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Naturalization
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
Ship Arrivals
Naturalization
Naturalization records contain a treasure—trove of information for the genealogist. Naturalization records go back
to 1871 in Chicago and a soundex index of all naturalizations for
Chicago, Cook County, and some portions of Indiana and Wisconsin exist
for 1871-1950. The index contains the name of applicant, address, court
where naturalized, and certificate number, country of origin, birth
date, date and port of arrival in United States, date of
naturalization, and names of witnesses. This index can be
accessed at:
Once you have found your ancestor on the index, you
can proceed with obtaining his/her full naturalization file including
the "Declaration of Intention" (also called first papers) and
"Petition for Admission to Citizenship" (also called final papers). Early naturalization
files (before about 1900) contained very little information, usually just the applicant's
name, country of origin, court where naturalized and certificate
number, date of naturalization, and name of witnesses. It may be
difficult to even verify that this file belongs to your family member.
In 1906 the federal government established standards for these papers,
which included many valuable details including complexion, height,
weight, place born and date, address, arrival date in United States
with ship, port, where departed from, last foreign residence, name of
wife, birth date/place of wife, names of children with birth dates and
places, and witnesses. There are two places to obtain these records for
Chicago naturalizations:
National
Archives (NARA): District court (Federal)
Office
of Circuit Court of Cook County: Superior, Circuit, County and
Criminal Courts
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Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
The
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) in Chicago was founded in 1911.
Unfortunately all of its historic records have been lost over the years.
The only records that still exist are current era (1979-present)
records. The only possibility to find some information here would be if
your family traveled via New York City and possibly was helped by the
HIAS in New York City. They can be reached by phone at 212-967-4100 or
at
http://www.hias.org/home.html |
Ship Arrivals
Ship arrival records represent a vital
link in tracing our family histories. The ship manifests contain
complete list of all passengers on board including the following
information: name, age, sex, whether married or single, calling or
occupation, whether able to read or write, nationality, race or people,
last permanent residence, name and address of nearest relative or friend
in country from which alien came, final destination, who paid passage,
name and address of person to whom the immigrant will be going, whether an anarchist,
whether ever been in prison, whether a polygamist, condition of health,
and place of birth.
The ship arrival records have all been microfilmed by the National
Archives and are organized by port and then sequentially by year for
each ship. These lists were first recorded starting in 1819 and were know
as Custom Passenger Lists. The most complete set of indexes and lists in
this area can be found at the Allen
County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is about a three
hour drive from Chicago. In addition, all microfilms can always be
ordered from the Family History Library (Mormon) in Salt Lake City via
the local Family History
Centers (FHCs) here in Chicagoland. Below you will find a list of
the resources available.
Before plunging into your search for the immigrant ancestor's record, the
following should be considered. Remember that when your ancestor boarded the
ship, he or she was known by his/her name in the country of origin. The Jews of
Eastern Europe usually used their Yiddish names on the manifest and you
should search for them by this given name. Search multiple ports too unless you have hard
evidence that they arrived at specific port. Just
because they were headed to Baltimore does not mean they went there
non-stop. They went whatever way was possible and affordable.
Indexes
Luckily
many of the arrivals were indexed using either soundex or
alphabetical methods. Below you will find where to find these
indexes by port and year.
Baltimore:
Boston:
Detroit:
Galveston, Texas:
| Soundex 1896-1906; 1906-1951
(NARA)
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New
Orleans:
New
York:
Philadelphia:
Minor
U.S. Ports:
Canadian border
entries, St. Albans, Vermont:
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Ship Manifests
Once
you have found your family member on the Index, you can proceed
to search on the detailed lists. Remember that since we have
a limited number of ship manifests available in Chicagoland, you
can order the manifest via your local Family
History Center.
Baltimore:
Boston:
Detroit:
Galveston, Texas:
New
Orleans:
New
York:
Philadelphia:
Minor U.S. Ports:
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Books
Many
books serve as compilations of information based on where the
immigrant originated or based on ethnicity. These
resources can be found in following locations:
Allen County
Public Library
Filby’s Passenger and Immigration Lists Index.
