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Tracing Your Immigrant Roots: Immigration to North Carolina

A guide to help navigate sources for searching for your immigrant ancestors.

Ethnic Groups

  • Study history of where & when ancestors lived
  • Use the FAN Club: Family, Associates & Neighbors
  • Document resources
  • Consult the US Census

Immigration by Time

  • Start with yourself
  • Work backwards from self
  • Interview living relatives
  • Research one generation at a time
  • Be creative with spelling, age, gender
  • Create timelines & use charts

Ports of Entry

Colonial Ports included Port Brunswick by the Cape Fear River, Port Beaufort near Cape Lookout, and Port Bath by the Pamlico River. Shifting shoals and the outer banks, "Graveyard of the Atlantic,"  made navigation dangerous, and most immigrants arrived in better harbors such as Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. 

Immigration Laws

Census Records

A new and exact map of the dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye continent of North America containing Newfoundland, New Scotland, New England, New York, New Jersey, Pensilvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina according to the newest and most exact observations