INFOMERCIAL FROM THE LEARNING COMPANY: MORE ON ENGLISH EMIGRATION by Brian Bonner Mavrogeorge <Brian_Mavrogeorge@broder.com> A correspondent asked for more specifics on the records kept in England of people emigrating to the American colonies. He had been unable to find any information. One source to check is "The Complete Book of Emigrants." This is a series of books compiled by Peter Wilson Coldham and published by the Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Co. The complete set is available on CD ROM: <http://www.familytreemaker.com/catalog/index.html>. Coldham consulted many sources in England and the U.S. when abstracting the information for his books. Here are two examples of actions that resulted in "emigration records": (1) English law in 1606 required emigrants to obtain a license, take an oath of allegiance, and submit to examination (few of these records survive); (2) Planters in the American colonies were awarded acreage for each indentured servant brought to the colonies. And as a result, many children and young people were forcibly deported or abducted. Bridewell, a home for the destitute, became a source for indentured servants. Not all went willingly. In 1645 the English parliament Ordered that departing ships be searched to apprehend and bring to justice those who were conveying or receiving children. In 1654 the Bristol Common Council ordered that a register be kept of indentures in an attempt to stop the trade in kidnapped children. Coldham says, "It would have been inconceivable to a 17th-century Englishman to picture Virginia as anything but a disreputable colony since it was largely peopled by the scourings from English prisons, vagrants, waifs, and strays, and those lured into migration by promises of land and wealth." His publications are a good place to start the search. Copied from Roots Web Digest