German immigrants…from Bremen to New York 1847-1867.
Germans to America 1850-1893. (in progress)
Newberry
Library
Germans to America, 1850-1897
(ongoing). Ed. Ira A. Glazier et al.
Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1988-. Call # E184.G3
G38 1988 (2nd floor open shelf).
The
publishers have issued a second series of Germans
to America, covering the 1840s. The Newberry
has volumes 1-4 (Jan. 1840-Oct. 1848) of this series.
Call # E184.G3 G39 (2nd floor open shelf).
Migration from the Russian
Empire: Lists of Passengers Arriving at the Port of New York,
1875-1891. Ed. Ira A. Glazier. Call # E184.R9
M54 1995 (2nd floor open shelf).
Moser, Geraldine. Hamburg
Passengers from the Kingdom of Poland and the Russian Empire:
Indirect Passage to New York, 1855-June 1873.
Landsmen Press, 1996. Call # folio E184.J5 M667 1996.
Names are listed alphabetically and by date.
Sack, Sallyann Amdur. The
Russian Consular Records Index and Catalog. New
York: Garland, 1987. Call # CS856.J4 S23 1987 (2nd floor
open shelf). Indexes immigration, passport, visa, and
related consular records of Russian citizens, primarily between
1917-1926.
Filby, P. William with Mary K. Meyer. Passenger
and Immigration Lists Index, plus supplement
volumes (Call # CS68.P636, 2nd floor open shelf). Indexes published
passenger lists (from journals, books, articles) and other
immigration-related records only. Note the code number in
bold after the passenger's name. This code refers to the
published item cited in the front of the volumes, many of which
are available at the Newberry.
Moser, Geraldine. Hamburg
Passengers from the Kingdom of Poland and the Russian Empire:
Indirect Passage to New York, 1855-June 1873.
Landsmen Press, 1996. Call # folio E184.J5 M667 1996.
Names are listed alphabetically and by date.
Morton Allan Directory of
European Steamship Arrivals for the Years 1890-1930 at the Port
of New York and for the Years 1904-1926 at the Ports of New
York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore. New York:
Immigration Information Bureau, 1931. Call # HE945.A2 M678
1931 (2nd floor open shelf). Ships are listed by year,
ship line, and date of arrival.
Spertus
Library
Zimmerman, Gary J., German immigrants, lists of passengers
bound from Bremen to New York [dates], with places of
origin.
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On-Line Resources
| Although on-line resources are not
strictly Chicagoland resources, we will just touch on them
briefly here. Most of the Jewish immigrants who found their way
to Chicago entered the United States at the Port of New York
City and Ellis Island.
Ellis Island: 1850-1891 arrivals
Ancestry.com's every-name index to passengers arriving in the Port of New
York prior to the creation of Ellis Island is now complete for 1850-1891.
(except
for the years 1871-74) The fee-for-service index is at Ancestry.com.
Ellis Island: 1892-1924 arrivals
The
Ellis Island Foundation has digitized over 24 million
arrival records and made it available free to the public via its
website. We recommend you use the Steve
Morse one-step search tools to aid your search.
Hamburg departures:
1890-1906
Hamburg, Germany was a major port from which about 40% of Jewish
immigrants from Eastern Europe made their way to the United
States.
The
Hamburg State archive can now offer a database (over 2
million individuals) with Emigration
Lists of Hamburg (click on "Search Now"). The database
will continue to grow, until the data of all emigrants are
available, initially of the years 1890 to 1914, and finally of
all years between 1850 and 1934. Currently only 1890 to 1905 are
available.
There are fees for the searches and all of the information can
be found on their website at: ltyr.hamburg.de
- English | Link to your Roots and Family History
Bremen departures: 1920-1939
A project is in process to digitize Bremen departures
1920-1939.
The following lists have been acquired up to now:
those from 1920-1926 completely,
those from 1927/28 partly,
one list from 1930 is included already.
The website can be accessed at:
http://www.schiffslisten.de/index_en.html
Internet Sources for Transcribed Passenger Records & Indexes
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