United States Migration InternalEdit This Page

• Canals
• Ports
• Railroads
• Rivers and Lakes
• Trails and Roads

• Analyzing/Using Data
• Availability
• Historical Background
• Indexes
• Online Sources

Other records that show where people settled are:

• Census
• Directories
• Journals and Diaries
• Land and Property
• Maps (especially plat and insurance maps)
• Taxation
• Voting Registers

Value of Migration Research

Migration research may help you discover:

• a place of origin, or previous hometown of an ancestor
• biographical information such as what they experienced, or with whom they traveled on the journey
• clues for finding other records

Contents of U.S. Migration Records

Migration Records for Selected States

Key Reference Sources

• William Thorndale, and William Dollarhide, Map Guide to U.S. Federal Censuses 1790-1920 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publ., 1987) [FHL book 973 X2th]. Shows county boundary changes in each state from 1790 to 1920, and which census areas were lost or still exist.
• William Dollarhide, The Census Book: a Genealogist's Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes: with Master Extraction Forms for Federal Census Schedules, 1790-1930. (Bountiful, Utah: Heritage Quest, 1999)[FHL book 973 X27d]. An online edition is at HeritageQuestOnline. Discusses indexes, regular, and non-population schedules.
• G. David Dilts, "Censuses and Tax Lists" in Kory L. Meyerink, ed., Printed Sources: a Guide to Published Genealogical Records (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1998), 300-52. Strategies for finding elusive ancestors, and history of indexing.

Things you can do

In order to make this wiki a better research tool, we need your help! Many tasks need to be done. You can help by: