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Although passports were issued in the United States as early as 1796, they were not required until the start of World War I. |
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Passport applications, like the one shown in the example can offer important information about an ancestor or relative that may not be found in any other legal document. In this case, the applicant was born May 6, 1811 in Reading, Pennsylvania, during a time when a law requiring birth registration did not exist in that state. |
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Over time, applicants were asked to provide more detailed information about themselves, such as marital status, residence, and naturalization status if foreign born. |
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An unusually high number of family researchers believe that the voyage to America was so difficult and expensive that once ancestors arrived they never went back. In truth, thousands of immigrants to the United States (and its former colonies) returned to their homeland or traveled abroad. Be sure to check to see if any foreign born ancestor or one of their relatives applied for a U.S. passport. |
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Passport applications and related records dating through 1925 have been microfilmed and are available for use at the National Archives and its Regional Centers, the LDS Family History Library and its Centers, and any number of public, private, and institutional libraries. |
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