Local History & Genealogy

Arrivals in North America

• Emigration from the United Kingdom to America: lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports
• Famine Immigrants : lists of Irish immigrants arriving at the port of New York
• Italians to America: lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports
• Migration from the Russian Empire: lists of passengers arriving at the Port of New York
• Passenger and immigration lists index [multi-volume index to American and Canadian lists with annual supplements. Also known as Filby's].
• Wuerttemberg emigration index

→More passenger lists

→More registers of immigrants

• American migrations, 1765-1799
• Emigrants from England, 1773-1776
• An index of English immigrants based on obituaries and death notices in Prince Edward Island newspapers 1835-1910
• A list of emigrants from England to America, 1682-1692
• Omitted chapters from Hotten's original lists of persons of quality and others who went from Great Britain to the American plantations, 1600-1700
• Original lists of emigrants in bondage from London to the American Colonies, 1719-1744
• The original lists of persons of quality ... who went from Great Britain to the American plantations 1600-1700

→More passenger lists

• An alphabetical index to Ulster emigration to Philadelphia, 1803-1850
• A chronicle of Irish emigration to Saint John, New Brunswick, 1847
• The convicts and exiles transported from Ireland, 1791-1820
• Famine Immigrants: lists of Irish immigrants arriving at the port of New York
• Irish emigrants in North America  [in Virginia USA]
• Irish emigration lists, 1833-1839: lists of emigrants extracted from the Ordnance Survey memoirs for Counties Londonderry and Antrim
• Irish passenger lists, 1803-1806: lists of passengers sailing from Ireland to America extracted from the Hardwicke Papers
• Irish passenger lists, 1847-1871: lists of passengers sailing from Londonderry to America on ships of the J. & J. Cooke Line and the McCorkell Line

→More passenger lists   

• Dictionary of Scottish emigrants to Canada before Confederation 
• Fife convict transportees, 1752-1867
• The Lanark Society settlers: ships' lists of the Glasgow Emigration Society, 1821
• Later Scots-Irish links 1725-1825
• The original Scots colonists of early America. Supplement, 1607-1707
• Scottish transatlantic merchants, 1611-1785
• Scots in the USA and Canada, 1825-1875
• Scots-Irish links, 1575-1725

→More on emigration and immigration

Periodicals

• Periodical Source Index (PERSI) (to 1997) at Toronto Reference Library
• Genealogical Periodical Annual Index (to 2001) at Toronto Reference Library

Using Online Resources

Recommended websites:

Recommended Databases: Passenger Lists by Date

Ancestry Library Edition (available in any Toronto Public Library branch)

• 1817-1896 Immigration and Settlement Correspondence and Lists (British Colonial Office records)
• 1819-1838 St. Lawrence Steamboat Company Passenger Lists
• 1865-1935 Ships' Passenger Lists
• 1895-1956 Border Crossings: Canada to US
• 1908-1935 Border Crossings: US to Canada
• 1919-1924 Immigration Form 30A – Ocean Entries

Library and Archives Canada

• Pre-1865 Immigrants before 1865
• 1828-1850  Naturalization Records Upper Canada/Canada West
• 1832-1937 Immigrants at Grosse Ile
• 1865-1900 Passenger Lists for the port of Quebec City
• 1885-1949 Immigrants from China
• 1898-1922 Immigrants from the Russian Empire (Passport-Identity  Papers)
• 1915-1951  Naturalization Records
• 1925-1935 Passenger Lists and Border Entries  (Nominal Index) 
• Home Children 1869-1930 [1932]

• 1865-1883 Toronto Emigrant Office Assisted Immigration Registers/Hawke Papers)

St. Andrew's Society (Montreal) Register of Emigrants

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

• Irish Portal (access to several databases e.g. early New Brunswick ports)

The Humanities and Social Sciences Department at the Toronto Reference Library has an extensive collection of microfilmed passenger lists to official Canadian ports. Some records are available for eastern US ports including New York.

If your ancestor was a juvenile or came over with a sponsoring agent like Dr. Barnardo, check the finding aid Home Children and Juvenile Immigration, or the description of the records at Library and Archives Canada. The Humanities and Social Sciences Department at the Toronto Reference Library has the following microfilm reels:

• Central Registry Files Index – Soundex Index of Children's Names, 1892-1932
• Central Registry Files – Listed by Organization, 1873-1950
• Juvenile Inspection Lists – Chronological 1874-1939
• Inspection Reports – Alphabetical List 1913-1932

If your ancestor came over in early 20^th century as a domestic or farm labourer, consult the binder "Supplementary Immigration and Passenger List Information" for details on the microfilm reels available. This same binder includes information on the microfilm reels on Deportation from Canada 1893–1977.

Toronto Public Library contacts:

Answerline: 416-393-7131
answerline@torontopubliclibrary.ca

Toronto Reference Library, Humanities and Social Sciences Department, 416-393-7175