United States Migration Internal

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Value of Migration Research
Mountains, forests, waterways, and the gaps between them channeled migration into predictable settlement patterns. Events like gold or land rushes, and Indian treaties also affected settlement.

Understanding the transportation systems available to ancestors can help genealogists better guess their place of origin. Connect the place where an ancestor settled to the nearby canals,waterways, trails, roads, and railroads to look for connections to places they may have lived previously.

Migration research may help you discover:


 * a place of origin, previous hometown, or place where an ancestor settled
 * biographical details such as what they experienced, or with whom they traveled on their journey
 * clues for finding other records

Types of U.S. Migration Records
Actual lists of travelers are unusual. A few passenger lists are available at the New York State Archives for the Erie Canal from 1827-1829. But lists of pioneers who settled an area are sometimes available on the Internet, or in the form of county or local histories. The diaries and journals of people on the move may help you learn who they had as companions on the journey, and what their trip was like.

Censuses, directories, land and property records, plat maps, tax records, and voting registers can sometimes be used to learn where new arrivals settled. Starting in 1850 federal censuses show where a person was born, and starting in 1880 where the parents were born.

Church records of some denominations may indicate a former residence of a family or a place to which they were moving. The minutes of the Society of Friends (Quakers) are especially helpful, since the Monthly Meeting from which the family was moving issued a certificate of recommendation to the Monthly Meeting to which they were going. And the receiving Monthly Meeting recorded in their minutes, the location of the Monthly Meeting from which the family had come. Not all denominations were as diligent in recording this type of information, but some others had somewhat similar records.

Maritime museums often hold records of ships, ports, maps, photographs, personal and business records, and manuscripts. Collections vary by facility.

Photogrammar is a web-based platform for organizing, searching, and visualizing the 170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information (FSA-OWI). It chronicles the migrations and living conditions during the Great Depression and WWII.

Western Trails Resources

 * Randy Brown. Historic Inscriptions on Western Emigrant Trails. Independence, Missouri: Oregon California Trails Association, 2004. FHL 978 H2bh
 * Randy Brown and Reg Duffin. Graves and Sites on the Oregon and California Trails. Independence, Missouri: Oregon-California Trails Association,1991,1998. FHL 973 V3bro

 Fort Kearny

 Courthouse Rock

 Chimney Rock

 Scott's Bluff   Fort Laramie 
 * Merrill J. Mattes. Scotts Bluff. National Monument Nebraska. National Park Service Historical Handbook Series No. 28. Washington,D.C. 1958. (Reprint, 1961

 Independence Rock
 * Names on Independence Rock
 * Robert Spurrier Ellison. Independence Rock: The Great Record of the Deseret. Casper, Wyoming: Natrona County Historical Society, 1930.
 * Levida Hileman. In tar and paint and stone: the inscriptions at Independence Rock and Devil' Gate. Glendo,Wyoming: High Plains Press, 2001. FHL 978.793 H2hl

 South Pass 

 Soda Springs 

 Fort Hall 

 Fort Bridger 

Western Trails Interpretive Centers

 * National Frontier Trails Museum, Independence, Missouri
 * Western Historic Trails Center, Council Bluffs, Iowa
 * Mormon Trails Center at Historic Winter Quarters, Omaha,Nebraska
 * National Historic Trails Center, Casper, Wyoming
 * National Oregon/California Trail center, Montpelier, Idaho
 * End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Oregon City
 * National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Baler City
 * California Trail Interpretive Center, Elko, Nevada
 * Trail of the 49ers Interpretive Center, Wells, Nevada

Pre-1850 Migrations
Using the list below, go to the state where the family settled, then revert to the first place in column three, then second place, etc to the end. That is the probable route to the state you have chosen. Semicolons indicated a different route for a different population.

To: From:

AL Alabama TN,GA,NC,SC,MD

AR Arkansas MS, AL,TN,GA,KY,NC,VA,MD,SC

CT Connecticut MA,RI

DE Delaware NY-Dutch,NJ; PA-English,NY,NJ,VA,MD; PA-German

FL Florida West-TN,VA; Mid-VA,NC,SC; East-GA, AL,NC,SC

GA Georgia TN,NC,VA,SC; 1752-MA; Moravian's-NC

IL Illinois South-NC,VA,KY,MD,PA; North-New England

IN Indiana VA,KY,SC,NC; North-New England; TN-Quakers,NC,SC

IA Iowa IL,IN,OH,NY,WI,MN,MI

KS Kansas MO,IA,IL,IN,OH,KY; state census asks previous place of Residence

Ky Kentucky VA,NC,MD,PA,TN

LA Louisiana TN,KY, AL,MS,GA,SC,NC; French-Canada or direct

MD Maryland DE,PA,VA; DE-Dutch,NY,French-Nova Scotia;PA-German; PA-Scotch Irish,VA

MI Michigan New England,NY

MN Minnesota ME,then rest of New England

MS Mississippi AL,TN,GA,NC,SC,VA,KY,MD

MO Missouri KY,VA,NC,SC,MD,PA,TN

NE Nebraska KS,MO,IA

NH New Hampshire MA,ME,VT,CT,NY

NJ New Jersey English-CT,NY (particularly Long Island),Dutch-NY; Quakers-DE,PA

NY New York MA,CT,NJ,RI,VT; French-Canada,West Indies

NC North Carolina VA,SC,MD,PA-Shenandoah Valley;VA-Quakers,PA,MA (later many moved to OH,IN)

OH Ohio MA-SE corner,CT ,VA,KY,TN,NJ; PA-Quakers,NC; PA-German; Franklin County, OH,Perry County, OH,Licking County, OH; Canada

OK Oklahoma IL-North,IA,KS; South-AR,MO,TX,TN

PA Pennsylvania CT,NY,NJ

RI Rhode Island MA,CT,

SC South Carolina West Indies (Charleston); Dutch-NY

TN Tennessee NC,VA,SC

TX Texas NC,VA,SC

VT Vermont MA,CT,ME,Canada

VA Virginia NC,DE,MD,PA;Quakers-PA,NJ

Migration Records for Selected States

 * [[Image:California flag.png|border|22x15px|California flag.png]] California
 * [[Image:Indiana flag.png|border|22x15px|Indiana flag.png]] Indiana
 * [[Image:New Mexico flag.png|border|22x15px|New Mexico flag.png]] New Mexico
 * [[Image:Indiana flag.png|border|22x15px|Indiana flag.png]] Ohio
 * [[Image:Oregon flag.png|border|22x13px|Oregon flag.png]] Oregon
 * [[Image:Utah flag.png|border|22x15px|Utah flag.png]] Utah