The First Order of Business

Just who was the immigrant? It is not expected that everyone who studies this lesson will already know the ancestor he or she wishes to study. Quite the contrary, it is hoped that the student has not as yet made that discovery since the discovery of the ancestor’s homeland is one of the goals of this course of study.

This is particularly the case, if the focus of your own study is coming from the traditions of former generations of your family who think they know the answer, but no scholarly research has as yet been undertaken. Because of the perilous conclusions of research based on a tradition with no supportive documentation, this class must first focus on proving everything about the immigrant. In fact, was he or she the immigrant? How is this information known to you? Could the immigrant actually have been a parent of the person being studied, with the infant child who you are linked to being brought here with little knowledge of the old country?

We begin by learning exactly what the complete, foreign name was for the immigrant. And, if more than one member of the family immigrated, we need to identify everyone in the family who came because this could provide the evidence to more successfully determine the link across the water. Often immigrants came over “together” over a period of years. This is called a "chain migration."