Florida Emigration and Immigration

Online Resources

 * 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s at Ancestry; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Florida; Also at MyHeritage; index only ($)
 * 1820-1870 Atlantic and Gulf Ports, Passenger List Card Index, 1820-1870 at MyHeritage - index & images ($)
 * 1820-1874 at FamilySearch; index & images — How to Use this Collection
 * 1820-1873, 1893-1959 U.S., Atlantic Ports Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1873 and 1893-1959, at Ancestry ($), index and images
 * 1820-1873 Atlantic Ports, Gulf Coasts, and Great Lakes Passenger Lists, Roll 5: 1820-1873 at Ancestry ($), index
 * 1820-1873 Atlantic Ports, Gulf Coasts, and Great Lakes Passenger Lists, Roll 2: 1820-1873 at Ancestry ($), index
 * 1890-1924 Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at ports in Florida 1890-1924 at FamilySearch; images only
 * 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Florida; also at: Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1898-1945 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1898-1945 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1898-1963 Florida Passenger Lists, 1898-1963 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1900-1945 Florida, Pensacola, Passenger Lists, 1900-1945 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1908-1912 Florida, Knights Keys Passenger Lists, 1908-1912 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1924-1948 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1926-1941 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1930-1942 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index only; Also at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1932-1951 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1944-1945 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
 * Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild at MyHeritage; index only ($)

Cultural Groups

 * 1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Florida
 * Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Florida
 * Italians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Florida
 * Russians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Florida
 * The Italians in colonial Florida : a repertory of Italian families settled in Florida under the Spanish (1513-1762, 1784-1821) and British (1762-1784) regimes; with a brief historical outline and an appendix on the contemporary colonial press, e-book

Passport Records Online

 * 1795-1925 at FamilySearch; index and images — How to Use this Collection
 * 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.

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 Florida generally arrived after 1817 from the older southern states, especially Georgia and the Carolinas.
 * The East Florida non-Indian population hovered between 3,000 in 1763 and 5,000 in 1817 as the colony passed from the Spanish to the British and then back to Spanish possession.
 * By 1768 the British had imported over 1,200 Greeks, Italians, and Minorcans to the New Smyrna settlement. Many of them died, and by 1778 the remaining inhabitants were scattered through St. Augustine, where Minorcans are still an identifiable part of the population.
 * Thousands of loyalist refugees arrived from the rebellious American colonies beginning in 1775, but most were deported after 1783 to the Bahamas, Jamaica, and other islands of the British West Indies.
 * A few Americans from the southern states and British planters returning from the Bahamas entered Florida between 1790 and 1804.
 * In 1804, the Spanish officially closed East Florida to American immigration, but settlers continued to cross the Georgia-Florida border, especially after 1812.
 * Most persons migrating from the United States settled in the northern section of the state.
 * African Americans have been in Florida since early colonial times. There were as many African Americans as whites in Florida between 1830 and 1900.
 * The state remained sparsely settled until after the Civil War. Then land speculation, the construction of railroads, and the building of resorts attracted new residents from the northern states.
 * There were white settlers in all parts of Florida by 1900, when the total population reached 500,000.
 * The population doubled to one million by 1920, when a second Florida land boom was underway.
 * Refugees from revolutionary troubles in Cuba came to Florida beginning in 1868.
 * Immigrants from northern Spain, Italy, Greece, and other areas of southeastern Europe arrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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

For Further Reading
The FamilySearch Library has additional sources listed in their catalog: