Ohio Emigration and Immigration

How to Find the Records
Although Ohio had ports of entry on Lake Erie, no passenger lists for ships are available. The majority of the immigrants arrived through eastern ports (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore) and New Orleans. 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 ($); Also at MyHeritage; index only ($); includes those with Destination of Ohio
 * 1894-1954 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1895-1956 United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Ohio
 * 1929-1958 Ohio, Crew List Arrivals, 1929-1958 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1952-1963 Ohio, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1952-1963 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1952-1974 Ohio, Passenger and Crew Lists arriving at Ashtabula and Conneaut, 1952-1974 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

Cultural Groups

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

Wales-Ohio Project

 * The Wales-Ohio Project goal is to digitize a selection of Welsh Heritage pertaining to the state of Ohio held at The National Library of Wales and to make it available to audiences world-wide. This collection includes a variety of manuscripts, letters, photographs and maps concerning the history of Welsh Settlers.

Background

 * Pre-statehood settlers of Ohio generally came from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey.
 * By 1850, immigrants from Germany, Ireland, and England traveled on Zanes's Trace, the National Road, various canals, and Indian trails.
 * The Western Reserve in northeast Ohio was heavily settled by New Englanders.
 * Settlers in the Virginia Military District of southwest Ohio were mostly from Virginia and Kentucky.
 * Scotch-Irish and Germans settled in the east and south part of Ohio>
 * The Irish most often settled in cities.
 * The Germans tended to choose farms in rural areas.
 * Many immigrants from England, France, Canada, Wales, and Scotland moved to Ohio between 1850 and 1880. In 1880, 15 percent of Ohio's people were foreign born.
 * Until 1914, Italians, Russian Jews, Slovenes, Hungarians, and Poles were attracted to Cleveland and cities in northeastern Ohio.
 * Today, about 10 percent of Ohio's population is African American.
 * Norwegian Settlements were an important part of the Ohio landscape. The Origin and Distribution of Settlement Groups Wilhelm, Hubert G. H. The Origin and Distribution of Settlement Groups. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University, 1982. {{FHL|164152|item|disp=FHL fich

Additional Research Helps
Records and books on the Irish, Germans, Blacks, and American Indians are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under


 * OHIO - MINORITIES.

Records of small groups of Alsatians, Russians, Norwegians, and Welsh are listed under


 * OHIO - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION.