Genealogy Class

We had a wonderful, 5-day genealogy seminar at Lakeside last week. One really interesting thing I learned was about a common myth--at least one I believed to be true. Surnames were NOT changed at Ellis Island due to clerical error or the clerk not knowing how to transcribe a foreign sounding name. Detra told us that the clerks worked from a list that was made up at the embarkation point in Europe from information received from the immigrant. The US officials knew the country of origin and every passenger's name before the ship arrived. She also said that they used native speakers at Ellis Island who could communicate with the immigrants. Often it was the immigrant who made the name change--perhaps to avoid a personal history or link to a culture/religious group. Or they wanted to sound "English," but they made the decision, not the clerk. This information really didn't affect me at all--none of my ancestors came through Ellis Island. They all arrived before the American Revolution, and until my parents generation didn't marry outside their groups. The Germans/Swiss went to Pennsylvania, and the Scots-Irish to Tennessee.

Today I noticed that the USCIS is offering genealogy help to immigrants.

WASHINGTON — Customers can now turn to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for help in researching their family’s immigration history through the agency’s new Genealogy Program. USCIS maintains historical records documenting the arrival and naturalization of millions of immigrants who arrived in the United States since the late 1800s or and naturalized between 1906 and 1956. Until today (Aug 13), the process to request these records was handled through a Freedom of Information Act / Privacy Act (FOIA) request.

“In many cases USCIS is the only government agency that has certain historical records that provide the missing link which genealogists or family historians need,” said Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen, USCIS’ Acting Director.

The agency anticipates interest in genealogy to continue to grow. In the past four years alone, USCIS received more than 40,000 FOIA requests for historical records. The new genealogy program will create a dedicated queue for genealogists, historians and others seeking genealogical and historical records and reference services that generally require no FOIA expertise. As a result, USCIS will provide more timely responses to requests for records of deceased individuals.

Individuals may submit genealogy records requests by using the new forms, G-1041 -Genealogy Index Search Request, and G-1041A - Genealogy Records Request. Both forms are available on the new USCIS Genealogy Program page at: http://www.uscis.gov/genealogy.