Read Step 10 of the series. The poem was written as part of a project to raise funds for a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, a gift to the United States from the people of France. The funds were raised, the base built, and the statue erected. Since then, the statue has become a symbol of the United States as well as a tribute to the millions of immigrants who have entered the country. It is to these immigrants, and the paper trail they left behind, that we turn in this article.
Genealogists are very fortunate that the people of the past left a paper trail.
Unfortunately, this trail may be somewhat erratic, difficult to locate, and even incomplete, especially when compared to the trail we are leaving for our descendants to follow. However, a trail does exist. These immigrants generally entered through one of the port cities of the United States. If they entered legally and under normal circumstances, some type of paperwork was completed to document their entry. The records are divided into two time periods that are identified by the level of government that kept the records.