Information taken from another newsletter. Thought it might help someone. Research Tip: Immigrant Aid Societies The United States is a nation of immigrants, and for centuries people have wanted to leave their native homes to find a new life in the New World. Problem is, some of them couldn't afford to pay their own passage. Some signed a contract for indentured servitude, others borrowed the money from relatives, and some even relied on their own local governments to pay their way out of town and on to another continent. But there were also people in the United States who were willing to loan money so that family members, friends, and even strangers could join them in the U.S. Especially in the nineteenth century it was common for such people to band together to form benevolent societies specifically to establish funds that would be used to pay for immigrants' passage. Those immigrants would repay their loans to the fund, and that money would be loaned to other immigrants. These revolving funds were usually built around ethnic or religious groups. Among the more well-known were the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (for Jews) and the Perpetual Emigration Fund (for Latter-day Saints), but many churches and communities formed similar societies to aid those who wanted to come to the United States, but who lacked sufficient funds to do so. The records of these immigrant aid societies can be a great help to family historians. The ledgers of loans should include the names of the recipients and their residences. As the immigrant arrived and paid off the loan the ledgers should reveal where he or she entered the country, where he or she resided, and what occupation(s) were pursued. If you're having difficulty tracing an immigrant's passage to America, consider the records of immigrant aid societies. They can be just as helpful to you today as they were for your ancestors a century and more ago. Resources: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society http://www.hias.org/ Perpetual Emigration Fund http://heritage.uen.org/cgi-bin/websql/query.hts?type=6&tid=51461 Save $21.00 on the magazine dedicated to helping genealogists for over a half century: http://www.everton.com/magazine Naturalization records can also be a key in tracing your immigrant ancestors. Use Christina Schaefer's Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States to help you find the citizenship records for your immigrant ancestors. Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States (B56) http://www.everton.com/shopper/specials.php