Naturalization Records
In order to find your ancestors' naturalization records, you
first must know where they naturalized. Naturalization records in
the National Archives are, for the most part, kept at the branch
that services the region where the naturalizations took place.
Because of the time period in which your ancestors came over, you may have to go to state or county courts to find these records; it wasn't until 1906 that naturalizations were required to be done through the federal courts.
I am enclosing an
article on the naturalization process that should help direct
your search.
Clifford MacWha
Archives I Research Room Services Branch (NWCC1)
National Archives and Records Administration
700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20408-0001
<cliff.macwha@nara.gov>
Naturalization Records
The following article should assist you in locating the
naturalization record you are looking for.
You can find an
updated version at our website.
"The Location of Naturalization Records."
By Claire Prechtel-Kluskens.
Reprinted from The Record, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 21-22 (Nov. 1996).
We are frequently asked where an ancestor's naturalization
records can be found. This article will provide general
guidance that should assist most researchers in finding these
records.
Naturalization is the process of by which an alien becomes an
American citizen. It is a voluntary act by the alien;
naturalization is not required. Twenty-five percent of
foreign-born persons listed on the 1890 through 1930 censuses had
not become naturalized or filed their "first papers."
The Courts
From the first naturalization law passed by Congress in 1790 up
through much of the twentieth century, an alien could become
naturalized in any court of record. Thus, most people went
to the court most convenient to them, usually a county court of
some kind. The names and types of courts vary from state to
state. The names and types courts have also varied during
different periods of history--but may include the county supreme,
circuit, district, equity, chancery, probate, or common pleas
court. Most researchers will find that their ancestors
became naturalized in one of these courts.
A few State Supreme
Courts also naturalized aliens, such as the Supreme Courts of
Indiana, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, New Jersey, and South Dakota.
Some persons who lived in large cities become naturalized in a
Federal court, such as a U.S. District Court or U.S. Circuit
Court, if one of those courts were convenient to them.
General Rule: The
Two-Step Process
Congress passed the first law regulating naturalization in 1790
(1 Stat. 103). As a general rule, naturalization was a
two-step process that took a minimum of five years. After
being in the United States a minimum of two years, an alien could
file a "declaration of intent" to become a
citizen. A minimum of three years after that, the alien
could then "petition for naturalization." After
the petition was granted, a certificate of citizenship was issued
to the alien. These two steps did not have to take place in
the same court. As a general rule, the "declaration of
intent" will contain more genealogically-useful information
than the "petition."
The
"declaration" may include the alien's month and year
(or possibly the exact date) of his immigration to the United
States.
Exceptions to the General
Rule
Having stated this "two-step, five-year" general rule,
it is necessary to note several exceptions. The first major
exception was that "derivative" citizenship was granted
to wives and minor children of naturalized men. From 1790
to 1922, wives of naturalized men automatically became
citizens. This also meant that an alien woman who married a
U.S. citizen automatically became a citizen upon marriage.
From 1790 to 1940,
children under the age of 21 automatically became naturalized
citizens upon the naturalization of their father.
Unfortunately, however, names and biographical information about
wives and children are rarely included in declarations or
petitions before September 1906.
The second major exception to the general rule was that, from
1824 to 1906, minor aliens who had lived in the U.S. five years
before their twenty-third birthday could file their declarations
and petitions at the same time.
The third major exception to the general rule was the special
consideration given to veterans. An 1862 law allowed
honorably-discharged army veterans of any war to petition for
naturalization without previously having filed a declaration of
intent after only one year's residence in the United
States. An 1894 law extended the same
no-previous-declaration privilege to honorably-discharged
five-year veterans of the Navy or the Marine Corps.
Over 192,000 aliens were
naturalized between May 9, 1918 and June 30, 1919, under an act
of May 9, 1918, that allowed aliens serving in the U.S. armed
forces during "the present war" to file a petition for
naturalization without making a declaration of intent or proving
five years' residence. Laws enacted in 1919, 1926, 1940,
and 1952 continued various preferential treatment provisions for
veterans.
The Records
It is impossible to provide hard-and-fast rules about the content
or even the existence of naturalization records. The 1905
Report to the President of the Commission on Naturalization
remarked:
The methods of making and keeping the naturalization records in
both the Federal and State courts are as various as the procedure
in such cases. Thus the declaration of intention in some
courts consists merely of the bare statement of the intention and
the name and allegiance of the alien, while in other courts it
also includes a history of the alien.... In a majority of
courts alien applicants are not required to make the declaration
of intention required by law ... and in other courts he
is. Previous to 1903 a majority of courts did not require
petitions or affidavits; other courts did. Some courts keep
a naturalization record separate from the other records; other
courts include the naturalization record in the regular minutes
of the court. Some records contain full histories of the
aliens, but a majority of the records show only the name,
nationality, oath of allegiance, and date of admission.
In 1903, a Justice Department investigator made even more damning
comments:
I find the naturalization records in many cases in a chaotic
condition, many lost and destroyed, and some sold for old
paper. Most the records consist of merely the name and
nativity of the alien with no means of identifying aliens of the
same name.... In numerous cases I find aliens naturalized
under initials instead of Christian names, surnames misspelled or
changed entirely, and names of witnesses inserted in place of the
alien naturalized.... The examination of the records
discloses the remarkable fact that never, since the first
enactment of the naturalization laws, has any record been made in
any court of the names of minor children who, under the operation
of the statutes, were made citizens by the naturalization of
their parents.
