From the Ancestry Daily
News 1930s Naturalization Goodies I'll be honest, I was never very "happy" with naturalization records while researching my own family. The records were rarely detailed and usually failed to provide sufficient information to begin working with overseas records. A naturalization record would allow me to place my ancestor at a certain place at a certain time and help me to roughly approximate an immigration time span. That was all. While I always utilized naturalization records as part of a research plan involving an immigrant, I never expected to learn vast quantities of information from these records.My ancestors likely skewed my opinion of naturalization records. Of course, they've probably skewed my opinion of many other things as well. Of my fifteen or so ancestors who are naturalized, all did so before 1890. Their records, typical for their era, provide scant genealogical detail. One makes a grave genealogical mistake by concluding that all naturalization records are as sketchy. Regular Ancestry Daily News readers are familiar with my work on a Panagiotis/Peter Verikios, a Greek immigrant who settled in Chicago in the early 1900s. His 1934 naturalization provides great detail about him, his family, and his immigration. I just wish my ancestors had naturalized when such paperwork was required. Peter was naturalized after the naturalization and immigration reform that was passed in September 1906. Before that time, naturalization was an inconsistent process that could be conducted by any court in the nation. It was not so afterwards. In 1906, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization was created in an attempt to standardize the entire immigration and naturalization process. Before that time, there was likely confusion for the immigrant and subsequent confusion for the descendant trying to locate their ancestor's naturalization. The difficulty is that records of naturalization before 1906 could be located with any court. The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization created standardized forms upon which the naturalization paperwork was to be completed. The Bureau determined which courts were permitted to naturalize, with an eventual emphasis on federal courts. A few points worth remembering about naturalization records in general: --- Naturalization was not required and many of our ancestors may never have bothered to establish citizenship status. --- Some immigrants returned to their homeland and never naturalized. --- Women were not required to become separately naturalized until 1922 (see "Married to an Alien" in links at the end). --- Minor children of American citizens (naturalized or by nativity) and children born in the U.S. have not been required to naturalize. What About Panagiotis' Records? The records are wonderful and a change of pace from the pre-1906 records that I was accustomed to. In fact, after having seen Panagiotis' file, I am reviewing all my genealogical files in order to determine if any of my ancestor's siblings or cousins naturalized after 1906. The files for more distant or shirttail relatives may reveal additional research clues, and I have a few "brick walls" where such information would be extremely welcome. His Certificate of Arrival The certificate of arrival includes the port and date of entry along with the name of vessel. This is a great starting place for working, with passenger list information, which may contain the names of additional family members arriving at the same time. Panagiotis' Certificate of Arrival is dated 21 June 1934 and can be viewed online. His Declaration of Intent This document contains many important facts. It repeats some of what is on the Certificate of Arrival, but also includes: --- Date of birth --- Place of birth --- Name of spouse --- Birthplace of spouse --- Physical features --- Residential address This information may help the researcher to locate the ancestor in census records and city directories in the United States and vital records in the country of origin. Additionally in this case, the information on the wife was particularly helpful. The declaration for Panagiotis indicates that it is only good for seven years. Panagiotis' Declaration of Intent is dated 12 April 1928 and can be viewed online. His Petition for Citizenship This document also duplicates some information in the Certificate of Arrival and the Declaration of Intent. As some documents may be partially illegible, the repetition is a good thing. Names and places may be spelled differently on each document. While frustrating for the researcher, these variant spellings may actually help in the location of the actual birthplace. Panagiotis' petition is dated 1934, six years after his declaration. Both documents include different residential addresses, providing documentation of a move. In the case of Panagiotis, the most important clue was the birth date of his wife, which was given on the Petition for Citizenship. There was also space for the names of children, along with their birth information—this information could be extremely helpful for those who are unable to locate birth information for children of the immigrant. The Petition for Citizenship for Panagiotis can be viewed online. Quick Lessons from Panagiotis' File: --- Naturalization