Colorado Emigration and Immigration

How to Find the Records
Colorado, being entirely inland, has no seaports. Immigrants would have initially arrived at a port on the coast. To search those records, see United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records.

Online Resources

 * 1500s-1900s All U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s at Ancestry; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Colorado; Also at MyHeritage; index only ($)
 * 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritge; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Colorado

Cultural Groups

 * 1920-1939 Germany, Bremen Emigration Lists, 1920-1939 at MyHeritge; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Colorado
 * Germans Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritge; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Colorado
 * Italians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritge; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Colorado
 * Russians Immigrating to the United States at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Colorado

Passport Records Online

 * 1795-1925 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1795-1925 - U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 Index and images, at Ancestry ($)

Offices to Contact
Although many records are included in the online records listed above, there are other records available through these archives and offices. For example, there are many minor ports that have not yet been digitized. There are also records for more recent time periods. For privacy reasons, some records can only be accessed after providing proof that your ancestor is now deceased.

U.S. Citizenship and and Immigration Services Genealogy Program
The USCIS Genealogy Program is a fee-for-service program that provides researchers with timely access to historical immigration and naturalization records of deceased immigrants. If the immigrant was born less than 100 years ago, you will also need to provide proof of his/her death.

Immigration Records Available

 * A-Files: Immigrant Files, (A-Files) are the individual alien case files, which became the official file for all immigration records created or consolidated since April 1, 1944.
 * Alien Registration Forms (AR-2s): Alien Registration Forms (Form AR-2) are copies of approximately 5.5 million Alien Registration Forms completed by all aliens age 14 and older, residing in or entering the United States between August 1, 1940 and March 31, 1944.
 * Registry Files:''' Registry Files are records, which document the creation of immigrant arrival records for persons who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, and for whom no arrival record could later be found.
 * Files:''' Visa Files are original arrival records of immigrants admitted for permanent residence under provisions of the Immigration Act of 1924.

Requesting a Record

 * Web Request Page allows you to request a records, pay fees, and upload supporting documents (proof of death).
 * Record Requests Frequently Asked Questions

Finding Town of Origin
Records in the countries emigrated from are kept on the local level. You must first identify the name of the town where your ancestors lived to access those records. If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it.
 * U. S. Immigration Records: Finding the Town of Origin

Background
Since the 1840s, when the first Mexican land grants were made in southeastern Colorado, there has been a Hispanic population in the state. Settlers from the older Spanish colonies of New Mexico were in the San Luis Valley as early as 1851.

Most pre-statehood settlers of Colorado began arriving at the time of the gold rush of 1858. They came from the northeastern and midwestern states, especially New York, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Some came from the New Mexico Territory, and a few settlers came from the southern states, the Pacific Coast, and from other countries including England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, and Wales. Latter-day Saint settlements were made in the San Luis Valley in the 1870s and 1880s.

By 1910 residents not born in Colorado came primarily from Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, and Nebraska. About 16 percent of the 1910 population was from overseas, chiefly from Germany, Italy, England, Russia, Sweden, and Austria. Many of those from Russia were actually of German origin. Foreign immigration declined after 1910 except for a major immigration from Mexico in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Plains Indians of Colorado, including the Arapaho, the Cheyenne, the Kiowa, and the Comanche, had largely been removed to Indian Territory in Oklahoma by 1870. (See Indians of Colorado), The Ute Indians living in western Colorado did not give up their lands to white settlement until after 1880, when most of them were moved to reservations in Utah.

There is no predominant port of immigration for Colorado's foreign population, although many came through New York and other east coast ports.

A helpful published source on immigration and ethnic groups in Colorado is Colin B. Goodykoontz, The People of Colorado, in: Hafen, LeRoy Revised Edition. Colorado and Its People: A Narrative and Topical History of the Centennial State. Volume 2, pp. 77-120. New York, NY: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1948. (Family History Library .)

Records of a few ethnic groups, such as African Americans, Germans, and Jews, are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under COLORADO - MINORITIES. Some records of American Indians are listed under the same heading and under COLORADO - NATIVE RACES. Other American Indian records are listed in the Subject Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under the name of the tribe.

Immigration Records
Immigration refers to people coming into a country. Emigration refers to people leaving a country to go to another. Immigration records usually take the form of ship's passenger lists collected at the port of entry. See Online Resources.

Information in Passenger Lists

 * Before 1820 - Passenger lists before 1820 included name, departure information and arrival details. The names of wives and children were often not included.


 * 1820-1891 - Customs Passenger Lists between 1820 and 1891 asked for each immigrant’s name, their age, their sex, their occupation, and their country of origin, but not the city or town of origin.


 * 1891-1954 - Information given on passenger lists from 1891 to 1954 included:
 * name, age, sex,
 * nationality, occupation, marital status,
 * last residence, final destination in the U.S.,
 * whether they had been to the U.S. before (and if so, when, where and how long),
 * if joining a relative, who this person was, where they lived, and their relationship,
 * whether able to read and write,
 * whether in possession of a train ticket to their final destination, who paid for the passage,
 * amount of money the immigrant had in their possession,
 * whether the passenger had ever been in prison, a poorhouse, or in an institution for the insane,
 * whether the passenger was a polygamist,
 * and immigrant's state of health.


 * 1906-- - In 1906, the physical description and place of birth were included, and a year later, the name and address of the passenger’s closest living relative in the country of origin was included.

Information in Passports
Over the years, passports and passport applications contained different amounts of information about the passport applicant. The first passports that are available begin in 1795. These usually contained the individual's name, description of individual, and age. More information was required on later passport applications, such as:


 * Birthplace
 * Birth date
 * Naturalization information
 * Arrival information, if foreign born