Virginia Emigration and Immigration

United States   United States Emigration and Immigration   Virginia    Emigration and Immigration

The original European settlers came in the early 17th century from the midland and southern counties of England. They first settled in Virginia's tidewater (coastal plain). Many colonists had connections to Barbados. Although the first blacks arrived in 1619, large numbers of blacks were imported beginning about 1680. Small landholders moved westward to the Piedmont, where they were joined by a new wave of English and Scottish immigrants.

In the early 1700s, French Huguenots arrived, followed by German workers imported between 1714 and 1717 to work iron furnaces in the Piedmont area. During the 1730s and 1740s, a large number of settlers of Ulster Scot and German descent moved southward from Pennsylvania down the Allegheny Ridges into the Shenandoah Valley.

Beginning in the late 18th century, Virginia lost many residents as families moved westward to new states and territories. There was very little foreign immigration to Virginia after 1800.

Colonial Period
Most surviving lists of colonial Virginia immigrants have been published in various sources. Almost all names of colonial immigrants listed in published sources are indexed in P. William Filby, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index.

The major port in Virginia was Norfolk, but many settlers arrived at Baltimore, Philadelphia, or other ports and then migrated to Virginia. In the eighteenth century, ships selling indentured servants and transported convicts often docked at ports along the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers.

McCartney completed a 20-year scholarly study of all persons known to have resided in Colonial Virginia between 1607 and 1634. She published the results in 2007 to celebrate Virginia's 400th anniversary:


 * McCartney, Martha W. Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007..

Other studies establishing the identities of early Virginia immigrants include:


 * The Biographical Dictionary of Early Virginia, 1607- 1660 lists many immigrants. See Virginia Biography.
 * Greer, George Cabell. Early Virginia Immigrants 1623-1666. Richmond, Va.: W.C. Hill Printing Co., 1912. Digital book at Google Books.
 * Standard, W.G. Some Emigrants to Virginia: Memoranda in Regard to Several Hundred Emigrants to Virginia During the Colonial Period Whose Parentage is Shown or Former Residence Indicated by Authentic Records. Richmond, Va.: The Bell Book &amp; Stationery Company, 1911. Digital versions at Ancestry ($), Google Books, and Internet Archive. Free online surname index and purchase details for 2005 reprint at Mountain Press website.

A comprehensive list of about 140,000 immigrants to America from Britain is:


 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1776, and Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775. Novato, California: Brøderbund Software, 1996. (Family History Library compact disc no. 9 pt. 350[does not circulate to Family History Centers].) Includes numerous Virginia immigrants. May show British hometown, emigration date, ship, destination, and text of the document abstract.

Headright grants document the importation of settlers into the colony. They are kept at the Library of Virginia. They have been abstracted and digitized:


 * Nugent, Nell M. et al. Cavaliers and Pioneers. Multi-volume.

Once the patentee's name is known it is possible to retrieve digital images of the original land office patents on the website of the Library of Virginia, see: Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants.

The Virginia Colonial Records Project can help American trace their European immigrant origins. For a description, see:


 * Riley, Edward M. "The Virginia Colonial Records Project," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 2 (June 1963):81-89. 973 B2ng v. 51

Withington, like the Virginia Colonial Records Project, sought ought references to Virginians in English archives:


 * Withington, Lathrop. Virginia Gleanings in England: Abstracts of 17th and 18th-Century English Wills and Administrations Relating to Virginia and Virginians. 

For English passenger lists, 1773 to 1776, which include emigrants destined for Virginia, see:


 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. Emigrants from England to the American Colonies, 1773-1776. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing co., 1988..

English officials kept records of payments made for the transportation of Anglican ministers to America, see:


 * Fothergill, Gerald. A List of Emigrant Ministers to America, 1690-1811. London: E. Stock, 1904. Digital versions at Ancestry ($); Google Books; Internet Archive, 1965 reprint:

Records of ethnic groups, including Huguenots, Mennonites, Scots, Germans, and blacks, are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under the subject heading VIRGINIA - MINORITIES. The following contains abstracts and indexes to wills, mentioning about 5,000 immigrants to Virginia:


 * Nugent, Nell M. Early Settlers of Virginia. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company 1969 (lists pre-1616 settlers)
 * O'Brien, Michael J. Irish In America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company 1965.

