{"id":8134,"date":"2014-09-04T15:54:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T15:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=8134"},"modified":"2023-03-31T09:01:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T13:01:22","slug":"your-immigrant-ancestor-genealogy-research-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/your-immigrant-ancestor-genealogy-research-tips.html","title":{"rendered":"Your Immigrant Ancestor: Genealogy Research Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega shows how historical newspapers can help you learn more about your immigrant ancestors and what their immigration experience was like. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

What is your ethnic background? Who was your first immigrant ancestor? Newspapers are a great resource for learning more about our individual ancestors as well as the social history of their time. How did your ancestor come to the United States? What was life like when they arrived? Whether you use the newspaper for photos<\/a>, passenger lists<\/a>, articles, or some historical background, there\u2019s a good chance you can learn more about your immigrant ancestor by searching an online newspaper database such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Immigrants Arriving in America<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellis Island wasn\u2019t the only arrival port for immigrants in the United States, but over time it has become synonymous with immigration. This short notice and image of Ellis Island in a 1907 North Dakota newspaper proclaims that a million Europeans a year entered the United States.<\/p>\n

\"Ellis<\/a>
Evening Times (Grand Forks, North Dakota), 16 July 1907, page 12<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ship lists<\/a> printed in the newspaper are a great source of information, such as this example from an 1897 New York newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"Incoming<\/a>
New York Tribune (New York, New York), 24 May 1897, page 12<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once you have searched on your immigrant ancestor\u2019s name, the passenger ship they sailed to America on or their country of origin, narrow your search on GenealogyBank\u2019s Search Results page by using the category \u201cPassenger Lists<\/a>\u201d to focus on just those types of articles.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

In the absence of finding a passenger list with your ancestor\u2019s name and the ship they arrived on, consider the ports and modes of transportation available to them. Research their lives in the United States in your effort to learn more about their journey.<\/p>\n

Photos Tell a Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

Images are one way to search historical newspapers. GenealogyBank\u2019s Search Results page lets you narrow your search to articles that contain images by clicking on the \u201cPhotos & Illustrations<\/a>\u201d category.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

Exploring old photos in newspapers is a great way to learn more about immigrants during the time period that your ancestor came to America. All types of images of newly arrived immigrants graced the pages of newspapers.<\/p>\n

\"photos<\/a>
Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, Montana), 26 December 1920, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Photos of immigrants wearing their native costumes can be found in newspapers, and there can also be photos telling the stories of individual families. For example, the following photo focuses on one particular Dutch family and its 15 members, mostly children of the family. Whoever wrote this newspaper caption had a great sense of humor when they proclaimed: \u201cNo nation can beat the Dutch in this wonderful matter of human productivity.\u201d Note that the father\u2019s complete name, Hendrik Feyen, is listed. As a whole, they are referred to as the Feyen family and the wife\/mother is referred to only by her first name. When conducting searches for your ancestor, make sure to conduct multiple searches and take into account variations of your ancestors\u2019 names.<\/p>\n

\"Family<\/a>
Twin Falls News (Twin Falls, Idaho), 26 April 1921, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If your family immigrated as a group, make sure to search on every name in that family group including a search on just the surname. It\u2019s important not to make assumptions about newspaper articles. For example, in this article about immigrant women traveling to meet up with fianc\u00e9s living in the United States, the names of the women\u2014but not their beaus\u2014are listed, and where they are from. It would be easy to assume that women would not be mentioned as readily as male partners, but that is not always the case.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 13 October 1922, page 16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other types of articles about an individual may not be obvious sources of immigration information. Don\u2019t forget about interviews with older family members and what those can tell you about the person\u2019s life. Anyone who had an unusual story, lived to a ripe old age, or was married for 50+ years may have found themselves the subject of a biographical newspaper article that included their immigration experiences.<\/p>\n

GenealogyBank\u2019s Ethnic Newspaper Archives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Searching all possible newspapers is a great idea for researching your ancestor\u2014but don\u2019t forget that GenealogyBank\u2019s Ethnic Newspaper Archives are especially helpful because it\u2019s in the ethnic newspapers that an immigrant community might be written about in more detail than a newspaper serving the general public. Readers of ethnic newspapers would be interested in people from their homeland, so it makes sense that the story of your immigrant ancestor might be featured there.<\/p>\n