Emigrants to America

From England and Wales to the American colonies in the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries

We have undertaken research projects for US clients looking for information regarding ancestors making the journey to the 'New World' from England and Wales.

Apart from the wealthy plantation owners, merchant adventurers, and serving army personnel, many poorer economic migrants and those seeking freedom from religious intolerance, travelled to the American colonies. Some were prisoners transported for crimes such as stealing an item of clothing.

Some were fortunate and found wealthy sponsors willing to pay for their passage.

Many landed in Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas, their fare across the Atlantic being paid for by voluntarily entering into agreements to work as indentured or bonded labour for up to seven years. They worked in the new plantations in these colonies. (Not to be confused with the plantations of the Deep South.)

Towards the end of the nineteenth century this practice had died out, unfortunately being replaced by the much cheaper (and truly dreadful) slave trade.  

If you are interested in trying to trace your British ancestors we can help, but please always check that you have completely exhausted sources of information in the USA first.