06 August 2016

United States, Canadian Border Crossings

Do you have ancestors that crossed over from Canada into the United States via St Albans, Vermont, between 1895 and 1954?

In fact Findmypast's new collection United States, Canadian Border Crossings comprises entries from Canada into the United States through many border crossing pointts

People did not come from across Canada to cross to St. Albans, but the way the records are catalogued it's easy to see how the confusion could arise, although hard to see how it would for anyone with experience with the records.

Findmypast cites the source for this collections as:

Soundex Index to Canadian Border Entries through the St. Albans, Vermont, District,1895-1924, M1461

Soundex Index to Entries into the St. Albans, Vermont, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports,1924-1952, M1463

Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, VT, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports,1895-1954, M1464

Manifest of Passengers Arriving in the St. Albans, Vermont, District through Canadian Pacific Ports, 1929-1949, M1465

They are part of Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1891--1957, Record Group 85.  None of the other port of entry listed there are on the Canadian border.

You may find people in this Findmypast collection, which claims 6,078,005 records, missed in the same collection at Ancestry claiming 5,255,044 records.





1 comment:

Jane E MacNamara said...

John, there is an excellent article about the scope of these records here: http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2000/fall/us-canada-immigration-records-1.html. It also explains how they got the unhelpful Vermont designation, but not why it has never been fixed!