“On Ancestry, I found my mom listed on the ship’s manifest when she was a child with all her brothers and sisters and my grandpa and grandmother, and again listed in the 1920 census. It was absolutely thrilling because all her life, my mom told me she was born in Boston. It was only after she was in the nursing home at 92 years of age and the Director of the Home needed proof of her U.S. citizenship, that I thought it would be easy enough to find her birth certificate in Massachusetts. I was dumbfounded when Boston had no records of her birth.

That’s when I went onto Ancestry. And there she was, all the way from Poland (Russia then) listed with her family. This led to the ship’s manifest and to naturalization documents. There was Grandpa Morris, Grandmother Ida and my mother - whose given name was Elizabeth, but my grandpa always called her Lizzie. That’s how I knew it was her because the name listed was not her birth name, it was written as Lizzie!”

— Faith Gitlow
New York, New York

How comfortable was the journey? That depends upon the ticket your ancestor bought — and whether it landed him or her in first class, second class or steerage.

Most immigrants to America opted for steerage, including all passengers inspected at Ellis Island. Some passenger lists also spell out the class directly on the page above the first traveler entry:

Others may require an educated guess. Look for clues in the traveler’s occupation and/or dollar amount in possession, if listed. Laborers, for example, and people with just a few bucks to their names were most likely traveling on a steerage ticket. Passengers accompanied by maids, servants, listed as “lady” or holding a professional occupation were more apt to travel first or second class.

Caution: the surname you know may not be the one your ancestor arrived with. While census records and other details can help you trace slight variations and phonetic interpretations of a surname, they don’t always account for immigrant ancestors who may have opted to Americanize a surname shortly after arrival. But the following tricks for translating a changed name may help:

Tip 1. Use the Internet to help you determine the ethnic equivalent of an ancestor’s name. Sites like BehindtheName.com let you type in your ancestor’s name and search for related names that include various ethnic equivalents.

Tip 2. Study the alphabet of the country of origin. The Polish alphabet, for example, contains the letter ę, which is pronounced ”en“ and can explain certain surname changes (ex: Mękalski becomes Menkalski).

Tip 3. Look for literal translations: the German surname Schwartz may have been changed to Black just like the French surname LeBlanc may have been changed to White.

Tip 4. Lengthen and shorten names. And remember that more than one ancestor may have changed a surname. So Weisenberger may have become Weisenberg then Weisen and finally Wise.

Tip 5. Try a wildcard search in which you use asterisks to replace some of the letters in a name. For example, if the surname was Berlengauem, B*rl*g*m* would produce it as well as Burlingame and other variants.

Tip 6. Search by criteria. Forego the surname and search using birthplace, age, gender, occupation and other details to find people who match the ancestor you’re seeking. Pay special attention to the names in your search results. Do any of them seem to reflect your family?

Tip 7. Follow your ancestor backwards by address in a city directory – you may get lucky and discover that, while the name changed, the residence remained the same.

Tip 8. Check immigration records and passports carefully – at times they may include notations indicating a previous name change.

Tip 9. Try maiden names. Female ancestors may have traveled using them, even when married (this was very common with immigrants from Italy).

Tip 10. Listen for stories. There may be more truth in those tales than you realize – including a clue about a person’s birth name.

From famine to freedom, there were countless reasons our ancestors left their homelands to settle in America. But what caused mass migration out of any one place? We’ve collected some of the key drivers that sent our ancestors to America during peak periods of immigration and added a few research tips, too, to help you locate your family in America even faster.

Irish

• 1847–1860: The infamous Irish Potato Famine happened during this time period. By its end, hundreds of thousands had escaped to America in over-crowded ships. Immigration slowed after the famine.
• 1881–1890: Crops continued to fail. Political and religious contention also occurred during this time.
• Research Tip: You may luck into details about a family member in Irish Relatives and Friends, a collection of “information wanted” classifieds from the NYC weekly newspaper, and the Irish-American, available at Ancestry.

Scandinavian

• 1881–1890: The main waves of Norwegian and Swedish immigrants came to the United States leading up to the 1890s. Crop failure and rising unemployment fueled this search for new opportunities.
• Early 1900s: Finnish immigrants fled to the United States to escape Russia’s growing power.
• Research Tip: Scandinavian surnames were often formed from patronymics, a system in which a father’s first name is added to a suffix like “sen” or “son” to create a child’s surname. Finding such a surname in your family tree can be a clue to Danish, Swedish, Icelandic or Norwegian roots.

German

• 1683–1820: Religious persecution, wars and hardships lasted through much of this time period.
• 1820–1871: Many Germans emigrated in order to escape war and military service.
• 1843–1859: The unsuccessful German Revolution in 1848 along with crop failure led to a large influx of emigration.
• 1865–1874: Skilled workers began transferring to U.S. companies. German Catholics were expelled from the country.
• 1871–1914: Religious persecution, constant political unrest, overpopulation and low wages led many to immigrate to the United States.
• Research Tip: In U.S. censuses from 1860, 1870 and 1880, in the field for birthplace, enumerators were asked to specify the German state, rather than just listing Germany.

Italian

• 1891–1910: Italians were facing a combination of low wages, high taxes, poverty, poor soil, an inability to own land and a fierce feudal system. These hardships and low ticket fares to America led Italians to sail in droves for a better life.
• Research Tip: Look carefully at U.S. passenger lists for Italians arriving between 1890 and 1914. Often you’ll get more than just a port of departure and a country – you’ll find the town of origin listed, too.

Chinese

• Mid-1800s: Famine, epidemics, repression, civil wars, and the Gold Rush all convinced many Chinese to leave their homes and come to America.
• Research Tip: Most Chinese and Asian immigrants arrived through the port of San Francisco, although you’ll also find some crossing the border into America from Mexico and elsewhere.

English and Welsh

• 1600s: The emigration began with the Puritans escaping religious persecution and continued as England became overcrowded. Many excess populations were sent to the New World.
• 1870, 1881–1890: A growing population and difficult living conditions during the Industrial Revolution continued the trend of immigration to the United States. Skilled laborers needed to find better opportunities.
• Research Tip: English colonists may not appear on traditional passenger lists, but they may show up in books and other documents related to America’s early history. Include an estimated birth year to help focus searches.

Scottish

• Mid to late 1800s: Scottish immigration peaked during the Highland Clearances, a program that pushed Scottish farmers off of pastureland leading up to the late 1800s.
• Research Tip: Most Scots entered the U.S. in New York, but it’s a good idea to check all passenger lists, just in case. Yours could be one of the almost 16,000 Scottish immigrants who came through Baltimore, which, incidentally, offered immigrants a quick route to the Midwest.

Austro-Hungarians

• 1880–1914: The 1867 creation of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire began an exodus that lasted until the end of World War I. Poles, Jews, Czechs and Slovaks sought escape from the empire’s forced military service, political tensions and cultural and religious oppression.
• Research Tip: Borders changed often in this part of Europe. You may discover that an ancestor from Austria-Hungary claimed Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia or another country, depending on when the record was created.

Armenians

• 1890: Kurdish and Turkish attacks on Armenia in the mid 1890s resulted in the first major wave of Armenian immigration to the United States.
• 1901: Religious persecution forced many to leave their country.
• 1918: More Armenians left following the First World War, in which Armenia suffered heavy losses at the hands of Turkey.
• Research Tip: Use information from U.S. census records between 1900 and 1930 to help you determine the approximate year an immigrant came to America and narrow your search for a passenger list.

Greeks

• 1920–1950s: Religious persecution gave cause for many Greeks to immigrate to America.
• Research Tip: Have a family member who suddenly seems impossible to track in America? Look for a return trip to Greece – Greeks, Italians, Russian Christians, Hungarian Christians, and certain Slavic groups were the most apt to return home for good.

French

• 1851: Political refugees of the 1848 Revolution in France found safety in the United States.
• Research Tip: Ancestors with French roots may have actually arrived in America via Canada rather than directly from France. Search the entire Immigration & Travel collection for records from border crossings, passenger lists and more.

German Jews

• 1933–1950s: As Nazi anti-Semitism grew, Jews fled Germany for the United States. However, German immigration quotas prevented some from finding safety in the U.S. After the war, more than 80,000 Holocaust survivors found refuge in America.
• Research Tip: You may find more information about your ancestor’s family and hometown in the Jewish Family History collection at Ancestry.

Russian Jews

• 1880–1917: Anti-Semitism spread across Russia fueled by false ideas about Judaism. Seeking religious tolerance in the United States, Jews fled Russia until the Russian Revolution in 1917.
• 1901–1910: At this time violence and riots were targeted at Gypsies and Jews.
• Research Tip: Between 1907 and 1914, Jews escaping Russian pogroms were encouraged to immigrate through Galveston because of fears that an influx of Jewish immigrants through Atlantic ports would result in a wave of anti-Semitism.

Poles

• 1880–1914: This was a period of high religious persecution for Jews in Poland. Many of those that emigrated did so because of this persecution.
• 1919–1950s: After gaining independence in 1919, Poland was overridden by the Nazis and Russians as World War II dawned.
• Research Tip: If your ancestor’s passenger list includes numerous males with the same non-relative destination, it could be a clue that your ancestor was recruited to work in a mine or factory in America.