Searching US Records for Your Immigrant Ancestor Western New York Genealogical Society, http://www.wnygs.org/ 22 March 2014 Dennis Hogan,
Slides are Online At http://www.wnygs.org/ &, click on Lectures and Handouts tab More detailed handouts are also available at : Course IV Searching US Records for Your Immigrant Ancestors
General Rule Begin your research at your immigrant ancestor s final location, and then work backward to the old country. Key Research Goal: Where in the old country did my ancestor live?
Focus search in US records on the immigrant. Learn everything you can about: The immigrant and their spouse All siblings of the immigrant Parents of the immigrant All children of the immigrant (ALL not just your direct line)
Do a thorough search of US records Goal 1: Determine specifically where the immigrant is from in the old country Goal 2: Develop a body of knowledge about the immigrant. This will be important to help you differentiate amongst candidates in the old country with the same or similar name.
First step in US records, is to do a census inventory (US and state) for the immigrant. Censuses will provide such info as age, location, relationship, occupation, date of immigration, naturalization status, military service.
US Census (state or country of birth) Every 10 years, 1790-1940 currently available Non-Population census: 1790 Slave, 1810-1820 & 1850-1880 Manufacturing, 1840 Pensioners, 1850-1880 Agriculture, 1850-1880 Mortality, 1880 Defective, 1890 Veterans (Kentucky through Wyoming plus DC exist). NY State Census (county or country of birth) 1815, 1825, 1835, 1845, 1855, 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905, 1915, 1925 FamilySearch Wiki for Census Sources for NY https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/new_york_census www.ocgsny.net 7
Sample Census Inventory
US Census (and much more) Heritage Quest, free (from home) at participating libraries Ancestry.Com, free at participating libraries and Family Search Centers FamilySearch, free at familysearch.org www.ocgsny.net 9
The info garnered from a census inventory will provide the basis for researching other types of records. It s important to research a wide variety of types of resources. There is no silver bullet.
Vital Records (civil birth/marriage/death records) o Provides names of parents, New York began 1880, varies by state Church Records (baptism/marriage/funeral/cemetery records) o Provides names of parents, names of sponsors are very helpful Tombstones, Cemetery Records o The tombstone of an immigrant may give details of where they lived in the old country Military Records (if the immigrant didn t serve, investigate siblings and other relatives) o Pension applications particularly helpful
Naturalization Records o 1 st Papers/Intent to Naturalize may indicate their origins Immigration Records o Before the late 1800s, no info on passenger lists for place of birth or last residence. City Directories o For Rochester, see http://www3.libraryweb.org/, click on Local History Newspapers o For New York State, see www.fultonhistory.com
Probate Records o Survivors are listed with addresses, may include someone in the old country Family documents, Bibles, photos o Track these down someone knows something that you don t Offline Resources where your immigrant ancestor lived - historical societies, genealogical societies, local history sections of libraries, cemeteries and churches, county and city archives, and town and county historians. o Less than 1% of relevant content is on the internet!
Basic Name & Search Tips For names with prefixes, search indexes with & without the prefix Don't assume 1 spelling of names when searching records (use Soundex, non-exact or wild cards when available) O'Reilly, O'Riley, Reily, Riley, etc O640, O640, R400, R400 (Soundex codes) Inconsistent punctuation in indexes: O'Flynn, OFlynn, O Flynn, O_Flynn, O.Flynn McGrath, MacGrath, Mc Grath, M Grath, Mgrath, Magrath www.ocgsny.net 14
Basic Name & Search Tips Don't assume 1 given name is used in all records (nicknames/synonyms, middle names) For females, do a separate search with maiden name and with all married names. www.ocgsny.net 15
Happy Hunting