and include them in your home database and
FamilySearch Family Tree.
Return to the Utah
Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page
or Don's
Class Listings Page .