It is necessary to determine the exact place of origin of your ancestors because vital records were kept on a local basis. Between 1899 and 1924 about 485,000 Croatian and Slovenian immigrants came to America, with a third as many Serbians, Montenegrins and Bulgarians arriving here. Another 53,000 came from the subgroups called Dalmatians, Bosnians and Herzegovinians. The Croats are one of the South Slav peoples who inhabit Yugoslavia, and they began coming to the United States in significant numbers about a century ago. Today there are between 500,000 and 750,000 American who are entirely or partially of Croatian descent, making the Croats the most numerous of the South Slav groups that have settled in this country.
Some authorities argue that their number is more than a million.
Until 1918 the U.S. Immigration Service did not distinguish Croatians from Slovenes or other immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Caniola, the central Slovene province, provided the large majority of Slovene immigrants to this county. By the early 19th century ships manned by Dalmatian sailors traveled regularly from Dubrovnik and other Adriatic ports to North American trading centers. Many of these sailors jumped ship in New Orleans and San Francisco. By 1860 some 16,000 to 20,000 Dalmatians had settled in this country.