English database that contains persons who emigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Question

Hoping that someone knows of a web site that would allow a search of English emigrants to the New England area.  I have an estimated date of birth and where he resided once here

Answer 1

There's several out there. Here's a list about emigration/immigration relating to Massachusetts that contains most of the larger and well sourced indexes and lists and they don't specifically pertain to only Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Emigration and Immigration

Some are linked to Ancestry and they might require a paid subscription to their site. Some lists, I've found, are contained on archives.gov if you see a list you're interested in.

Keep in mind also that depending on the dates of emigration from England there just might no be any record...no record of departure or arrival.

And here's a list of emigration/immigration pertaining to England with lots of indexes you can search as well.

England Emigration and Immigration

Good Luck!

Answer 2

What era? If it's 1620-1640, The epic Great Migration project by Robert Charles Anderson is available on AmericanAncestors.org (by $ubscription). These immigrants are covered by WikiTree's Puritan Great Migration Project, and the Mayflower Project.

Comments

Sorry, I didn't read your entry closely enough. Anderson mentions in his Great Migration Directory one John Harris, whose origins are unknown, arriving on the ship Christian in 1635, but found no further record of him in New England. He *might* be the same man, but you'll have to dig deeply to find more. If you send me a private message, I can forward the page from the Great Migration series, though it contains no information beyond what Joe Cochoit has added to the attached proflile.

Answer 3

Immigration records for the 17th Century are pretty spotty.  The only "database" is Ancestry's "U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index" which should be used with caution.  It contains a lot of secondary sources which are not necessarily reliable.  I would say that if there were an immigration record related to John Harris, it would already have been noted in the NEHGR article noted in his profile. 

NEHGS's Great Migration Project only covers immigrants with evidence of arrival by 1640, and it looks like your John Harris probably arrived later.  NEHGS also has the Early New England Families Project which is working on developing sketches similar to the Great Migration, and eventually, they should release a sketch that might have more information.  You can keep an eye out for new sketches here:  Early New England Families FSP

I'm guessing that you're looking to find his English origins. Especially with a common name like John Harris, trying to find the evidence to connect John Harris in New England to any record for a John Harris in England is going to be difficult.  There are a couple of ways that English origins are newly discovered.  As more English wills and other records become available online, there are new discoveries of mentions of relatives being in New England.  The other is looking for clusters of vital records that match up with a family.  Unfortunately, the only lead here is possibly a daughter born in England (and Elizabeth is also a very common name).  

Personally, if this were my brick wall, I would start with looking for early associates of John Harris, and those who arrived in Charlestown around the same time to see if any of them have proven origins.  I would check those areas looking for baptisms of an Elizabeth with a father John, also checking for Harris wills.  Unless you get lucky and find that "smoking gun," it means developing a list of candidates rather than an actual discovery.  It's important to go into a search like this being aware that the answer may not be out there, and that the records just no longer exist...but there's no harm in trying.

Also, since this is your paternal line unless you have reason to suspect that you have a non-paternal relationship in your ancestry, I'd suggest taking a Y-DNA test (or see if anyone from John Harris's line has taken one).  That still takes a little luck, but if you get a match it might give you the breakthrough you're looking for.

Good luck in your search!