- Find Information
- Research Guides
- Emigration, Immigration & Migration
Emigration, Immigration & Migration
A guide to library and online sources with a special focus on U.S. immigration
About the Port of Galveston
When it comes to immigration history, many are familiar with Ellis Island as a point of entry to the United States. But before Ellis Island opened in 1892, hundreds of thousands of immigrants passed through the Port of Galveston, Texas. The vast majority of immigrants arrived through Galveston from the 1840s - 1920s. Immigration records for the Port of Galveston from the latter half of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th century are available online.
In addition, search Library Quick Search: galveston immigration
This finds books and articles on the topic with some focused on immigrants from specific countries.
Sources
- Galveston Immigration Database - Texas Seaport MuseumIncludes names of passengers and members of their traveling parties, age, gender, occupation, country of origin, ship name, dates of departure and arrival, and destination in the United States. More than 130,000 passengers from the period 1846-1948 are included. Information is also provided for a small number of ship arrivals. The ship database includes ship name, type of ship, master, home port of ship, arrival date at Galveston, port of departure, destination port, tonnage, number of immigrants, ship owner, and citation source. See exhibits by visiting the Texas Seaport Museum in person in Galveston.
- Immigration Records - Galveston County District ClerkSign up for a free account to access immigration and naturalization records from the 1860s - 1950s. Types of documents in this database include Certificate of Arrival, Declaration of Intent, Oath of Allegiance, and Petition for Citizenship/Naturalization. Descriptions of these types of documents is also provided.
- Galveston and Texas History Center at the Rosenberg LibrarySearch the holdings of the Galveston and Texas History Center at the Rosenberg Library. Some content is available online, but plan to make a visit to this excellent archive.
- HeritageQuest Online (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowProvides a collection of research materials for tracing family history and American culture. Includes full-text documents from more than 25,000 works of local and family histories, as well as the full-text documents and indexes from the U.S. Federal Census, 1790-1940. Census records for some years provide information on place of birth, useful for immigration research. City directories can also be searched.
