Ancestry Magazine

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service makes it possible for us to retrace our ancestor’s steps toward naturalization.

Among the family treasures framed and displayed next to an assortment of old photographs in my parents’ home is my great-grandmother’s certificate of naturalization. I can tell you practically everything about this document, from the fact that my great-grandmother’s signature appears on it twice, in blue ink, to the date the Southern District Court of New York granted American citizenship to my father’s grandmother: 5 May 1952.

In fact, it seems I’ve always known a lot about thi s particular great-grandmother, although she died when I was just a toddler. Mainly I’ve learned about her through the stories others have told me.

I’ve known about her childhood in late nineteenth-century Germany and her place in the family as the youngest of many siblings. (We have a photograph of the group, purportedly taken to comfort a homesick sister away at school.) I’ve known about her marriage to a distant cousin, the loss of their second baby and the birth of the third—my grandmother. I’ve known how this great-grandmother, a German Jew, survived the war years by fleeing to South America, and how she arrived in New York in 1946. I’ve even known, before ever seeing the certificate, some of the information that appears on it—that at the time of her naturalization she was a widow living on West 139th Street in New York City.

Still, I’ve felt fortunate to have that certificate and those two signatures in blue ink among our family possessions, to see another photograph of Oma, and even to learn the precise date of her birth, 15 October 1884. Not to mention learning that at five feet two inches tall, Oma weighed an impressive 170 pounds!

The Scope of the Records
The truth is that the certificate is just one component of a naturalization record. In a sense, it is the final piece, the product of the documents that precede it.

Much more about our immigrant ancestors can be gleaned from a complete naturalization record, which in its most basic sense includes the papers of court proceedings granting U.S. citizenship to non-citizens (also known as “aliens”). And at least until 1952, such records generally consisted of three parts: a “Declaration of Intention” to become a citizen, a “Petition of Naturalization” usually submitted several years later, and the final certificate. (The very lucky family historian may discover additional documents in an ancestor’s file, but this isn’t to be expected.)

The history of naturalization in the United States is a long and segmented one, beginning more than two hundred years ago, when Congress passed its first naturalization act on 26 March 1790. Over time it has been complicated by a number of exceptions.
There have been waivers of certain residency, declaration requirements offered for aliens who served in the military, and “derivative” citizenship granted to wives and minor children of naturalized men. (The exception for wives ended in 1922 and for children in 1940.)

The history of what is included on the documents, and where they can be found, also varies. Since there was no Naturalization Service before 1906, for example, records for the individuals naturalized earlier were not filed there. Similarly, photographs were added to the certificates in 1929 but were later discontinued.

So where does that leave the family historian who seeks to learn more from and about naturalization records? Where can he or she go to find out what’s available, and how can the materials be tracked down?

Getting Started
I confess that having spent much of my adult life as both a student and a teacher I am comfortable in classrooms, so if there’s a course or class to be taken for a new endeavor I’m usually game. And since genealogical research is such a hands-on undertaking, workshops intended to introduce you to the process in general and to working with immigrant records (more specifically, naturalization records) really can prove remarkably helpful.

My own case may be instructive. I’m lucky enough to live in Boston, home to the New England Historic and Genealogical Society (NEHGS), and not long ago I spent a Saturday morning sitting in on a free Genealogy in a Nutshell Lecture entitled “Naturalization Records as Immigrant Sources.” Earlier that week, I’d spent a lunch hour at the NEHGS “Getting Started” program, which is repeated the first We dnesday of every month and is also free of charge. Those two brief events enabled me to start searching not only for my paternal great-grandmother’s full naturalization file, but also for records on my maternal side.

If you don’t live in Boston, you needn’t despair. Many state and local societies offer similar assistance. Check with the societies, archives, and libraries near you (the directory listed in the resource sidebar should help you get started) to learn what kinds of education and assistance may be available.

Remember that the National Archives, both in Washington, DC and at its various regional facilities throughout the country, also offers genealogical workshops throughout the year. Recent and upcoming sessions include not only introductory or general courses, but also more focused classes on “Naturalization Records” in Philadelphia, “Passenger Arrival and Naturalization Records Research” in San Francisco, and “Immigration, Passenger Arrival and Naturalization” in Seattle.

Of course, much can be initiated and accomplished right from home or at the library. It makes sense to review some of the background articles and summaries offered on what the records are and how to find them.

