Records to Search
What family records to search for? Locating various records can provide hints about our ancestor’s life. Obtaining one record may include key information as well as, clues for other records in other sources. By finding as many of these records as possible, you will see a more complete picture of their lives.
Looking for | First Search | Other Sources |
---|---|---|
Names of ancestors | Family records and recollections of family members | Immigration and naturalization records, census |
Names of ancestral villages | Passenger lists, naturalization papers (esp. declaration of intent), 1918 Alien Registration Records*, WWI & WWII draft registration records; in Canada, the 1940 National Registration | Obituaries, state, county or town histories, cemetery headstones, Bibles, old letters, church birth records of offspring, 1940 Canadian National Registration |
Location of the ancestral village | Google search, Wikipedia, maps from around the time of immigration, websites including Donauschwaben Villages Helping Hands | Maps, Gazetteers, “Hungarian Village Finder” |
Names of those who came to U.S. or Canada | Family records, family members, obituaries | Census records, passenger lists and border entry lists |
Year of arrival, name of ship | U.S. census (1910-1930) and Canadian census (1901, 1906, 1911, 1916 and 1921) gives year of arrival | U.S. Naturalization records (“first papers” or Declaration of Intention), Alien registration*, 1940 National Registration (Canada). Death records may indicate how many years the deceased had resided in the new country. |
*WWI 1918 Alien Registration Records, (non-citizen residents) living in the United States registered with the U.S. Government between November 1917 and April 1918. The majority of these files have been lost or destroyed. Existing files read more