Module 3 — U.S. Federal Records for Puerto Rican Migrants

Find Puerto Rican migrants in U.S. federal records: census enumerations, Social Security death records, military files, and an explanation of why naturalization records do not apply.

Intermediate

Part of the Migration Patterns and Mainland Records course.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, you will:

Find Puerto Rico-born individuals in U.S. federal census records from 1910 to 1950
Understand the “Porto Rico” birthplace coding problem and how to work around it
Locate Social Security Death Index entries and full SS-5 applications for mainland deaths
Use military service and benefits records to find Puerto Rico hometown information
Explain why naturalization records do not exist for most Puerto Rican migrants

3.1 U.S. Federal Census Records (1910–1950)

The U.S. federal census is the most commonly searched federal record for Puerto Rican migrants, and it contains the most pitfalls. Understanding how Puerto Rico-born people were enumerated — and how those records were indexed — will save you hours of fruitless searching.

The “Porto Rico” Spelling Problem

Through the 1930s, the official U.S. English name for the island was “Porto Rico” (changed to “Puerto Rico” in 1932). Census enumerators recorded birthplace as “Porto Rico” in the 1910 and 1920 censuses, and inconsistently in 1930. Indexers transcribing those records have done the same — some indexed it as “Porto Rico,” some as “Puerto Rico,” some as “PR,” and some misread it entirely as “Porte Rico” or other variants.

Search strategy: When searching census records before 1940, always search both “Porto Rico” and “Puerto Rico” as birthplace. If you find nothing, search with birthplace left blank and filter by name and estimated age.

1910 Census

The 1910 census was conducted before the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917, when Puerto Ricans were U.S. nationals but not citizens. Puerto Rico-born individuals appear in mainland census records in relatively small numbers — this is the Wave 1 community of early labor migrants and New York City settlers.

Search tip: Try searching by name alone with approximate age and state. Puerto Rican last names were often garbled by enumerators unfamiliar with Spanish.

1920 Census

The first census after the Jones-Shafroth Act. The Puerto Rican community in New York was still small but growing. East Harlem (Manhattan Assembly Districts 21–23) had the densest concentration.

Search tip: If a name search fails, try searching by enumeration district in East Harlem using the FamilySearch or Ancestry catalog browsing tools.

1930 Census

By 1930, the Puerto Rican community in New York had grown substantially. The 1930 census is often the most productive for Wave 1 migrants who settled in the 1910s and 1920s.

Additional field: The 1930 census asked whether the person could speak English. This field sometimes helps confirm Puerto Rican origin when birthplace is unclear.

1940 Census

The 1940 census is fully indexed and available on FamilySearch for free. It introduced a question about residence five years earlier (in 1935), which can help confirm migration timing. A Puerto Rico-born person who lived in New York in 1940 but listed Puerto Rico as their 1935 residence migrated between 1935 and 1940.

Search tip: The 1940 census also recorded educational attainment and income — details that may help distinguish between two people with similar names.

1950 Census

The 1950 census covers the peak years of Operation Bootstrap migration. It is available on Ancestry and FamilySearch, with indexes still being improved. If a name search fails in 1950, try the address-based browsing method: if you know the family’s street address from a city directory or other source, navigate to the enumeration district manually.

3.2 Enumeration District Browsing

When index searching fails — and it will sometimes fail for Puerto Rican names — shift to enumeration district (ED) browsing. This means finding the ED number for a known neighborhood and paging through the images until you find the household.

How to find an ED:

Use the Steve Morse One-Step ED Finder — enter a street address and census year to find the enumeration district number
Navigate to that ED in the FamilySearch or Ancestry catalog
Browse page by page

This method is slower but effective when you have a known address from a draft card, city directory, or SS-5.

The Social Security Death Index is a database of deaths reported to the Social Security Administration, covering roughly 1962 to 2014 (with significant gaps for earlier and later years). It is available free on FamilySearch and on Ancestry.

What the SSDI contains:

Full name
Social Security number
Date of birth
Date of death
Last known ZIP code (the address where the benefit was being sent)
ZIP code where the death benefit payment was sent

Research value: The SSDI confirms death date and approximate location. The Social Security number, once found, can be used to request the original SS-5 application (see Module 2, section 2.2), which contains far richer information including parents’ names and the address at time of application.

Important limitation: The SSDI is not complete. Deaths before the 1970s are underrepresented, and not all deaths were reported to the SSA (especially deaths of people who never collected benefits or whose survivors did not notify the SSA). Absence from the SSDI does not confirm that a person is still living.

3.4 Military Service and Benefits Records

Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. military in substantial numbers across every major 20th-century conflict. Military records are among the most information-rich documents available for this period because the military needed to know exactly who a person was, where they were from, and who to notify in an emergency.

What Military Records Contain for Puerto Rican Migrants

Official Military Personnel File (OMPF): Full service record including enlistment data (birthplace, hometown, next of kin name and address), discharge papers, promotions, citations
Draft registration cards: Covered in Module 2; contain home address, employer, and next of kin
Veterans’ benefits files: Often include sworn statements about birthplace, marriage, and dependents — filed long after the service record was created

The next of kin field on enlistment records and draft cards frequently lists a parent or sibling still living in Puerto Rico, with a Puerto Rico address. This is a direct bridge back to island records.

The 65th Infantry Regiment

Puerto Rican men who served in the U.S. Army were often assigned to the 65th Infantry Regiment, known as the Borinqueneers. The regiment served in WWI, WWII, and Korea. If your male ancestor served between 1917 and 1953, check whether he was in the 65th Infantry — regiment records may contain additional detail.

How to Request Military Records

For WWII and later: Request the Official Military Personnel File from the National Archives Veterans’ Records Service. Note that a 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis destroyed records for many Army personnel discharged between 1912 and 1960. Alternate sources may be needed if records were lost.

For WWI: Enlistment records and draft registration cards survived the fire and are available on FamilySearch and Ancestry.

3.5 Why You Will Not Find Naturalization Records

This is one of the most common research errors in Puerto Rican genealogy: searching for naturalization records for a Puerto Rican migrant who moved to the mainland after 1917.

The Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to all Puerto Ricans collectively. From that date forward, a Puerto Rican moving to the mainland was a U.S. citizen moving within the United States — not a foreign national immigrating to a new country. There is nothing to naturalize.

Naturalization records simply do not exist for this population. The absence of a naturalization file is not a research failure; it is the expected result.

The Pre-1917 Exception

Puerto Ricans born before 1917 who were already adults at the time of the Jones-Shafroth Act were offered the opportunity to retain Spanish citizenship by filing a declaration within two years (by April 1918). A very small number did so, and some of those individuals later naturalized as U.S. citizens. If your ancestor was born before approximately 1890 and migrated to the mainland very early, it is worth verifying their citizenship status — but this situation is rare.

3.6 State Vital Records vs. Federal Records: Which Comes First?

Federal records (census, military, SS) are broad in coverage but limited in depth. State vital records (birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates filed in the state where the event occurred) are deeper and more detailed — but you need to know approximately where and when to look before you can request them.

The recommended sequence:

Use federal census records to find the state and approximate city where your ancestor lived
Use draft cards or SS-5 applications to narrow down the address and time period
Use city directories (Module 4) to track address by year
Then request state vital records for the specific events and locations you have identified

Module 4 covers state vital records and local repositories for the four major destination areas.

What’s Next

Module 4 covers state and city records in the four major Puerto Rican diaspora destinations: New York City, Hawaii, San Francisco and the Bay Area, and Chicago.

← Module 2 · Module 4 →

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