Discover your ancestor in rare early records documenting emigration from Britain from 1636 to 1815.
Discover your ancestor in rare early records documenting emigration from Britain from 1636 to 1815.
Each result provides you with a transcript and image of the original records.
Depending on the type of document, the images of the original records may include additional details such as marital status, former residence, and nationality of settler.
You may even discover, for example, that your ancestor was part of a company of strolling comedians, who left their country to ‘follow their calling’. This company departed from Arundel in 1774 for ‘the Island of Zealand’ on the ship Ranger. Ralph Todd was the shipmaster. There were 19 members in their group with two marked as children. From the last names, we can infer that some in the group were related. For instance, Frederick Fisher, aged 48, and Maria Fisher, aged 30, were likely the parents of Frederick Fisher, 10, and Paul Fisher, 3.
Please note that those traveling to the Americas were emigrating; most of those traveling to the near continent were on business or leisure trips.
Included in this collection are the following pieces from The National Archives (TNA):
Do you know the name of the ship your ancestor sailed on? You can narrow your results by specific ship name using the ship name search field. Even if you cannot find your ancestor’s name in these records, you may be able to learn more about the ship that carried your ancestor to the New World.
If you have an idea of where your ancestor sailed from or to, you can use the ship departure port or destination field to select a specific place, thus narrowing your result.