Immigration & Naturalization Records
Early Settlers of Maryland. See also the Early Settlers Index by Carson Gibb for names of settlers, both free and indentured, culled from land and patent records. Includes the earlier lists from Gust Skordas' book Early Settlers of Maryland.
(Naturalizations, Provincial, Index), 1637-1776. Index 41. MSA S1414. available online See also Jeffrey and Florence Wyand, Colonial Maryland Naturalizations. Related Bulldog article
(Naturalizations, Index), 1777-1917. Index 42. MSA S1415. available online Indexes General Courts of the Eastern and Western Shores, 1781-1805, and some county courts. See Passenger and Immigration Lists Index for citations to printed works on immigration (most not available at the Archives). Related Bulldog article
(Naturalizations, BA and BC, Index), 1796-1933. Index 43. MSA S1416. available online Indexes all courts in Baltimore County before 1851 and Baltimore City. Please include all information on the card on your request slip. See also Michael H. Tepper, Passenger Arrivals at the Port of Baltimore, 1820-1834. Related Bulldog article
(Naturalizations, BA, Index), 1852-1918. Index 44. MSA S1417. available online See also Indexes 42 and 43. Related Bulldog article
(Naturalizations, Federal, Index), 1797-1906, 1925-1951 and naturalizations of soldiers, 1918-1923. Index 142. MSA S1463. available at the archives For 1797-1906, the index card is the only record. After 1906, the records are at the Federal Records Center in Philadelphia. Related Bulldog article
During the colonial period there were very few naturalizations, except for settlers from the continent of Europe. English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish settlers were all considered merely to have moved from one part of the empire to another. Naturalization requirements in English Law (before 1776) required the alien to be a Protestant, to have lived in the colony for seven years, and to take an Oath of Allegiance to the King.
Most passengers lists for Maryland can be found at either the Maryland Historical Society or National Archives.
Very few passenger lists for Maryland in the colonial period exist, but between 1634 and 1680 persons arriving in Maryland could be identified by their claims for land. With the abolition of the head right system in 1680, newcomers to Maryland were no longer automatically entitled to land for immigrating themselves, transporting others, or for completion of service. It was almost an article of faith that colonial passenger lists for the 18th century were practically non-existent for colonial Maryland.
That picture is changing, thanks to the work begun by P. William Filby, former Librarian of the Maryland Historical Society. His multi-volume Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, published by Gale Research, originally appeared in three volumes c. 1980, and annual supplements from 1982 to the current year have brought the number of names found in published passenger and immigration lists to several hundred thousand
In addition to the multi-volume Passenger and Immigration List Index project, Mr. Filby also compiled a Bibliography of Published Passenger Lists.
One category of record that should not be overlooked are the British genealogies that mention relatives who have gone to the New World. In the 16th and 17th centuries, heralds from the College of Arms would visit the various counties and record the pedigrees of families who aspired to armigerous status. Occasionally there would be references to younger sons who had migrated.
In the 18th and 19th centuries ambitious compilers of county histories would include pedigrees of the principal families of the county. Again, there would be the occasional reference to a relative who had gone to America, or perhaps even to a specified destination.
Finally, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the various volumes of pedigrees of landed gentry, peerage, and baronetcies, published by the Burkes would contain many references to American settlers.
Two of the most prolific researchers in this field today are Peter Wilson Coldham and David Dobson. Coldham has published numerous books and articles on the references to American settlers found in English records, and Dobson has published numerous works on references to American settlers found in Scottish records.
Coldham's book English Adventurers and Emigrants, 1661-1733 contains items found in examinations in equity and criminal cases.
Dobson and Coldham are following the trail blazed by John C. Hotten, whose Original Lists of Persons of Quality, Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Political Rebels . . . and Others Who Went From Great Britain to the American Plantations, London; 1874, has been republished by the Genealogical Publishing Company.
Henry F. Waters, a New England antiquary, sailed for England in May 1883 and researched records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury found at that time in Somerset House, London. In the space of a year he found over six hundred wills relating to American families. Many of his findings were published in the New England Hist. and Genealogical Register, and later in book form, as Genealogical Gleanings in England, published by the Genealogical Publishing Co.
In 1932 and 1933 George Sherwood published two volumes of notes on early immigrants who were not in the Hotten List.
Between 1903 and 1929 Lothrop Withington published abstracts of 17th and 18th century wills and administrations pertaining to Virginia and Virginians in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. These were later published in book form, Virginia Gleanings in England, published by the Genealogical Publishing Co.
The Virginia Colonial Records Project is an attempt to locate all manuscript material in England relating to the colony of Virginia, and to procure microfilm copies of that material, and if microfilm is not available, by some other photographic process. This project was described by Edward M. Riley in an article in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly of June 1963.
For German immigrants, Don Yoder and Annette Burgert are doing important work in tracing the origins of German settlers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. |