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Early settlers of Massachusetts generally came from England and Scotland and the other New England states. Plymouth Colony was first settled in 1620. From 1630 to 1642, fifteen to twenty thousand people settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
The following sources for immigrants to Massachusetts will be helpful:
Filby, P. William. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index. 11 vols. Indexes over 500,000 passengers to America from 1650 to mid-1980 in published passenger lists. Includes the immigrant's name, age, and year of arrival. Provides source list for all indexed passengers. The first three volumes are a combined alphabetical index that was published in 1981. Supplemental volumes have been issued annually. Indexed CD with names of approximately 3,530,000 individuals who arrived in United States and Canadian ports. Or search online Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s [$]
Colket, Meridith B. Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe 1607–1657. Includes a list of those who came to the Colonies during the first 50 years. Lists names, dates, and brief information about each immigrant and sources for further research.
Banks, Charles E. Planters of the Commonwealth: Emigrants to New England in Colonial Times.
Anderson, Robert C. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1623–1633. Genealogical information about the early immigrants to New England. Each volume is indexed, with a cumulative index at the end of volume 3. Well documented with sources cited.
Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage, 1614–1775. An alphabetical list of English convicts transported to colonial America.
Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1661–1669 A list of those who emigrated from England to America, including those who were deported and those sold into labor. Compiled from English public records.
Coldham, Peter Wilson. The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1700–1750. A list of those who emigrated from England to America. Compiled from English public records. Usually gives name, age, occupation, residence, ship, destination, and precise source citation.
Bolton, Ethel Stanwood. Immigrants to New England, 1700–1775. includes names, dates, place of origin, place of settlement, and some family information.
The Mayflower And Her Log, July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 -- Complete. Online at the Gutenberg Project in text or zipped versions.
Ships Passenger Lists to Massachussets 1630
In 1630 John Winthrop organized a fleet of 11 ships to carry immigrants from England to America. Departing in two groups in April and May, they arrived at various dates in June and July. These ships were:The Ambrose; The Arbella; The Charles; The Hopewell; The Jewel; The Mayflower; The Success; The Talbot ; The Trial; The Whale; The William & Francis Winthrop Fleet Large list of names of passengers to New England 1630 on board all ships listed above
Salee Rose Downes, England to Boston Massachusetts 1683
Ships Passenger Lists to Massachussets 1716
Snow Amity Glasgow Scotland to Boston Massachusetts 1716 The Globe 1716 Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts
Patience & Judith 1716 Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts
Snow Douglas Greenock Scotland to Boston Massachusetts July 1764 (no ship name) 1764 Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts
The Hannah 1764 Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts
The Freemason 1764 Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts
Ship Stirling Castle from Greenock Scotland to Boston Massachusetts Apr. 16, 1766 Snow Jenny from Glasgow Scotland to Boston Massachusetts Oct. 31, 1766 (no ship name) 1766 Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts
(no ship name) 1766 Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts
The William 1766 Ireland to Boston, Massachusetts
Passengers Engaged to Sail on Board the American Brig Atlantic, Robert Askins, Master burden 196 tone, for Boston, Massachusetts Sworn at Dublin Ireland 19 June 1804.
If you don't find your ancestor on my ships' pages, try genealogy records on Ancestry.com. You can view them with a trial period free access. OliveTreeGenealogy.com free immigration databases are listed after the fee based databases below
New England Irish Pioneers
New England Founders
Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers
New England Immigrants, 1700-75
Boston Port Arrivals and Immigrants, 1715-16,62-69
Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore Steamship Arrivals, 1890-1930
New England Captives' Stories
To help you find your immigrant ancestor, I created search engines to search for passengers on ships to Massachusetts. These search dozens of Internet sites with FREE passenger lists, including ISTG (Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild). Search FREE WEBSITES or browse Olive Tree Genealogy ships and links to ships below
Search FREE Ships Passenger Lists to New England
This Search Engine will search FREE off-site Internet pages and Olive Tree Genealogy pages for ships passenger lists to New England.
[585 ships]
National Archives of Canada Immigration Records 1925-1935
Search for passengers on ships to Boston Massachusetts [330 names] & Providence, Rhode Island [42 names]
The National Archives of Canada holds immigration records from 1865 to 1935. The names of immigrants arriving from overseas are recorded in passenger lists. Those arriving from or via the United States are recorded in border entry lists. A series of old nominal indexes exist for the 1925 to 1935 records. In cooperation with the National Archives of Canada, the Pier 21 Society in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has input the information from the passenger list indexes into this database. Use the Search Box below to search the NAC database of immigration records. It is not necessary to fill in all the fields. Results of your search will show in a separate browser window, and clicking on any 'hit' will take you directly to the NAC site for more details.
Wildcard characters:
$ (eg. colon$ for colonie, colony, etc.) ? (eg. Sm?th for Smith, Smyth, etc.)
Surname:
Given Name:
Year of Arrival:
Port of arrival:
Ship:
Number of references per page:
Search Passenger Lists on Rootsweb.com! [333 records for ports in New England]
Naturalization Records are a great way to find an ancestor's arrival year and ship name!
Step 2:
If you don't find your immigrant ancestor in a large port city, try smaller
ports of arrival - Virginia, Connecticut,
Delaware,
Texas, Georgia,
South
Carolina,
North Carolina, Maine, Rhode
Island,
Florida, New Jersey, New Hampshire,
Michigan, Alaska, California, Hawaii and Washington
Step 4:
If you still can't find your ancestor in free ships passenger lists, try ships
passenger lists and naturalization records on a pay site. See the Immigration Comparison Chart to help you decide which of the fee-based sites has the passenger lists you need to find your immigrant ancestor
** Canadian Passenger Lists 1865-1935 are now online! Take a Free Trial to search for ancestors **
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Did you know that Immigration means To enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native and that Emigration means To leave one country or region to settle in another
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Don't leave without searching for your ancestors on Olive Tree Genealogy! Free Ships' Passenger lists, orphan records, almshouse records, JJ Cooke Shipping Lists, Irish Famine immigrants, family surnames, church records, military muster rolls, census records, land records and more are free to help you find your brick-wall ancestor. Build your family tree quickly with Olive Tree Genealogy free records