Almost all of us have an immigrant ancestor. Tracing our families from the "old country" to the US can be a difficult task. In order to have the best success with this research, you need to get some basic information first. To start with, be sure you are ready to make that jump across the border. You must have the following information at a barest minimum: the complete name of your ancestor in the US, the complete name of your ancestor in the "old country," the name of the "old country" and the town they were from, the approximate date they arrived in the US, and hopefully some kind of information to determine your ancestor from another person with the same name from the same town.

How do you get this information? If you feel you are ready to research immigration, you most likely know all about your ancestor here in the US. That being the case, you already have their full name. If you have researched census records and your ancestor appears on the 1850 or later census, you have an idea of where they were born. Now comes the hard part. Using city directories, census records, tax records, and anything else you have, determine the earliest date you can locate your ancestor in the US. That is your approximate date of arrival. Now with that information you can search that area for a declaration of intent. A declaration of intent is what a person filed stating that they wish to become a citizen. Locating this document will give you more information about your ancestor's prior residence. It will confirm the country they came from, maybe the town. Other people will be named on this document. Find out who they are and how they relate to your ancestor. If you cannot locate this document, do not worry. Not everyone who immigrated to the US wanted to become a citizen. Many never went through this process. For now, we will assume they did. What to do if they did not will be discussed later in this chapter.

Where do you find immigration records? The best way to find out if your ancestor has any kind citizenship records is to contact Homeland Security, division of immigration. (This used to be called INS) You can visit their website and download the form to request your ancestor's citizenship records, or visa records. The website is http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/NatzRec/CITZDOC.htm. Fill out the form, send it in, and prepare to wait a very long time. They do not move quickly, you may need to call several times to find out the status. Many people who have been put on the "fast track" waited over a year for the information to arrive. The best thing to do is to be persistent.

There are other ways to determine when your ancestor arrived in the US. A look at the census records from 1880 through 1910 will tell you the approximate date they arrived in the US. Then you need to figure where they entered the country. This can be tricky. For example, not everyone who lived in New York City entered the US through the port of NY. Some came in from Canada, and others arrived in Boston or Philadelphia. With an approximate year and a location you can start your quest for an approximate entry place. If you have your ancestor's citizenship papers or visa, they should state where they entered the US and what year. Then you can check the ships list, try Cimorelli's list, and look up all arrivals for that port for that year. When you think you found a hit, get the passenger list microfilm from wither NARA or an LDS family history center. You may need to locate the name on a soundex index first, then order the film that contains the soundex number.

Still at a loss? Try online records and other sites. You can search many online records for passenger lists. The following is a small listing of what is available:

Ancestry.com's immigration records (recommended): http://www.ancestry.com
Ellis Island Records: http://www.ellisislandrecords.com
Castle Gardens: http://www.castelgarden.org
Hamburg Emigration Lists: http://linktoyourroots.hamburg.de/ltyr/index.html
Steven Morse's Passenger lists: http://www.stevemorse.org
Cimorelli's List: http://home.att.net/~arnielang/ship05.html
Ships List: http://www.theshipslist.com/
National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/ and http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/naturalization/naturalization.html
Württemberg Lists (also known as Germans to America) in print, at most major libraries and LDS Family History Centers.

Some of these lists will charge you a fee and others are free. This is not a complete listing of everything available. It would take a very long time to list everything available. This should, however, give you a starting place as to where to locate your ancestors immigration records.

Not everyone wanted to be an American citizen. Some people just wanted a better life. Tracing an immigrant ancestor who did not go through the citizenship process can be difficult. It all depends on the time frame that they lived in the US. Prior to WWI, as far as the government was concerned, being an immigrant was no big deal (unless you were Chinese – we will cover that later). You did not have to register, you did not need a permanent visa or residency certificate or anything like toadies version of a green card. You could live and work as you pleased and for the most part, no one bothered you. There were exceptions to this, but it was on a social level, not political. Starting in the 1850's the Irish potato famine brought thousands of Irish Catholic immigrants to the east coast of the US. The current Irish population in the US was mostly Protestant and middle to upper class. These individuals did not want the poor Irish immigrants coming into the cities and giving the Irish a bad name. There was a lot of discrimination and many "Irish need not apply" signs were seen everywhere. In the 1800's there was a huge influx of Chinese immigrants into the west coast of the US. Escaping political unrest in China, they came to the US to have a better way of life. They did not realize the discrimination that was ahead of them. Many viewed the Chinese as opium addicts and towns and municipalities passed laws that made it difficult for Chinese to own property or operate a business. The US government started immigration quotas for the Chinese. This was the first attempt by the US at closing the borders to immigrant groups. We see this occur several times over in US history. What many people do not realize is that these Chinese immigrants were largely responsible for building the railroads that connected the east to west coasts of the US. It was through their sweat and hard labor that the intercontinental railroad was completed.

If you were not an American citizen and you lived in the US after 1910, you needed to register with the government. Immigration laws had changed radically in 1906, as the US entered into a protectionist phase. By the 1920's American women who were citizens either by birth or naturalization could lose their citizenship by marrying an alien. The same did not hold true for American men. Researching your immigrant ancestor after 1910 will involve looking for entrance visas, checking NARA for possible immigration records, and also requesting from homeland security all information that they have.

Not everyone entering the US came by ship. There are many who immigrated into Canada first. Then they arrived in the US by rail or later on by car. Prior to the railroad, they just came in by horse and or carriage. You could cross into the US in many places from Canada by land. Maine is a good example of one area. So how do you find these ancestors? If they came in by railroad, in the mid to latter part of the 1800's, you can find them on microfilm. There is what is commonly referred to as St. Alban's list. This is a series of microfilms that is located in many NARA locations and LDS locations. You will need to search the soundex indexes first, and then go to the actual records. Anyone who crossed through St. Albans Vermont or other areas close by should be included in this record group. If you cannot find them here, then check the Misc. Ports of Entry microfilm group from NARA. This record group will cover all other ports and border crossings in the US other than the major seaports that are listed separately. You may find your ancestor in this group.

Something else to keep in mind is that your ancestors may have gone back and forth several times to their country of origin. Sometimes they were supporting family on both sides of the ocean and sometimes they went back to bring others into the US. Check more than one year and search within a 10 year time frame. You may be surprised at what you find.

Finally, if you have a ship's name, but not an arrival date, check the New York Times via ProQuest at your local library. The NY Times noted all passenger ship arrivals. See what date they reported the ship arriving and then look for those records in either Castle Garden or Ellis Island. You can also check the microfilms. Sometimes, searching through all of the microfilms is the only way to find your ancestor.

US immigration is an amazing and complicated topic. The waves of immigrants to the US helped build this nation. Finding your immigrant ancestor will be a rewarding experience. You will learn a lot about the US during their lifetime and also about the country they emigrated from. Be sure to read about the social and political climate in your ancestor's country of origin. This will give you many clues as to why they left. It is said that we cannot know where we are going if we do not know where we have been. This is the best reason of all to research your immigrant ancestors.