Daily AncestorFollow an immigrant's arrival year
For one ancestor born abroad, collect every year of immigration they gave, from census columns and naturalization papers, and see whether the story holds together.
Arrival years drift from record to record. Lining them up tells you which passenger lists to search and which papers to request.
Your steps this week
- Find the person in the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 censuses where you can, and copy the year of immigration and citizenship status each time.
- Look for a naturalization record or index card and note any arrival date it gives.
- Put all the years in one table with the date and type of each record.
- Decide which year is best supported, and which records to search next for the voyage itself.
- Note who probably gave each answer: the person, a spouse or a neighbor.