Finding your American ancestors can sometimes be difficult because they may have moved so frequently. You might begin your search by asking yourself why your ancestors migrated from one locality to another. Some possible reasons for migration may have included: opportunity to obtain land, crop failures, military bounty land, follow a religious leader, religious persecution, follow relatives or friends, economic reasons, change of climate, improve social and poverty conditions, political reasons, military transfer, wars, follow construction projects (such as canals and railroads), and other reasons.
Understanding migration trails in the localities where your ancestors resided may help to trace their migration to a previous place of residence. Travel in America was usually along existing trails and roads, such as the National Road that extended from Maryland to Illinois, or along rivers, lakes, and canals, such as the Erie Canal, Hudson River, Ohio River, or Mississippi River. Roads and river travel improved throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Boston Post Road was used by many people and extended from the New England states to New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and into the Southern states.
One of the most important routes to the west was New York’s Erie Canal, the main artery opening the west. Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal extended from Albany to Buffalo, New York, linking the Hudson River with Lake Erie. It was the success of the Erie Canal that set off the canal building era in America. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and other states soon had their own canals. The arrival of the railroads brought an end to the canal era from about 1860 to 1880.
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.
Kip Sperry is an associate professor of family history at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
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