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The U.S. records that name your ancestor's hometown

The town of birth is rarely on the first record you find. It appears on a handful of U.S. documents, each from a precise year. Here they are, in the order a professional would search them.

Last checked: October 2026

27 Sept 1906Naturalization forms start asking the place of birth
1907Ship lists add the nearest relative back home
1.93 millionArrivals from Italy in the 1900s alone

Naturalization papers

The Basic Naturalization Act of 1906 took effect on 27 September 1906. From then on, the declaration of intention recorded the place of birth, the last foreign residence, the date of arrival and the ship. The petition added the wife's and children's names and birthplaces. Parents are not named.

Federal court records before October 1991 are at the National Archives facility for the state where the court sat; there is no central index. Every person naturalized between 27 September 1906 and 31 March 1956 also has a C-file, which can be requested through the USCIS Genealogy Program for a fee.

Before 1906, naturalization records often give only the country. If your ancestor naturalized earlier, go to the passenger list and the draft cards.

Passenger lists

Federal passenger lists begin in 1820. What they record depends on the year:

FromThe manifest adds
1893Marital status, last residence, final destination
1903Race
1906Physical description and place of birth
1907Name and address of the nearest relative in the home country
1909Literacy

Ellis Island opened on 1 January 1892 and closed in November 1954, after processing more than 12 million passengers. The Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation offers a free arrival search; FamilySearch has free New York arrivals for 1892 to 1924.

Draft cards

RegistrationWhoTown of birth?
5 June 1917Men aged 21 to 31Yes: town, state, nation
5 June and 24 August 1918Men who turned 21 since June 1917Yes, plus the father's birthplace
12 September 1918Men aged 18 to 45No
27 April 1942Men born 28 April 1877 to 16 February 1897Yes: town or county, and country

The 1942 cards were destroyed for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. All World War I cards are free on FamilySearch.

Alien registration and A-files

Under the Alien Registration Act of 1940, every non-citizen aged 14 or over registered between August 1940 and 31 March 1944: 5,665,983 forms were microfilmed. The AR-2 form asks the exact place of birth (question 3b) and the port, date and ship of arrival (question 7). Copies are requested through the USCIS Genealogy Program.

A-files began on 1 April 1944. They move to the National Archives 100 years after the person's year of birth and can be searched in the National Archives catalog.

Census and Social Security

The 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 censuses give the year of immigration; 1900 to 1940 give naturalization status (Na, Pa or Al), and 1920 the year of naturalization. The 1950 census, released free on 1 April 2022, gives the country of birth only.

Social Security applications (SS-5) exist from November 1936 and give the place of birth and the parents' names. A copy costs $23 from the Social Security Administration. Records for people born in 1910 or earlier are sometimes abbreviated.

Arrivals by decade

People admitted to the United States, by country (country of origin before 1906, of last residence from 1906):

Country1870s1880s1890s1900s1910s1920s1930s1940s
Italy46,296267,660603,7611,930,4751,229,916528,13385,05350,509
Ireland422,264674,061405,710344,940166,445201,64428,19515,701
Germany751,7691,445,181579,072328,722174,227386,634117,736119,403
Poland11,01642,910107,793224,42026,4607,774
Sweden90,179401,330237,248244,439112,957100,0026,5519,000
Norway88,644185,11196,810182,54279,48870,3276,9018,326
Greece2091,80712,732145,402198,10860,77410,5998,605
Portugal13,99015,18925,87465,15482,48944,8293,5186,765
Spain5,5713,9999,18924,81853,26247,1093,6692,774
United Kingdom578,447810,900328,759469,518371,878342,76261,813131,794

Norway and Sweden are counted together before the 1870s. Poland is counted under Austria, Germany, Hungary and Russia from 1899 to 1919. Ireland includes Northern Ireland before 1925.

See them on the map

Sources

  1. Act of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat. 596)
  2. National Archives, naturalization records
  3. USCIS, Genealogy Program FAQ
  4. National Archives, passenger arrival records
  5. National Park Service, tracing ancestors at Ellis Island
  6. National Park Service, Ellis Island fact sheet
  7. National Archives, WWI draft registration
  8. FamilySearch Wiki, WWII draft records
  9. USCIS, Alien Registration Forms 1940-1944
  10. National Archives, Prologue: A-files
  11. National Archives, census records 1850-1950
  12. National Archives, 1950 census
  13. Social Security Administration, FOIA requests and fees
  14. DHS, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2019, Table 2