Nevada Emigration and Immigration

Online Records
As Nevada is entirely inland, immigrants would have initially arrived at ports in border states. See United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records.
 * 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s at Ancestry; index only ($); Also at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Nevada
 * 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Nevada

Cultural Groups

 * 1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Nevada
 * Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Nevada
 * Italians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Nevada
 * Russians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Nevada

Passport Records Online

 * 1795-1925 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1795-1925 - U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 Index and images, at Ancestry ($)

Offices to Contact
Although many records are included in the online records listed above, there are other records available through these archives and offices. For example, there are many minor ports that have not yet been digitized. There are also records for more recent time periods. For privacy reasons, some records can only be accessed after providing proof that your ancestor is now deceased.

U.S. Citizenship and and Immigration Services Genealogy Program
The USCIS Genealogy Program is a fee-for-service program that provides researchers with timely access to historical immigration and naturalization records of deceased immigrants. If the immigrant was born less than 100 years ago, you will also need to provide proof of his/her death.

Immigration Records Available

 * A-Files: Immigrant Files, (A-Files) are the individual alien case files, which became the official file for all immigration records created or consolidated since April 1, 1944.
 * Alien Registration Forms (AR-2s): Alien Registration Forms (Form AR-2) are copies of approximately 5.5 million Alien Registration Forms completed by all aliens age 14 and older, residing in or entering the United States between August 1, 1940 and March 31, 1944.
 * Registry Files:''' Registry Files are records, which document the creation of immigrant arrival records for persons who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, and for whom no arrival record could later be found.
 * Files:''' Visa Files are original arrival records of immigrants admitted for permanent residence under provisions of the Immigration Act of 1924.

Requesting a Record

 * Web Request Page allows you to request a records, pay fees, and upload supporting documents (proof of death).
 * Record Requests Frequently Asked Questions

Oregon-California Trails Association
Oregon-California Trails Association is an educational organization that promotes the story of the westward migration to Nevada, among other places. Their site includes a personal name index to trail diaries, journals, reminiscences, autobiographies, newspaper articles, guidebooks and letters at A Guide to Overland Pioneer Names and Documents.
 * Search the Paper Trail Database Initial searches are FREE! You can go to the "Search" tab now to begin. These free searches will tell you if a name or document is in the database. It will give you the origin and year of the journey, how the person was mentioned, the name of the party, and the name and author of the document described. Subscriptions give you more complete information including a scan of the original survey. This lists the route taken, ages, and other notes about the document. But most importantly, you will have access to the location of known copies of the original document.

Finding Town of Origin
Records in the countries emigrated from are kept on the local level. You must first identify the name of the town where your ancestors lived to access those records. If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it.
 * U. S. Immigration Records: Finding the Town of Origin

Background

 * By 1826, American fur traders and trappers were in the area.
 * During the 1840's, emigrant wagons passed through the Humboldt and Truckee River valleys on the way to California.
 * In 1849, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made the first non-Indian settlement in Nevada at Mormon Station, now Genoa. Settlers from Salt Lake City also colonized southern Nevada, such as the Las Vegas area, in the 1850's. Most of these settlers were called back to central Utah in 1857, but new efforts at colonization were under way in southern Nevada by the mid-1860's.
 * In 1859, the Comstock gold and silver deposits were discovered in the Carson Valley. Thousands of Cornish, Irish, and other miners came from California and established the boom town of Virginia City.
 * By 1870, the census records listed over 40 percent of all Nevada residents as having come from Britain, Germany, Ireland, China, and Canada.
 * After 1880, Italians came in large numbers to Nevada. They were the largest immigrant group reported in the 1910 census, numbering nearly 3,000. *German, English, Irish, and Greek immigrants were also major groups within the total 1910 population of just over 80,000.
 * There have also been small numbers of Mexicans and Blacks in the state since the days of the early mining camps.
 * More recent immigrants to Nevada have included Basque sheepherders from the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain and France. Today it is estimated that between 5,000 and 10,000 Nevadans are of Basque descent.

Immigration Records
Immigration refers to people coming into a country. Emigration refers to people leaving a country to go to another. Immigration records usually take the form of ship's passenger lists collected at the port of entry. See Online Resources.

Information in Passenger Lists

 * Before 1820 - Passenger lists before 1820 included name, departure information and arrival details. The names of wives and children were often not included.


 * 1820-1891 - Customs Passenger Lists between 1820 and 1891 asked for each immigrant’s name, their age, their sex, their occupation, and their country of origin, but not the city or town of origin.


 * 1891-1954 - Information given on passenger lists from 1891 to 1954 included:
 * name, age, sex,
 * nationality, occupation, marital status,
 * last residence, final destination in the U.S.,
 * whether they had been to the U.S. before (and if so, when, where and how long),
 * if joining a relative, who this person was, where they lived, and their relationship,
 * whether able to read and write,
 * whether in possession of a train ticket to their final destination, who paid for the passage,
 * amount of money the immigrant had in their possession,
 * whether the passenger had ever been in prison, a poorhouse, or in an institution for the insane,
 * whether the passenger was a polygamist,
 * and immigrant's state of health.


 * 1906-- - In 1906, the physical description and place of birth were included, and a year later, the name and address of the passenger’s closest living relative in the country of origin was included.

Information in Passports
Over the years, passports and passport applications contained different amounts of information about the passport applicant. The first passports that are available begin in 1795. These usually contained the individual's name, description of individual, and age. More information was required on later passport applications, such as:


 * Birthplace
 * Birth date
 * Naturalization information
 * Arrival information, if foreign born

Nevada Migration Routes
Applegate Trail· California Trail· Central Overland Trail· Mormon Trail to Southern California· Old Trail· Central Pacific Railroad· Southern Pacific Railroad· Union Pacific Railroad

For Further reading

 * The Mormons in Nevada
 * The Basques in the Northwest: A Dissertation