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Migration Maps
A
number of Internet sites contain maps showing migration routes in America.
Ancestry.com maintains a “Map Center” which features several hundred
historical maps of interest to genealogists and historians. See especially
the heading “Migration.” www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/reference/maps/main.asp
“The
American Migrations Web Site” attempts to have an online database of
immigration and migration records. members.aol.com/gedsearch/migrate.htm
“Cyndi’s
List: Migration Routes, Roads & Trails” identifies westward migration
routes, trails, roads, mailing lists, newsgroups, maps, gazetteers,
publications, and more. www.cyndislist.com/migration.htm
Migration Sources
Federal
census schedules and state census records after 1850 are useful in tracing
migration. The 1880 U.S. Census was the first to show the parent’s birthplace
(state or country). Sometimes church records show where an individual or
family migrated, or a notation may have been made in the church records in
the new locality showing where they came from (previous place of residence).
Land records sometimes will show a previous place of residence. Gravestones
sometimes show where a person was born. Military records are very useful in
tracing migration. Printed sources, such as biographies and compiled
genealogies are useful as a beginning source. Computer databases, such as the
International Genealogical Index, should be used as a first step in the
research process (see “Search for Ancestors” at FamilySearch
Internet). www.familysearch.org
The
following list of sources may be useful in tracing migration of individuals
and families in America (listed alphabetically, not in order of priority):
· Bible
records and home sources
· Biographical
works (sometimes known as “mug books”)
· Census
schedules (federal, state, and local census records, especially after 1850)
· Church
records
· Compiled
genealogies and family histories
· Court
records
· DAR
genealogical collections (Bible records and other transcriptions)
· Divorce
records
· Gravestone
inscriptions and cemetery records
· Land and property records (land grants,
patents, deeds, bounty lands, etc.)
· Local
histories (town, county, regional, and other histories)
· Manuscript
collection (may include unpublished compiled genealogies)
· Military
service and pension records, unit histories, other military records
· Mortality
schedules, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 (some records are incomplete)
· Naturalization
and citizenship records (since 1790)
· Newspapers (obituaries, marriage notices,
biographies, local news, etc.)
· Passport
applications (since 1795)
· Passenger
lists and immigration records (since 1820; many earlier records published and
indexed by P. William Filby)
· Patriotic and lineage society records (DAR, SAR,
Mayflower Society, etc.)
· Periodicals
(genealogical and historical periodicals and newsletters)
· Probate
records (wills, administrations, probate case files)
· Tax
lists (Kentucky tax records are one of the best examples)
· Vital
records (births, marriages, and death records)
· Voting
registers
Selected Bibliography
· Atlas of American History. 2nd ed. New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1984.
· Billington, Ray Allen and Martin Ridge. Westward Expansion: A
History of the American Frontier. 5th ed. New
York: Macmillan Publishing, 1982.
· Condon, George E. Stars in the Water: The Story of the
Erie Canal. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1974.
· Holbrook, Stewart H. The Yankee Exodus: An Account of
Migration from New England. Seattle: University of Washington Press,
1968.
· Merk, Frederick. History of the Westward Movement. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.
· Steckmesser, Kent L. The Westward Movement: A Short History.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969.
· Unruh, John D., Jr. The Plains Across: The Overland
Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-60. Urbana, Ill.:
University of Illinois Press, 1979.
· Western Writers of America. Water Trails West.
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1978.
Source: Ancestry.com - American Migration Sources
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