GENEALOGY
Tips & Tricks
Immigration Sources
Genealogists
will often attempt to determine when and why their ancestor(s) immigrated to the
U.S. as well as establish where they came from. From the earliest
colonial days, America has experienced a number of surges in immigrants arriving
from all over the world for various reasons. The table below, based on
data compiled by Rachel Kilbourne and published in Ancestry Magazine
(March/April 2006), provides a summary of the WHO, WHERE, WHEN and WHY for many
of our ancestors who left their ancestral home for what they hoped would be a
better life in America.
Who, Where, When & Why Did They Leave?
ARMENIA |
1901 - 1910 | Religious Persecution |
|
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE |
1880 - 1914 | Ethic Tension; Mandatory Military Service |
|
CHINA |
Mid 1800s | Famine; Epidemics; Repression; Civil Wars; Gold Rush |
|
CUBA & PUERTO RICO |
1959 - 1961 | Castro's Revolution |
| 1966 | Cuban Refugee Act Permits more than 400,000 People to Enter U.S. | |
|
EAST PRUSSIA |
1871 - 1880 | Religious Tension as Prussia Became a Part of Germany |
|
ENGLAND |
1600s | Overcrowding (excess population sent to new world) |
| 1870 & 1881 - 1890 |
Overcrowding and Poverty; Skilled Laborers Seeking Better Opportunities | |
|
FRANCE |
1851 | Political Refugees from 1848 Revolution |
|
GERMANY |
1683 - 1820 | Religious Persecution; Wars; Hardships |
| 1820 - 1871 | Escaping War & Military Service | |
| 1843 - 1859 | Crop Failure; Unsuccessful German Revolution (1848) | |
| 1865 - 1874 | Skilled Workers Transferred to U.S. Companies; German Catholics Expelled | |
| 1871 - 1914 | Religious Persecution; Political Unrest | |
|
GREECE |
Early - Mid 1900s | Religious Persecution |
|
IRELAND |
1847 - 1860 | Potato Famine |
| 1881 - 1890 | Continued Crop Failure; Political & Religious Contention | |
|
ITALY |
1891 - 1910 | Low Wages; High Taxes; Poverty; Desire to Own Land |
|
KOREA |
Early 1900s | Racial Tension |
|
MEXICO |
1980 to Present | Jobs; Economic Opportunity |
|
POLAND |
1880 - 1914 | Jews Escaping Religious Persecution; Poles Escaping 'Russification' |
|
RUSSIA |
1901 - 1910 | Violence & Riots (targeting Gypsies & Jews) |
|
SCANDINAVIA |
1881 - 1900 | Crop Failure; Unemployment; Seeking Opportunity |
|
VIETNAM |
1975 | Economic Conditions; Fall of Saigon |
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