Here you will find links to all kinds of ship manifests and naturalization records, as well as information on Italian Dual Citizenship.
You can also jump to pages with links about United States Research, Italian Culture and Italian History & Facts.
Search Ellis Island Database in ONE step – This site allows you to enter all sorts of information in one easy step and then be taken to a list of matches on the Ellis Island site. You can search just by one letter of the surname and the name of the ship if that is all the information you know. Lots of EASY search capabilities on this site. It eliminates having to go through all the steps on Ellis Island main site and saves time. One note of caution: Don’t put too many specifics because if there is incorrect information anywhere within the Ellis Island Database, your search will not provide accurate results.
CastleGarden.org – This website allows you to search arrival records to Castle Garden, which was open before Ellis Island. You can search from 1820-1913. As far as I could tell, you can not see the actual ship manifest images as with Ellis Island, but it does say that a ‘comparative data’ section is under construction.
Ancestry & FamilySearch – Both of these websites have a great collection of ship manifests including all New York passenger records. However, Ancestry has manifests for more ports, including New Orleans, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and others. If you don’t find your ancestor coming through Ellis Island or CastleGarden, make sure you check other ports through Ancestry.
The Forgotten of Ellis Island – Lists of those who died in quarantine.
Ellis Island Wall of Honor – See if any of your family members have been placed on the Ellis Island Immigrant Wall of Honor. Maybe another family member unknown to you has placed one of your family names and you will be able to make a connection.
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild – This is a website where volunteers have transcribed thousands of passenger lists from ships all over the world arriving to many different ports of call. Particularly helpful if your ancestor did not arrive through Ellis Island. Lots of useful links as well.
Ships to New Orleans – This website has indexes of ships from Palermo to New Orleans for the years 1869-1897.
From New York City to California, Via Central America – These are lists taken from the New York Daily Times.
To New York from Foreign Ports: 1789-1919 – This is an online searchable database courtesy of the St. Louis Public Library, listing the ships that arrived, not the passengers themselves. This can help you narrow down the ship your ancestor might have been on.
Search the Morton Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals This directory has arrivals from 1890-1930 for New York and 1904-1926 for Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston.
First Mom’s Immigrant Ship Passenger Lists – This site not only has a listing of Italian ships, it also has German, Irish, Scottish, French and more.
National Archives – Complete listing of available ship passenger lists from the National Archives.
A Website for the Study of Italian Migrations – this web site has some very interesting migration statistics, as well as articles and other items related to migrations to and from Italy.
Manifest Markings – This page offers an EXCELLENT guide to interpreting annotations on passenger lists. I have used this so many times to help me figure out when and where someone eventually naturalized! Great help!
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild – This is a website where volunteers have transcribed thousands of passenger lists from ships all over the world arriving to many different ports of call. Particularly helpful if your ancestor did not arrive through Ellis Island. Lots of useful links as well.
Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos–This site allows you to search immigrants to Argentina, searching by surname and a range of dates. It provides quite a bit of information, including the age of the person, if they were married, their profession, religion, nationality, the port they left from, their date and place of arrival, and in some cases where they were born.
Mes Racines en Vénétie– This website provides a list of resources for ship manifests, including some very helpful choices for all of South America! Click the English button on the right of the page to see everything in English.
Imigrantes Italianos – for Brazilian passenger lists.
Italian Immigrants to Buenos Aires 1882-1920 – download the Excel spreadsheet for each year and search.
Immigrants to Australia – this link is to the Family History page of the Australian National Archives. They will find documents for you, for a fee, OR you can click RecordSearch and do some free searching for yourself, but only 10% of their archives are searchable, including Passenger lists.
National Archives – Where to find Naturalization Records-this page is great. It directs you to the appropriate place based on whether your ancestor was naturalized before or after 1906. It also has great links to articles such as Women and Naturalization, and also to some indexes of naturalization records.
USCIS Genealogy Page – US Citizenship and Immigration Service page dedicated to genealogy, particularly information on requesting an index search for your ancestor’s naturalization, immigration or alien registration papers.
Ancestry.com and FamilySearch both have a large collection of original naturalization records available.
FamilySearch Wiki on US Naturalization and Citizenship Online Genealogy Records – This page has a great collection of links to pages on FamilySearch as well as other sites where you can find naturalization records, organized by state.
FamilySearch Naturalization and Citizenship Beginner’s Corner – This page has a wealth of information! Not only does it include links to online records, info about the entire naturalization process and info on where to find naturalization records from before 1790 to after 1906, but it also explains exceptions to the naturalization process for women, children, and military members.
New York State Naturalization Databases – This website is run by the Jewish Genealogical Society and has all sorts of helpful information. It allows you to search the naturalization index for Kings County for the years 1907-1924. If you go back to the home page, there are also searches for World War I drafts among other things.
NY & NJ Naturalizations – Great searchable indexes! Very useful web site.
Cook County (Chicago), Illinois Naturalization Index Search
Places to Find U.S. Naturalization Records and Indexes Online – Links to naturalization records that can be found online, organized by state.
US Naturalization Records Class Handout – This page is another great learning tool to help you understand naturalization records, where to find them, how to use them, and so much more.
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Citizenship matters are the responsibility of this Ministry office and this page explains the rules, the process and how a person qualifies.
What You Need to Know about Italian Dual Citizenship – This 2018 FamilySearch Blog post provides the basic information about the Dual Citizenship process.
Embassy of Italy – Italian Consulate offices are jurisdictional so you have to go to the one for the jurisdiction where you live. This link will lead you to the list of Consulates with their corresponding jurisdictions. Click the name of the Consulate to go to their website, then click Passports and Services, and look for the choice for Citizenship. There you will find information for what that particular Consular office requires for the Dual Citizenship process. Each office does things a little bit differently so it’s very important to review all instructions for the specific Consulate where you will apply. Hint: Click EN on the upper right by the search box to switch the pages to English.
Direct Links to Citizenship pages for Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Houston, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington.
Dual-US Citizenship Facebook Group – After the Consulate’s citizenship pages, this is THE BEST resource! The folks in this group are incredibly helpful. Many have already completed their dual citizenship journey and they are more than willing to answer questions, offer guidance, make recommendations and help you find services. Make sure you visit their Units and Files pages for tons of resources. It’s a great place to ask questions, especially if you have unique circumstances that you are unsure about.
Apostille Info – This page has a listing of all the places where you can get the Apostille for your US based documents. An apostille is a special certification that authenticates documents and allows them to be used internationally. It is required for most US vital record documents that will be provided to the Italian Consulate. This includes birth, marriage, death, and/or divorce records but does NOT include naturalization records and Certificates of Non-Existence (CONE). Apostilles are generally provided by the Secretary of State in the state where the vital record was issued, but some states have other offices that can provide Apostilles. For example, in Georgia, apostilles are provided by the Georgia Superior Court Clerk’s Cooperative Authority. Please note that some consulates also require the translations to be apostilled as well so it’s very important to read the directions on the Consulate website. Additional information about where to have the Apostille done.
Italian Dual Citizenship FAQ – That’s self explanatory!
Translators – Each consulate may have their own requirements for getting your documents translated. Some consulates require that you use a translator from their official list of certified translators while other consulates let you use anyone to do the translations. The most important thing is to make sure your follow your particular Consulates rules and that the translations are done accurately! If your Consulate is one that lets you use whoever you want, one great place to find freelance translators is on Fiverr. Sicilian Family Tree usually recommends Andrea at Last Fuel Station, but there are many others to choose from. Make sure you read the reviews and sign up for your free Fiverr account because they will usually send you a coupon for 20% off your first job.
