Tracing Immigrants Arrival Societies
Tracing Immigrant Origins Wiki Topics | |
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News and Events | |
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Part 1. General | |
Part 2. Country of Arrival | |
Country of Arrival Search Tactics | |
Part 3. Country of Origin | |
Country of Origin Search Tactics | |
For Further Reading | |
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Societies often collect helpful records such as family and local histories, oral histories, church records, newspapers, cemetery record collections, passenger lists, manuscripts, organization membership applications, early settler indexes, military records, directories, and so on. Genealogical and historical societies are organized almost everywhere. Historical societies for most ethnic and religious groups also exist—for example, the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. Also search for pioneer or old settler societies. Contact these societies to learn about their services and hours. They are usually very cooperative and can help you find good local researchers. Your public library normally has guides to help locate these organizations. Two North American guides are—
The records of societies an immigrant joined during his or her life are harder to locate. Foreigners often received financial and other assistance from immigrant aid societies. An immigrant may have sent money back to his family or brought relatives from the old country through an immigrant aid society. These societies were usually associated with ethnic, religious, or community organizations. The Perpetual Emigration Fund is an example of a Latter-day Saint immigrant aid society. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Societyassisted Jewish people. Chinese clans organized immigrant aid societies to help immigrants to America, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Their records are some of the best sources for tracing Chinese emigrants. Ask local and ethnic historical societies about records and addresses of immigrant aid societies that operated in the area. After the immigrant settled, he or she may have sought the company of people with similar interests and joined an ethnic or fraternal organization like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a German-American Club, a Jewish Landsmanschaft, the Grange, a Masonic lodge, the Sons of Italy, or the National Slovak Society. These societies have a vast amount of personal information in membership records and insurance files. (Ethnic fraternal organizations served as the insurance companies of the nineteenth century.) Although they may be difficult to locate, ethnic and fraternal society records sometimes provide crucial immigration information. A book that helps locate ethnic associations is—
For a description of ethnic association records, see—
For addresses and descriptions of many ethnic groups, see—
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