Mormon Migration Database - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of an index of pioneer immigrants with image links to journals, autobiographies, letters, and other narratives for the years 1840 to 1932. The immigrants were from the British Isles, Scandinavian, Swedish, and Netherlands Missions. Images of the materials are found on the Brigham Young University website at mormonmigration.lib.byu.edu.

Collection Contents
These records may contain any of the following information:


 * Name
 * Names of others traveling with the immigrant
 * Gender
 * Married or single
 * Whether member, child, or Priesthood office held
 * Birth date and place
 * Baptism date
 * Residence or current address
 * Remarks

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * Your ancestor’s name
 * Some identifying information such as the date of birth or names of other family members

To search the collection by name: fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line video at FamilySearch Search Tips.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use the names of the parents' father and mother to find additional generations of the family.
 * Use the birth date to search for a civil birth record.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct.
 * You may need to compare the information of more than one family or person to determine if any of the individuals in this collection are part of your family.
 * Additional searches of the records may be necessary to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives.
 * This or additional information may also be available in the "Trees" section of FamilySearch.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For, Now What?

 * Look for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Related Websites
Mormon Migration

Related Wiki Articles

 * LDS Membership Records
 * International Genealogical Index
 * Early Church Information File (ECIF)
 * Family Group Records Collection
 * Utah

Citing this Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection Citation

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):