Scholarly articles published in The American Genealogist, the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, and The Virginia Genealogist illustrate strategies that will help Americans trace their colonial Virginia immigrant origins.

Colonial Ships
Though they do not include names of passengers, records kept by the Board of Trade and stored at The National Archives (Kew, England), document ships' arrivals and departures from Virginia ports between 1698 and 1774. FamilySearch microfilmed these records. They are useful for learning about the history of ships entering the colony:


 * Naval Office Shippings Lists for Virginia, 1698-1774 in the Public Record Office, London..

Ships mentioned in the Virginia Gazette betwen 1736 and 1780 have been identified in the free online index produced by Colonial Williamsburg. The index links to scanned newspaper images.

Peter Wilson Coldham compiled a list of convict ships travelling between English and Virginia ports during the eighteenth century. See appendix to:


 * Coldham, Peter Wilson. British Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1788. CD-ROM. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004..

Names of ships can also be gleaned from colonial county court order books and English State Papers Colonial, American and West Indies.

1783 to Present
The Family History Library and the National Archives have many of the post-1820 passenger lists and indexes for Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other major ports. These are listed in the Family History Library Catalog Locality Search under [STATE], [COUNTY], [CITY] - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION.

The Family History Library and the National Archives also have incomplete passenger lists for the following ports.


 * Alexandria, 1820-1865
 * East River, 1830
 * Hampton, 1820-1821
 * Norfolk and Portsmouth, 1820-1857
 * Petersburg, 1820-1821
 * Richmond, 1820-1844

The above lists are included in Copies of Lists of Passengers Arriving at Miscellaneous Ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. . . (in the Family History Library Catalog Locality Search under UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION; -. These lists are indexed in Supplemental Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Atlantic and Gulf Coast Ports . . . (in the Family History Library Catalog Locality Search under UNITED STATES - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION - INDEXES; -

During the War of 1812, American officials reported finding a total of 333 British aliens, many of whom had families, living in Virginia:

Richmond 105 Petersburg 50 Norfolk, Boro 36 Rockbridge 16 No place 13 Campbell, Lynchburg 11 Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg 7 Wythe 7 Culpeper 6 Fauquier 6 Henrico 6 Powhatan 5 Chesterfield, Manchester 4 Stafford, Falmouth 4 Botetourt 3 Chesterfield 3 Norfolk County 3 Botetourt, Fincastle 2 Cumberland, Cartersville 2 Elizabeth City, Hampton 2 Goochland 2 Harrison 2 Kentucky, Lexington 2 Lunenburg 2 Princess Anne 2 Washington, Abingdon 2 Accomack 1 Albemarle, Charlottesville 1 Fairfax, Alexandria 1 Baltimore 1 Bedford 1 Charles City 1 Charlotte 1 Cumberland 1 Dinwiddie 1 Elizabeth City 1 Fluvanna 1 Grayson 1 Greenbrier 1 Hanover 1 Jefferson, Charles Town 1 Loudoun, Leesburg 1 Louisa 1 Madison 1 Middlesex 1 Norfolk, Portsmouth 1 Northumberland 1 Philadelphia 1 Pittsylvania 1 Prince George 1 Prince William, Dumfries 1 Southampton 1 Spotsylvania 1 Washington 1 Westmoreland 1 Wood 1

Westward Migrants
Free native-born Virginians, alive in 1850, who had left the state, resettled as follows:

Robertson compiled a list of Virginians in Kansas in 1860:


 * Robertson, Clara Hamlett. Kansas Territorial Settlers of 1860 Who were Born in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina: A Compilation with Historical Annotations and Editorial Comment. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976. ; digital version at World Vital Records ($).

Web Sites

 * http://www.alexandria.lib.va.us/lhsc_genealogy_resources/citizen/citizen.html
 * Immigrant Servants Database 20,000+ colonial immigrants, primary focus: Chesapeake Bay colonies (Virginia and Maryland)
 * Virtual Jamestown Indentured servant registers from colonial period, which identify English indentured servants shipped to America