Ancestry Magazine

Though U.S. naturalization records before 1906 are not standardized, they still have potential to help us climb the brick walls of our research.

Behind every naturalization document is the story of an individual who was expressing his or her desire to become an American citizen. The decision not only changed the lives of these individuals, but it impacted the lives of their children a nd grandchildren as well.

A Brief History
The first naturalization act was passed by Congress on 26 March 1790. In 1795, Congress repealed the 1790 act and passed a more stringent law. While conditions of naturalization were slightly altered under the acts of 1795 and 1798, an act of 1802 was the last major change in naturalization laws until 1906.

The 1802 act specified that free white aliens might be admitted to citizenship provided they declare their intention to become citizens before a competent state, territorial, or federal court at least three years before admission to citizenship. The act also specified that the aliens should have resided at least five years in the United States and at least one year within the state or territory where the court was held.

Women will rarely be found in pre-1922 naturalization records because married women and children under the age of twenty-one derived citizenship from their husbands and fathers, respectively. Children of unsuccessful applicants could apply for citizenship in their own right when they reached the age of twenty-one. Unfortunately, there was rarely any mention of marital status on pre-1906 naturalization documents, so early naturalization records are not good sources for obtaining names and biographical details for spouses and children.

The act of 1906 was the turning point in naturalization records because of the formation of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, later the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Naturalization forms were standardized and the Bureau examined petitions for naturalization. The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which replaced the INS in March 2004, keeps duplicate naturalization records for individuals who were naturalized after 1906.

Details in the Pre-1906 Records
Generally speaking, most pre-1906 naturalization papers contain l ittle information of biographical or genealogical value. In the absence of standardized naturalization forms, federal, state, county, and other minor courts of record created their own naturalization documents, which varied greatly in format. These documents are stored in sundry courts, archives, warehouses, libraries, and private collections.

In the majority of early cases, only the name of the individual, his or her native country, and the date of the naturalization are given; rarely is the exact town of origin named. There are, however, some wonderful exceptions, so it is worth seeking pre-1906 naturalizations.

Prior to 1906, when the federal government standardized laws and issued standardized forms, local courts (most often the county courts) were the most convenient places for foreigners to begin and complete the citizenship process.

In many cases, in order to locate early naturalization papers, it is necessary to conduct a county-by-county search. For descriptions of naturalization records and how to locate county courts, see Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources, edited by Alice Eichholz (Ancestry, 1992).

Indexes of Naturalizations
To begin the search for an immigrant’s origins, learn as much as you can about that person, including full name, approximate birth date, native country, approximately when that person came to the United States, and where that person lived after his or her arrival in the United States.

Fortunately, there have been indexes created of some early records. During the 1930s and 1940s, most states participated in a nationwide project carried out by the Works Projects Administration (WPA) to locate and photograph naturalization records predating 1906. Although all photostatic copies were to be deposited with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, few of the states or districts had been completed when the WPA dis banded in 1942.

There are several enormous naturalization indexes that should first be consulted if the alien of interest lived in one of the areas covered by these compilations.

One of the largest is a WPA index to naturalization documents filed in courts in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The index, covering the years 1790 to 1974, also contains some cards for New York and Vermont, and can be referenced at the National Archives—New England Region.

Another is the WPA Soundex index to more than 1.5 million naturalization petitions from northern Illinois, northwestern Indiana, southern and eastern Wisconsin, and eastern Iowa. This index is housed at the National Archives—Great Lakes Region in Chicago, Illinois.

Similarly, the original WPA card index to some 650,000 naturalization petitions for the Eastern District of New York is at the National Archives—Northeast Region in New York City.

You’ll find that all of the known WPA naturalization indexes have been microfilmed and are available not
only at the National Archives, but at the Family History Library and some other libraries with large genealogical collections.

Just a few months ago, the New York Index became a part of the Immigration collection at Ancestry.com. This database contains an index to the petitions for naturalization from 1792 to 1906.

Information that may be found in this database for each individual includes given name and surname, court where petitioned, naturalization date, birthdate or age, nationality, arrival port, arrival date, and a reference to the location of the original record including a volume number, page number and record number. Other information found on some of the cards, but not indexed includes occupation, present address, and names, occupations, and addresses of witnesses.

Some Examples
Becau se all of my ancestors lived for a time in New York City and Brooklyn (also included in the New York Index), my daughter and I found information on almost all of the surnames we are working on for that time and locale. Not all of the cards we found were for direct ancestors but when there was enough biographical information on an individual named on a card, we were able to either document that person as a relative or rule them out and see more clearly that they belonged to another family.

Sometimes, the records provide only clues. For example, we feel certain that we have found the naturalization record for our ancestor William Huggins because he had as his witness Michael Meehan. Michael was also named as a sponsor at William’s daughter’s baptism in Brooklyn a couple of years later. While this isn’t absolute proof, it strongly suggests that we have the right naturalization record for our immigrant ancestor.

In another case, the record for James Kelly, naturalized in the Marine Court of New York City on 14 April 1831, may be our relative because he claimed to be a cooper by occupation. Because we have city directories that lead us to believe our ancestor was a cooper for a time, we may have found our man!

In every case, it’s important to understand the history of the records, how, why, and when they were created, and how to interpret the information on them. While other documentation is definitely desirable to prove or disprove identity and relationships, naturalization records—even pre-1906—are among the great prizes to be sought in family history research.