Alabama Emigration and Immigration

Online Resources

 * 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s - Alabama USA at Ancestry; index only ($)
 * 1820-1835 Atlantic Ports, Gulf Coasts, and Great Lakes Passenger Lists, Roll 7:1820-1835 at Ancestry; index only ($)
 * 1820-1870 Atlantic Ports, Gulf Coasts, and Great Lakes Passenger Lists, Roll 4:1820-1870 at Ancestry; index only ($)
 * 1820-1874 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images ($)
 * 1821-1822 Mobile ship news at FamilySearch; images only
 * 1845-1849 Atlantic Ports, Gulf Coasts, and Great Lakes Passenger Lists, Roll 8:1845-1849 at Ancestry; index only ($)
 * 1890-1924 Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at ports in Alabama 1890-1924 at FamilySearch; images only
 * 1904-1962 Alabama, U.S., Arriving Passenger Lists, 1904-1962 at Ancestry; index & images ($)

History
During the early 1700s, some French and Spanish families immigrated to the southern coastal area, but most pre-statehood settlers of Alabama came from the older southern states, especially North Carolina and Georgia. Many of these were brought to the state. Most American Indians cotton planters of English or Ulster Scots origin. Many slaves were were moved westward to Oklahoma by 1839, but a few hundred Creek Indians still live in southern Alabama.

Southern Ports
Mobile has been a port of entry for overseas immigrants since early colonial times. Relatively few overseas immigrants who came in the 1800s stayed in Alabama. The place to start your Alabama passenger list search is the online Immigration &amp; Travel Collection at Ancestry ($). The Family History Library and the National Archives have the following indexes and records accessible onsite in their facilities:

Indexes to passengers arriving at Mobile are:


 * Connick, Lucille Mallon. Lists of Ships Passengers, Mobile, Alabama. Two Volumes. Mobile, Alabama: L.M. Connick, 1988. . Volume One has passenger lists for 1838 to 1840; Volume Two has lists for 1841 to 1860. These provide the ship’s name; the name of the ship’s captain or pilot; and the names of passengers, often with their age, country of birth, occupation, and residence.


 * Hageness, MariLee Beatty. Passports and Ship Passengers 1849-1862: Mobile, Alabama. Anniston, Ala.: M.B. Hageness, 2002.


 * United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, 1890–1924. National Archives Microfilm Publications, T0517. Washington, DC: Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1957.

Mobile and other southern ports passenger lists:


 * Browse through images.


 * United States. Bureau of Customs. Copies of Lists of Passengers Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and at Ports on the Great Lakes, 1820–1873. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M0575. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1964. The film includes portions of Mobile lists for 1832 and 1849 to 1852.


 * United States. Bureau of Customs. A Supplemental Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic &amp; Gulf Coast Ports (Excluding New York) 1820–1874. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M0334. Washington, DC: National Archives and Record Services, 1960. (Family History Library This film indexes Mobile passengers for 1832, 1849 to 1852.

Colonial Settlers

 * DeVille, Winston. "Anglos and Anglo-Americans in Early Alabama," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 70 (1982):243-245. Digital version at National Genealogical Society website ($);

Migration
A source listing persons traveling through Indian lands is:


 * Potter, Dorothy Williams. Passports of Southeastern Pioneers, 1770–1823: Indian, Spanish, and Other Land Passports for Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North and South Carolina. Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press, 1982. During the period from 1798 to 1819 Alabama was part of the Mississippi Territory. These records list people going from the Mississippi Territory elsewhere, or coming into the Mississippi Territory from other states. The records also mention people who obtained passports from the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee Indian agencies to pass through their land. The book is well indexed.

What was it like to move from Virginia to Alabama in the early 1800s? Owen's journal of his trip is available online at Internet Archive - free.

How did your migrant ancestor find the correct destination in Alabama? Quite possibly they had a copy of Brown's book:


 * Brown, Samuel R. The Western Gazetteer or Emigrant's Directory, Containing a Geographical Description of the Western States and Territories, viz. The States of Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi: and the Territories of Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Michigan, and North-Western. Auburn, N.Y.: H.C. Southwick, 1817. Digital versions at NIU Library Digitization Projects and World Vital Records ($).

General Information
Family History Library

Alabama immigration records are listed in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:


 * ALABAMA — EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION
 * ALABAMA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] — EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION

Informational Articles

Nearly 50 million people have immigrated to the United States. You can gain essential information from immigration records such as your ancestors’ arrival date, port of departure and arrival, names of other family or community members, and the country they came from.


 * United States, Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports - FamilySearch Historical Records

"The United States Emigration and Immigration" Wiki article lists several important sources for finding information about immigrants. These nationwide sources include many references to people who settled in Alabama. Tracing Immigrant Origins introduces principles, search strategies, and additional record types you can use to identify an immigrant ancestor’s original hometown.