Census

Although census records exist in Continental Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, they do not have general indexes as do United States census records. The 1881 census of England and Wales is being indexed, but only parts of it are currently available. In many countries, censuses usually cover fairly small areas if they exist at all. They can be used to identify or eliminate possible places an emigrant might have lived. The national research outlines describe the availability of censuses and indexes for various countries.

Church Records

Various Christian denominations generate records of the people that belong to their congregations. Records of christenings, marriages, confirmations, and burials are some you can expect to find. Some church records are indexed. There are also published extracts of church records. The Ortssippenbücher (village lineage books) in Germany are generally extracts of church and other records that have been compiled into family groups and published.

Most church records are kept by the parish or congregation. You will need to know the place of origin before searching them. Therefore, these records are usually more useful for proving you have found the correct place of origin rather than for finding a place of origin.

Nationwide indexes are available for a few countries, such as the Old Parochial Registers of the Church of Scotland (available at family history centers). Completely extracted and indexed by county, these records are also listed in the International Genealogical Index. The International Genealogical Index also indexes many, but not all, church records for some countries, including Scotland, England, Germany, Mexico, and the Scandinavian countries. Check the Family History Library Catalog for other indexes to church records.

Many archives have church records, and they often publish inventories of their holdings. Archives may also compile indexes to the church records of the region they serve. If you can access church records from several parishes in a regional archive, you can use church records as part of tactic 5 (searching regional records). For guides to archives, look in the Locality section of the Family History Library Catalog under [COUNTRY], [COUNTY], [CITY] - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES.

Civil Registration

Civil registration records of births, marriages, deaths, and sometimes divorces are kept by national or local governments. Finding an emigrant in civil registration records usually means you have found his or her place of origin. In most cases, it is not a means of finding emigrants. Their value increases when they are indexed nationwide, such as in England and Wales after 1837, New Zealand after 1848, Scotland after 1855, and Ireland after 1864. In some countries, civil registration records are indexed by town or county, as in France after 1792, Belgium after 1796, and the Netherlands after 1811.

The availability of indexes determines whether to use civil registration earlier or later in your research. Find out when civil registration began in the area where your emigrant lived.

To see if civil registration records for the country have been indexed, search the Locality section of the Family History Library Catalog under [LOCALITY] - CIVIL REGISTRATION - INDEXES.

Some areas, such as Scandinavian countries, did not have civil registration but used the government-sponsored church to register the vital information of its citizens.

Court Records

Look first for published court record abstracts with indexes. In some countries, such as Germany, emigrants had to show their debts were paid to get permission to leave. People who left without permission (fugitives) are also sometimes mentioned. In some countries, like England, courts deported criminals to America or Australia during colonial times. Some such records are indexed, for example—

Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. (FHL book 973 W2c.)

——. The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1660. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987. (FHL book 973 W2coL.)

You can also use court records when you know the region where an emigrant may have lived. This is difficult and requires searching the appropriate records for the time period when the immigrant left. You may have to hire on-site researchers to investigate foreign court records.

For court record indexes and abstracts on emigrants, deported convicts, or bonded servants, check the Locality section of the Family History Library Catalog under [COUNTRY] - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION.

Directories

City and telephone directories are useful for localizing an uncommon surname, especially in Italy, England, Scotland, and Wales. Computerized phone directories are available for Germany on compact disc (from Phone Disc USA, 20 Edenville Rd, Warwick, NY 10990) and in France through Minitel and Geopatronyme computer services. With such tools, you may search for a name from the entire country. While this approach locates present-day people with the same surname, you may find relatives of the emigrant or other people interested in your research. Often families with the same surname (especially an uncommon surname) know the area where the family originated.

The Family History Library has many nineteenth-century city directories from major cities of several countries. These directories may identify the emigrant, if he or she lived in that city. They also indicate how common the surname was in the region where the city was located. To use older directories to localize a surname, search all available city directories from the country of origin. This is usually easiest when used with other sources, such as the International Genealogical Index or surname books, and when you have narrowed the search to a part of a country. Note how often the surname appears in comparison to the total names (or pages) in the directory. Uncommon surnames are usually most strongly represented in one or two cities. Directories are best used as clues to the region where the name is common. Most emigrants did not live in cities for which directories were printed.

Emigration and Immigration

The process of emigrating from one country to another generated various records. Often a country required the emigrant to receive permission to leave. If the emigrant obeyed this law (about one-third did not), there may be an application to leave or a passport. Emigrants also had to book passage and board a vessel for the new country. Each step could have generated a record. Records of departure in the country of origin are called emigration records. Most emigration records give the emigrant's name, age, close relatives or traveling companions, and last place of residence (sometimes birthplace).

To use emigration lists, you must know the country of origin (or the port of departure) and when the emigrant left. A growing number of lists have been indexed. The archives in some countries have prepared indexes of emigrants from particular regions to better document emigration. Private authors have also compiled or indexed specific emigration records. Many emigration records and indexes are listed in the Locality section of the Family History Library Catalog under [COUNTRY] - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION.

Departure Lists. Some ports made lists of departing passengers. These records include such information as age, occupation, and last place of residence or birthplace. While some records have not been preserved, many are now on microfilm. Where available, these are an excellent source for finding an emigrant's place of origin. Many existing departure lists are available at the Family History Library. Of particular interest are the port records of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden (see Step 5 "Place-Names" section for a list of major European port cities). The Hamburg, Germany, departure lists begin in 1850. Most eastern Europeans departed from Hamburg, including people from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Sweden. See the Library's resource guide The Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 (34047).

Significant published departure lists for Europe and Great Britain include—

• Dutch emigrants from 1835 to 1880.
• English to America 1773-1776.
• Irish departures 1833 to 1839 and 1847 to 1871 (incomplete).