Tracing Immigrant Origins

Unless you are of Native American heritage, your roots came from overseas. In this lesson series, explore how you can find your immigrant ancestors.

• Lesson 1: Introduction to Immigrant Investigations
• Lesson 2: Identifying the Immigrant
• Lesson 3: Identifying the Immigrant, Part 2
• Lesson 4: Identifying the Immigrant, Part 3
• Lesson 5: Discovering the Most About Your Immigrant
• Lesson 6: Reading the Place Name, Part 1
• Lesson 7: Reading the Place Name, Part 2
• Lesson 8: Overview of Immigrant Origins Research Strategies
• Lesson 9: 20th Century Immigrants -- Home Sources and Vital Records
• Lesson 10: Immigration Passenger Lists
• Lesson 11: Modern Naturalization Records
• Lesson 12: Other Federal Records

• Lesson 1: Clues from the Census Records
• Lesson 2: Clues from Church Records
• Lesson 3: Dying to Be Found, Part 1: Immigrant Obituaries
• Lesson 4: Dying to Be Found, Part 2: Cemeteries
• Lesson 5: Evidence in Print: Local Histories & Biographies
• Lesson 6: Enlisting the Help of Others

Sources Between 1820 and 1865
by Genealogy Research Associates

• Lesson 1: Enlisting the Military's Help
• Lesson 2: Compiled Records via Your Computer
• Lesson 3: U.S. Customs Passenger Lists
• Lesson 4: Becoming an American -- Early Naturalization Records
• Lesson 5: Newspaper Research - Beyond Obituaries
• Lesson 6: Double the Immigration -- Canadian Research

Pre-1820 Immigration
by Genealogy Research Associates

• Lesson 1: Published Lists of Early Immigrants
• Lesson 2: Somebody Else Has Found Them: Compiled Records
• Lesson 3: Early American Church Records
• Lesson 4: Just How Civil Were Your Immigrants: Court, Land, and Other Civil Records
• Lesson 5: Hidden Clues in Periodicals
• Lesson 6: Where There's a Will, There May Be a Clue: Probate Records
• Lesson 7: Lineage Societies

European Sources
by Genealogy Research Associates

• Lesson 1: Tactics for Using Foreign Sources
• Lesson 2: Family Histories and Periodicals
• Lesson 3: Original Records
• Lesson 4: Departure Lists
• Lesson 5: Emigration Lists
• Lesson 6: Government Records
• Lesson 7: Networking
• Lesson 8: Church and Local Records
• Lesson 9: An Hispanic Ancestral Puzzle