The Location of these
Records
For a comprehensive guide to where naturalization records for
specific courts can be found, see Christina K. Schaefer, Guide to
Naturalization Records of the United States (Baltimore, MD:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997), which is available in many
public libraries, as well as from genealogical booksellers and
the publisher.
Naturalization records from county courts may still be at the
county court, or in a county or state archives, or at a regional
archives serving several counties within a state. Some of
these records or indexes have been published, such as the Index
of Naturalizations, Ashtabula County, Ohio, 1875-1906, published
by the Ashtabula County Genealogical Society.
Do not be surprised if
county court employees tell you their naturalization records are
at "the National Archives" or that their court never
conducted naturalizations. Most current court employees are
probably not genealogists and may not be familiar with, or
interested in, the court's older records. It is up to the
researcher to have persistence in determining the location of
older court records. Some of these records may have been
microfilmed and may be available through "Family History
Centers" run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints ("Mormon"). Family History Centers are
open to the public.
If the naturalization took place in a Federal court,
naturalization indexes, declarations, of intent, and petitions
will usually be in the National Archives' Regional Archives
serving the state in which the Federal court is located
(addresses listed at end of message). Some of these indexes
and records have been microfilmed and are available through
"Mormon" Family History Centers or the American
Genealogical Lending Library (a private company that rents
microfilmed genealogical records to the public).
The Microfilm Reading Room (Room 400) in the National Archives
Building in downtown Washington, D.C., has some microfilmed
Federal court naturalization indexes, declarations, and
petitions, but it is by no means a complete collection of these
records. To repeat, most Federal naturalization records are
found in the National Archives Regional Archives serving the
state in which the Federal court is located.
Although the National Archives does not have naturalization records created in state or local courts, we do have three microfilmed indexes that serve as a finding aid to some state and local court naturalizations.
National Archives
Microfilm Publication M1285, Soundex Index to
Naturalization Petitions for the United States District and
Circuit Courts,
Northern District of Illinois, and Immigration and Naturalization
Service
District 9, 1840-1950 (179 rolls) serves both as an index to
naturalization
petitions from the two Federal courts mentioned in its title and
as an
index to naturalization petitions filed in county courts in
eastern Iowa,
northwestern Indiana, eastern Wisconsin, and northern Illinois.
National Archives Microfilm Publication M1674, Index (Soundex) to
Naturalization Petitions Filed in Federal, State, and Local
Courts in New
York, New York, including New York, Kings, Queens, and Richmond
Counties,
1792-1906 (294 rolls) serves a similar finding aid function for
New York
City naturalization petitions.
National Archives Microfilm Publication M1299, Index to New
England
Naturalization Records, 1791-1906 (117 rolls) serves a similar
function for
naturalizations occurring in various courts in the New England
states.
For more detailed information, consult John J. Newman, American
Naturalization Processes and Procedures, 1790-1985
(Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1985).
National Archives Regional
Archives Addresses
NARA--New England Region (Boston),
380 Trapelo Rd., Waltham, MA 02154.
617-647-8100. Email: <archives@waltham.nara.gov>.
States: CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT.
NARA--New England Region (Pittsfield),
10 Conte Dr., Pittsfield, MA 01201.
413-445-6885. Email: <archives@pittsfield.nara.gov>.
MICROFILM ONLY; no original records.
States: CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT.
NARA--Northeast Region (New York City),
201 Varick St., New York, NY.
212-337-1300. Email: <archives@newyork.nara.gov>.
States: NJ, NY, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands.
NARA--Mid-Atlantic Region (Philadelphia City Center),
900 Market St., Room 1350, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
215-597-3000. Email: <archives@philarch.nara.gov>.
States: DE, MD, PA, VA, WV.
NARA--Southeast Region (Atlanta),
1557 St. Joseph Ave., East Point, GA 30344.
404-763-7477. Email: <archives@atlanta.nara.gov>.
States: AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN.
NARA--Great Lakes Region (Chicago),
7358 South Pulaski Rd., Chicago, IL 60629.
312-581-7816. Email: <archives@chicago.nara.gov>.
States: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI.
NARA--Central Plains Region (Kansas City),
2312 East Bannister Rd., Kansas City, MO 64131.
816-926-6272. Email: <archives@kansascity.nara.gov>.
States: IA, KS, MO, NE.
NARA--Southwest Region (Fort Worth),
501 West Felix St., P.O. Box 6216, Ft. Worth, TX 76115.
817-334-5525.
States: AR, LA, NM, OK, TX.
(most records from Federal agencies in NM are at
NARA-Rocky Mountain Region)
NARA--Rocky Mountain Region (Denver),
Building 48-Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225-0307.
303-236-0817. Email: <archives@denver.nara.gov>.
States: CO, MT, ND, NM, SD, UT, WY.
NARA--Pacific Region (Laguna Niguel),
24000 Avila Rd., Laguna Niguel, CA 92656.
714-360-2641. Email: <archives@laguna.nara.gov>.
States: AZ, Southern CA, and Clark Co., NV.
NARA--Pacific Region (San Francisco),
1000 Commodore Dr., San Bruno, CA 94066.
415-876-9009. Email: <archives@sanbruno.nara.gov>.
Northern CA, HI, NV (except Clark Co.),
Pacific Trust Territories, American Samoa.
NARA--Pacific-Alaska Region (Seattle),
6125 Sand Point Way, NE, Seattle, WA, 98115.
206-526-6507. Email: <archives@seattle.nara.gov>.
NARA--Pacific-Alaska Region (Anchorage),
654 West Third Ave., Anchorage, AK, 99501.
907-271-2441. Email: <archives@alaska.nara.gov>.
State: AK.
This page was last updated October 4, 2008.