If you prefer print resources, try a book such as Loretto Dennis Szucs’s They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins. Online, a helpful primer is “Finding Naturalization Records: A Genealogy Guide”. This source succinctly explains how to find records dating before and after 1906, then lists a number of state-by-state resources and links to searchable indexes and databases.

The Former INS
One particularly instructive online lesson comes in the form of a sample immigration record with accompanying images of a declaration, petition, and certificate. These are provided courtesy of an office that may be familiar to many family history researchers, but one that has recently experienced a change in identity (and Web location).

On 1 March 2003, the services offered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) became part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); they now fall within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For genealogists, the immediate significance may be that the bookmark at www.immigration.gov no longer works. Now, a good starting place for family historians is the History, Genealogy, and Education section of the DHS website.

Family historians will find much of value on this site, including a wealth of material on naturalization records and instructions on how to find them. Here researchers learn,
for example, that C-Files contain duplicate copies of naturalization records dated after
26 September 1906, and include the Declaration of Intention (to 1952), the Petition for Naturalization, and the Certificate of Naturalization.

An Example: Max Gudis
The website also provides instructions on obtaining copies of these records. And as a learning resource for those of every age, the site includes a sample history of one immigrant, Max Gudis, and his immigration records.

Part of the usefulness of these samples is simply in seeing what the documents might look like and what sort of material a researcher might expect to discover within them.

For example, Max’s 1913 Declaration of Intention, filed nine years after his immigration, supplies his age, his occupation, his physical description, and his birthplace and date. It lists his port of embarkation, his port and date of arrival, the name of the ship that brought him to the United States, and the place of his last foreign residence.

Max declares: “It is my bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty” (in Max’s case, as supplied on the declaration, Nicholas II of Russia). In signing the declaration, Max attests that he is not an anarchist, and continues, “I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to permanently reside therein: So help me God.”

Max’s petition, also reproduced on the USCIS site, repeats and augments the biographical information. It supplies his wife’s name and age, and information about their children. It also includes the names, occupations, and addresses of the two witnesses who came to court to vouch for Max. The certificate, which was reproduced on the website as well, was granted in 1916.

As helpful and illustrative as the USCIS website and the preceding resources are, what soon becomes clear is that there’s no single recipe to follow when it comes to tracking down your ancestor’s naturalization files. Much may depend, as is often the case in genealogical research of all types, on discoveries that occur along the way. I see this truth emerge ever more clearly as I continue the process of acquiring the missing pieces in my great-grandmother’s record, and begin to work on the maternal side of the family’s history, too.

As luck would have it, my maternal great-grandfather’s name, which was all I had to go on since I wasn’t sure what year he’d left Europe, turned up in one of the online searchable databases from the New England Historic Genealogical Society. I learned about the index of Brooklyn Naturalization Records, 1907—1924 from the lecture on naturalization records I attended. All I had to do was copy down volume/page numbers provided for my great-grandfather’s records, write up a request, and walk over to my local post office to get that $10 money order payable to the Kings County Clerk’s Office.

For my great-grandmother, who was naturalized a few decades later (and was a Manhattan resident), it’s another story—even with her certificate. But with a little patience, a little reading, and even a little luck, I’m confident that her full records will soon follow.

Resources for Researching Naturalization Records
They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins, by Loretto Dennis Szucs (Ancestry Publishing, 1998).

“`Any woman who is now or may hereafter be married”‘ Women and Naturalization, ca. 1802—1940,” by Marian L. Smith

“Background History of the United States Naturalization Process,” by Eilleen Bolger

Finding U.S. Naturalization Records (includes many useful links and searchable online databases)

Immigrant Max Gudis

Index to Brooklyn Naturalization Records, 1907—1924 Kings County Clerk’s Office

“Naturalization Records” Adapted from The Location of Naturalization Records, by Claire Prechtel-Kluskens

“Naturalization Records”
History, Genealogy and Education/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Types of Naturalization Records: A Summary for Genealogy Researchers

Information on Workshops, Lectures, and Other Programs
Genealogical Workshops (National Archives Regional Facilities)

U.S. State Historical Archives & State Archives Directory (Search individual state locations for resources, including educational programs)

Additional Resources of Interest
Ellis Island/American Family Immigration History Center

Immigration History Research Center

Erika Dreifus, Ed.M., M.F.A., Ph.D., is a writer in Massachusetts, where she edits the free monthly newsletter, The Practicing Writer. Her book, Free Expression: 101 Fee-Free Contests, Competitions, and Other Opportunities for Resourceful Writers, is available from www.Booklocker.com.