What’s New in I&N Research:

What’s New in I&N Research:

Update on INS Efforts to Serve Genealogists

Marian L. Smith

Historian, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service

202-514-2837 / INS.History@usdoj.gov

Introduction
Looking at agency records through new eyes

Rethinking INS naturalization records

Uncovering obscure visa files

Registry files fill in old gaps

Naturalization petition files—planning a comeback

Creating finding aids to facilitate research

Is there a passenger list on microfilm or not?

Digitization of INS’ huge Master Index

Planning a new genealogy services program

Changing the way INS does genealogical business

Index searches vs. record copies

Conclusion / Q&A

Finding Immigration Records

Before 1893:
to narrow down the immigrant’s date of arrival using census records, vital records, voting records, church records, land records, naturalization records, and any other records available.
2. Try to determine the most likely port of entry by a) seeing what major port was closest to their destination, and/or b) reading about migration from his homeland and to his residence to learn the most common route of similar immigrants.

3. Search all available indices to passenger lists at all U.S. ports of entry. If searching for an arrival at New York between 1846 and 1897, search all published indices such as Filby’s, Filby and Glazier, and others (search Germans to America even if your immigrant was not German).

4. If you have narrowed the date to one year or less, identify the ships and shipping lines that might have brought your immigrant to America (when searching Swedes, for example, concentrate on ships from Scandinavia, England, and Northern Europe and ignore ships from Italy, Greece, etc.).

5. Finally, with a date of one year or less, and knowledge of what ships carried immigrants to and from the points in question, sit down and search the microfilmed passenger lists for likely ships. When you see a likely ship, search the names. Pay careful attention to ages, occupations, hometowns (when available), and destinations (when available), because the names are notoriously in error. Bring a lunch, because it could take a long time.
After 1892:

1. Follow the same steps as above.

2. If the immigrant arrived after June 29, 1906, request a search for naturalization records from INS. The Petition for Naturalization will indicate the port, date, and ship.

3. If the immigrant arrived after July 1, 1924, request a search for visa records from the INS. That record will contain all the information found on a passenger list, and more.

**In all cases, if the immigrant lived until 1941 but never naturalized, request a search for Alien Registration Records from the INS. That form will indicate the immigrant’s recollection of his/her port, date, and ship of arrival.

Send INS Freedom of Information Act requests on Form G-639 to:

INS FOIA/PA

2^nd Floor ULLB

425 I Street NW

Washington, DC 20536

Finding Naturalization Records

Before 1906:

1. Determine where the immigrant might have naturalized. He needed 5 years’ residence in the United States and 1 years’ residence in the State. Also, he had to naturalize in a court having jurisdiction over his residence (unless he was petitioning under veteran’s provisions).

2. Check the 1910 and 1920 Federal census records (if applicable) to see whether your immigrant reported himself as naturalized, and if so, whether he gave the year of naturalization.

3. Find out about the records of the court(s) where he might have naturalized. Contact the county genealogical society (or their web page), and ask what records exist, for what years, whether they are indexed, where they are stored, and how to request a search. If checking for a Federal court, contact the U.S. Regional Archives holding records for that state.
After 1906:

1. Follow the same steps as above, OR

2. Request the records from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) via a Freedom of Information Act Request. Use form G-639 (downloadable from the INS website at www.ins.usdoj.gov). Identify the immigrant by at least full name (including aliases and alternate spellings), date of birth (at least a year), and place of birth (at least a country). Mail it to:

INS FOIA/PA

2nd Floor ULLB

425 I Street NW

Washington, DC 20536

Remember:

Prior to September 22, 1922, wives and minor children became citizens when the husband/father naturalized, and prior to September 27, 1906, they do not usually appear on a man’s naturalization records.

Some courts considered "minor children" to be those under age 21, other courts considered age 18 to be the age of majority.

The naturalization of women prior to September 22, 1922, was unusual, and between 1907 and 1922 the naturalization of married women was prohibited.

Not everyone who filed a declaration of intention to naturalize actually completed the process. Many immigrants who declared their intention in the 19^th century mistakenly thought the declaration alone made them a citizen (and so reported themselves as citizens in the census, etc.).

