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Passport Records Online

 * 1795-1925 - at FamilySearch — index and 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.

National Archives and Records Administration

 * The National Archives (NARA) has immigration records for arrivals to the United States from foreign ports between approximately 1820 and 1982. The records are arranged by Port of Arrival (See Part 5).
 * You may do research in immigration records in person at the National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001.


 * Some National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regional facilities have selected immigration records; call to verify their availability or check the online Microfilm Catalog.
 * Libraries with large genealogical collections, such as the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah and the Allen County Piblic Library also have selected NARA microfilm publications.
 * Order copies of passenger arrival records with NATF Form 81.

Louisiana Ports in NARA Records

 * Lake Charles, Louisiana, 1908-1954
 * |New Orleans, Louisiana, 1820-1902 and 1900-1952 and departures, 1867-1871

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

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

 * Pre-statehood settlers of Louisiana generally came from eastern Canada, France, Germany, the West Indies, Spain, and Africa. During the Revolutionary War many other immigrants arrived from the Atlantic states. When the territory was formed, large numbers of Americans from southern Ohio moved to this new acquisition.
 * Slaves were imported from Africa and the Caribbean.
 * The French brought indentured servants and convicts into Louisiana.
 * Louisiana received many Irish immigrants from early years of settlement and especially throughout much of the 19th century. The influx of Irish escalated during the Irish Great Famine, from 1846-1851 as New Orleans served as a gateway to many who passed through using the Mississippi River to migrate to other states.
 * Large numbers of Germans arrived in two waves, one just after 1810 and the second between 1840 and 1860.
 * Small numbers of Scandinavians came in the 1820s.
 * Some Mexicans settled here in the 1830s.
 * Later immigrant groups included Italians, Hungarians, and Slavs.
 * Records and histories of ethnic groups in Louisiana, including Acadians (“Cajuns”), Blacks, Canary Islanders, Chinese, Creoles, French, Germans, and Yugoslavs, are listed in FamilySearch Catalog under:

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 Databases and 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

In-country Migration
This section will detail any relevant migration patterns or influences that pertained to this location, such as common migration routes in the location, or groups of people from one location who congregated in another location, etc. (for state pages of the United States, this section will only include migration patterns that were relevant to that particular state)
 * LIST OF ROUTES

Immigrants
Pre-statehood settlers of Louisiana generally came from eastern Canada, France, Germany, the West Indies, Spain, and Africa. During the Revolutionary War many other immigrants arrived from the Atlantic states. When the territory was formed, large numbers of Americans from southern Ohio moved to this new acquisition.

New Orleans has always been Louisiana's major port.

Slaves were imported from Africa and the Caribbean. The French brought indentured servants and convicts into Louisiana.

The Irish were the largest immigrant group in Louisiana during the nineteenth century. They settled mainly during the 1840s and 1850s. Large numbers of Germans arrived in two waves, one just after 1810 and the second between 1840 and 1860. Small numbers of Scandinavians came in the 1820s. Some Mexicans settled here in the 1830s. Later immigrant groups included Italians, Hungarians, and Slavs.

Records and histories of ethnic groups in Louisiana, including Acadians (“Cajuns”), Blacks, Canary Islanders, Chinese, Creoles, French, Germans, and Yugoslavs, are listed in FamilySearch Catalog under:

Colonial Period
To learn more about the earliest European settlers, see:


 * Conrad, Glenn R. The First Families of Louisiana. Baton Rouge, La.: Claitor's, 1970. 2 vols.

Dr. Marianne S. Wokeck created a detailed list of "German Immigrant Voyages, 1683-1775" to Colonial America. Destinations include Louisiana (1721). She published the list in an Appendix to:


 * Wokeck, Marianne S. Trade in Strangers: The Beginnings of Mass Migration to North America. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999..

Spain recruited Canary Islanders to fight against the British in the American Revolution. See Spain in the American Revolution. There’s a book in English about The Canary Islanders of Louisiana that has names of recruits, their wives and children and some ages of the children.

Passenger Lists
The major port of entry to Louisiana has been New Orleans.

A number of colonial immigrants came to Louisiana from the Canary Islands, which belonged to Spain, see:


 * Villeré, Sidney Louis. The Canary Islands Migration to Louisiana, 1778-1783: The History and Passenger Lists of the Isleños Volunteer Recruits and Their Families. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1972..
 * "French Immigrants to Louisiana 1796-1800," The Southern History Association, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Mar. 1907):106-112. Digitized by Internet Archive - free.

Lists of some of the colonial passengers have been published and are at the Family History Library. The Family History Library and the National Archives also have microfilms of:


 * Original passenger lists for New Orleans (1820-1921)
 * Indexes (1820-50, 1853-1952)
 * Quarterly summaries of passenger lists for New Orleans (1820-75)

The National Archives also has:


 * Passenger lists for New Orleans (1903-45)
 * Five of the six volumes of Passenger Lists . . . Port of New Orleans. These are typescripts of lists from some years between 1813 and 1867. Each volume contains an index.

FamilySearch is in the process of digitizing these collections:


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

Ships

 * Passenger List for L'Amitie or the La Amistad. A 400 ton ship led by Captain Joseph Beltremieux, left France on August 20, 1785. After 80 days at sea, they arrived on November 8, 1785.

Further information on immigration sources is in United States Emigration and Immigration.