Finding towns of origin in U.S. Records

(1800s-1900s immigrants)
Follow these steps for the entire immigrant family, not just the ancestor.


 * U.S. Census (every census)
 * Note country of birth in every census--boundaries change
 * 1850-1870: for Germany, may contain pre-unification country (i.e., Bavaria, Saxony)
 * 1900-1930: hyphenated birth places (e.g., Germany-Poland, Russia-Poland)
 * 1900-1920: year of immigration, naturalization status
 * 1920-1930: native language for finding ethnicity
 * Naturalization records
 * Find all documents: declaration, petition, naturalization
 * Immigration records
 * Locate the border crossing list or passenger arrival list; if the ship sailed from Hamburg, find the corresponding departure list
 * U.S. Draft Registration records, both World War I and World War II
 * Vital records, including marriage and death certificates, for all family members
 * U.S. religious records: know the religion of your ancestor
 * Find county copy of marriage of any ancestor or sibling that was born in Europe.
 * If the marriage was performed by a minister of the gospel, priest, rabbi, etc. identify the parish or Jewish community they lived in and search for the church/synagogue copy of the marriage
 * Confirmation, bar/bat Mitzvah, marriage, burial, and membership records of those born in Europe
 * Baptisms, circumcision, and naming records of children born in the U.S. may show where the parents were born
 * Obituaries
 * There are many ethnic-language newspapers in larger cities throughout the U.S. Search these newspapers first as they may have more information than English-language newspapers