Rhode Island Emigration and Immigration

Online Resources

 * 1955-1957 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * United States, Passenger and Crew Lists - New England Passenger And Crew Lists at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * Rhode Island Passenger Lists at Ancestry; images only ($)
 * Rhode Island Passenger Lists by Maureen A. Taylor at Ancestry; images only ($)

Pre-statehood settlers of Rhode Island generally were English Protestants, but liberal policies attracted French Huguenots, Blacks, Jews, and other minorities. Heavy Irish immigration began about 1830 and continued through the rest of the nineteenth century. A great influx of French Canadians began after the Civil War and continued to the turn of the century. Rhode Islanders leaving the state often went to areas such as Vermont and Nova Scotia.

Beginning about 1880, overseas emigration shifted from northern Europe to southern and eastern Europe. The Italians were the largest ethnic group to arrive at this time. Other groups who arrived in Rhode Island between 1880 and 1915 include the Portuguese colonials, Poles, and Jews from Russia.

Sources of information about ethnic groups, such as French Canadians, Blacks, and Jews, are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under RHODE ISLAND - MINORITIES.

More detailed information on immigration sources United States Emigration and Immigration.

Rhode Island Ports

 * 1723-1790 Maritime Papers of Rhode Island


 * 1726-1786 Admiralty Papers


 * 1798-1872 Rhode Island passenger lists : port of Providence, 1798-1808, 1820-1872; ports of Bristol and Warren, 1820-1871


 * 1820-1870 Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island


 * 1820-1867 Providence, Rhode Island


 * 1820-1857 Newport, Rhode Island


 * 1829-1857 List of American seamen of Providence District pursuant to the act for the relief and protection of American seamen : found at U.S. Customs House, Providence, R.I.


 * 1912-1943 Passenger Lists, Providence, Rhode Island, 1911-1943; book indexes, 1911-1934; card indexes, 1911-1926


 * To see other indexes and information regarding Passenger Lists, access FamilySearch Catalog under:


 * RHODE ISLAND - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION


 * UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION


 * UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION - INDEXES.


 * The Rhode Island Historical Society has Marine Hospital Records, Custom House passenger lists and alien passenger reports, 1798-1870, Maritime papers, 1723 to 1790 and Admiralty papers, 1726 to 1777.

Port of Boston
The major port of entry to New England is Boston, Massachusetts. The Family History Library and the National Archives have passenger lists for Boston for 1820 to March 1874 and 1883 to 1935 (listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under MASSACHUSETTS, SUFFOLK, BOSTON - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION). The following indexes are also available:


 * 1820-1891 Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston 1820-1891; with index, 1848-1891 Also online at FamilySearch Historical Records


 * 1848-1891 The Massachusetts State Archives has an online searchable index for the Boston Passenger Manifest


 * 1891-1943 Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Aug. 1, 1891-1943; Book indexes to Boston Passenger Lists, 1899-1940; Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Jan. 1, 1902-Dec. 31, 1920

Atlantic Ports

 * 1820-1874 FamilySearch Historical Records on line See Wiki Page article United States, Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports - FamilySearch Historical Records


 * 1820-74. A Supplemental Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports (excluding New York) 

General

 * Consult passenger lists of other New England ports and for ports in Canada. Records of Canadian border entries from 1895 to 1949 are on 400 films at the Family History Library. This is also found on line at FamilySearch Historical Records


 * Names of immigrants listed in published sources to about 1920 are indexed in P. William Filby, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 15 Volumes (Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, 1981-) The first three volumes are a combined alphabetical index published in 1981. Supplemental volumes have been issued annually. There are also cumulative indexes.