for step-ancestors may tell more about the direct line ancestor. --- The series of records in the file may document migrations after immigration. --- Information on children may be included in the file as well. Locating Post-1901 Naturalizations Home sources and family members should be consulted first in the search for a post-1906 naturalization. If these records are not available or do not provide the desired information, census records are a good place. These records will allow the researcher to more accurately pinpoint the dates necessary to locate the actual record and help to distinguish among individuals with the same or similar names. Clues from the Census 1900 AND 1910 CENSUS -- Foreign born residents were asked their year of immigration and their citizenship status in these enumerations. Care should be noted that this is the year of immigration, not the year of naturalization. Citizenship status will be indicated using one of the following abbreviations: Al -- alien (no naturalization paperwork completed) Pa -- papers (i.e.. the declaration of intent had been filed) Na -- naturalized (meaning the process had been completed) 1920 CENSUS -- This census asks an additional question -- the year of naturalization. Users of census records should be warned that the dates of immigration and naturalization, when provided, can easily be incorrect. Individuals tended to remember their citizenship status more accurately than they remembered their year of immigration or naturalization. Locating the Record County and federal courts could naturalize after 1906. Researchers should begin with any county courts that still held the authority to naturalize. These records are generally organized chronologically by date of naturalization, with either indexes for individual volumes or for the entire series of records. These records typically are still in the custody of the county, but some may have been transferred to a state archives or similar agency. Records at the county level may have to be searched in person or through a private researcher. Not all county level offices will search via the mail and some may be unfamiliar with any records that are not "modern." It is also possible that a state court may have naturalized your ancestor and these records may also have been transferred to a state archives. Initially contacting the state archives may be a good idea, if they don't have the records they likely can send you in the appropriate direction. Having an approximate date of naturalization from other records will facilitate locating the correct immigrant in the records. Federal Courts also performed naturalizations and continue to do so today. Many of the older federal court records have been placed in the appropriate branch of the National Archives and are available through those facilities. The National Archives Web site contains more information on the branch archives and their facilities. The Family History Library has microfilmed some of these records (at all levels) and they are available through the library's loan program. References to naturalization records can be located in the Library's catalog (http://www.familysearch.org/ ) by searching for a specific locality and then choosing the heading for that county titled "naturalization and citizenship." Regional Indexes to Naturalizations Some indexes to naturalizations were compiled during the 1930s by the Works Projects Administration. There are three National Archives microfilm publications that serve as indexes to some state and local court naturalizations in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. More information on specific counties listed in these indexes is available at the National Archives Web site. Just be certain to scroll about two-thirds of the way down the page. From the Ins The Immigration and Naturalization Service also maintains an index that is purported to contain all post-1906 naturalizations. The INS has more information on their records. Limited List of Links Branches of the National Archives merrimack.nara.gov/regional/nrmenu.html Immigration and Naturalization Service page on Family History www.ins.gov/graphics/aboutins/history/index.htm "Married to an Alien," Ancestry Daily News, 28 Nov 2001 (Contains information on women's citizenship status) www.ancestry.com/library/view/news/articles/4944.asp National Archives Information on Naturalization www.nara.gov/genealogy/natural.html Naturalization Records at the NARA Chicago Branch www.nara.gov/regional/findaids/chinatur.html Michael John Neill, is the Course I Coordinator at the Genealogical
Institute of Mid America (GIMA) held annually in Springfield, Illinois,
and is also on the faculty of Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg,
Illinois. Michael is the Web columnist for the FGS FORUM and is on
the editorial board of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly.
He conducts seminars and lectures on a wide variety of genealogical
and computer topics and contributes to several genealogical publications,
including Ancestry and Genealogical Computing. You can
e-mail him at: mailto:mneill@asc.csc.cc.il.us
or visit his Web site at: www.rootdig.com/
, but he regrets that he is unable to assist with personal research.
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