Immigration and Naturalization Records – For Further Research

In addition to the National Archives’ Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives, and various guides produced by each Regional Archives or the LDS Family History Library, the following may be of interest:
Books:

Locating Your Immigrant Ancestor, revised ed., by James C. and Lila Lee Neagles. Logan, UT: Everton Publishers, Inc., 1986.
American Passenger Arrival Records, by Michael Tepper. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993.
They Came in Ships: A guide to finding your immigrant ancestor’s arrival record, revised ed., by John Phillip Colletta. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, 1993.
American Naturalization Processes and Procedures, 1790-1985, by John J. Newman. Family History Section, Indiana Historical Society, 1985.
They Became Americans: Finding naturalization records and ethnic origins, by Loretto Dennis Szucs. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, 1998.
Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States, by Christina K. Schaefer. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997.
Indexes and Reference (incomplete list):

Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby (Editors), Italians to America : Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports, 1880-1899 : Passengers Arriving at New York July 1896-June 1897.

P. William Filby (Editor), Passenger and Immigration Lists Bibliography, 1538-1900 : Being a Guide to Published Lists of Arrivals in the United States and Canada.

Ira A. Glazier (Editor), Migration from the Russian Empire Lists of Passengers Arriving at the Port of New York

Filby, P. William & Mary K. Meyer. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1980+.

Glazier, Ira A., ed. The Famine Immigrants 1846-1851. Seven volumes. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983-1986.

Glazier, Ira A., ed. Germans to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at US Ports, Jan 1850 - 1883. Wilmington, DE, Scholarly Resources, 1990.

Peter Wilson Coldham, Complete Book of Emigrants, 1751-1776 (and other titles by Coldham).
Morton-Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals at the Port of New York, 1890-1930, and at the Ports of Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia, 1904-1926. New York, NY: Immigration Information Bureau, 1931 (and later editions).
Articles:

"St. Albans Passenger Arrival Records," by Constance Potter. Prologue (Spring 1990) pp. 90-93.

"By Way of Canada: U.S. Records of Immigration across the US-Canadian Border, 1895-1954" (St. Albans Lists), by Marian L. Smith. AVOTAYNU, vol. 15, no. 3 (Fall 1999).

"The Creation and Destruction of Ellis Island Immigration Manifests," by Marian L. Smith. Part 1, Prologue, vol. 28, no. 3 (Fall 1996) pp. 240-45; Part 2, Prologue, vol. 28, no. 4 (Winter 1996) pp. 314-18.

"Interpreting U.S. Immigration Manifest Annotations," by Marian L. Smith. AVOTAYNU, vol. 12, no. 1 (Spring 1996) pp. 10-13.

"Certificates of Arrival and the Accuracy of Arrival Information found in U.S. Naturalization Records," by Marian L. Smith. FGS Forum, vol. 10, no. 3 (Fall 1998), pp. 1, 10-13.

"Any Woman who is now or may hereafter be married . . .: Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802-1940," by Marian L. Smith. Prologue (Summer 1998). Available online at www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/natural1.html.

Other helps (available from INS by calling 202-514-2837):

INS Records & Genealogy Resource Guide (M-360). Contains INS Form G-639 and instructions for filing Freedom of Information Act requests.
Foreign Versions, Variations, and Diminutives of English Names (M-131). Provides the various spellings/versions of common and uncommon names in twenty-four different languages.

IMMIGRANT ARRIVAL RECORDS - INTERNET RESOURCES

There is no place on the internet containing all immigration records, nor is there any site containing a searchable index to all immigration records. This is a dream we all share, but one not yet realized. There are some good, general sites containing reliable information about ship passenger lists and research techniques. The best of these are from the National Archives:

NARA’s Immigration Records Page:

http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/immigration/immigrat.html

NARA’s On-line Catalog of passenger arrival records on microfilm:

http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/immigrant/immpass.html

Information is also available from the Immigration and Naturalization Service at:

http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/aboutins/history/immrecs/immrec.htm

To learn more about passenger lists and passenger list research, and to obtain customized help from knowledgeable researchers, one should consider joining an email mailing list. Among the most popular and extensive is: TheShipsList Mailing List and Web Site - For anyone interested in the ships our ancestors migrated on. Subjects include emigration/immigration, ports of entry, ports of departure, ship descriptions and history, passenger lists and other related information. -- www.TheShipsList.com

An index to New York arrivals, 1892-1924, will soon be available from the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation at www.ellisislandrecords.com.