Hello to all-I subscribed to this list on a family hunch that my great great grandfather might have come to Ca. for the goldrush. I know very little about him and wonder if someone has experience searching for naturalization records in California. Here is what I know-William Johns was naturalized on Aug. 14,1879 in Nevada County, California. I have the original naturalization papers, they have a number on them, 662 and are from the county court. I know his wife’s name was Mary Ellen, don’t know the maiden name. William Johns was from England but no one in the family knows when he might have left England and came to CA. The hunch that he came for the goldrush has to do with mining- family lore says he was from Cornwall and possibly a miner. Their son Willie James Johns was born 9/22/1878 in Dutch Flat, Ca. Willie was baptized on June 8, 1879 in a Methodist Episcopal Church. I have the baptism certificate but that is all it says about the church. Mary Ellen and her son eventually ended up in Iron Mountain, MI(when Willie was 9) and she remarried there so somewhere along the way, William Johns passed away. I am about to start searching the census records here in Washington, D.C. because fortunately for me, I work just down the street from the National Archives. But I did read that there might be information on the naturaliztion records and wondered if anyone had information on the records for Nevada County. Thanks very much for any assistance. I am enjoying learning so much about the Goldrush from the list. Joan Young