It's pretty complex figuring out if a particular passenger was on a first-time or return trip. The laws re citizenship, denizenship (resident alien status) and naturalization differed across provinces and across time periods. Parliament attempted to standardize the rules in 1740. The provinces responded by enforcing the new laws in different ways--if at all. An alien couldn't purchase/own property, while a non-naturalized denizen could not leave his property to his heirs. The latter clause was generally ignored by all of the provinces. The law also said that a naturalized citizen could vote, but could not hold public office. However, when one was elected in the colonies, they seated him anyway. In some provinces and time-periods, the Oath of Allegiance WAS the naturalization process. There's a very nice review of the changing regulations at http://dinsdoc.com/carpenter-2.htm. Throughout the period during which people named Jacob Geiger were arriving in PA, SC, VA (and probably elsewhere), naturalization and/or an Oath of Allegiance was--in theory--a one-time thing. The immigration records in PA have a big advantage over those in most provinces, because they are both more complete and available in more varieties. The Ship Captain's lists (e.g., in Strassburger & Hinke) cover every adult male passenger. The Oaths of Allegiance, compiled separately, list the first-arrivals who wished the right of denizenship--sometimes retroactively converted to naturalized citizenship. The naturalization records are a third independent source, although not as comprehensive. The southern provinces preserved very few ship-lists, and only occasionally kept copies of the Oaths of Allegiance. The multiple sources for PA records offer much more opportunity for research (especially about which people were making several trips back to Europe), which is probably why so much more immigrant research has been done there. ----- Original Message ----- From: <JYoung6180@aol.com> To: <GEIGER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 4:29 PM Subject: Re: [GEIGER] More Geigers of Ittlingen > In a message dated 11/10/2004 4:12:56 PM Eastern Standard Time, > himrey@ntelos.net writes: > Roeber mentioned that Jacob Geiger (mainly the Jr. one) made several trips, but didn't say how many or when. I suppose that the PA records indicate which of the various arrivals by a Jacob Geiger did--or did not--involve an oath of allegiance. The absence of an oath would show that it's a second or subsequent trip by a previous resident. Jacob Jr. may or may not have been considered a resident of PA, but he was in residence in Ittlingen most of the time after 1750, stayed in the home of Nicholas Weber on visits to PA. Harriet- The PA arrivals ALL involved oaths (the 5 between 1738 and 1743) and we wouldn't see Jacob's name listed at all if he didn't have to take the oath. As a non-British/American citizen he would have had to take the oath each time--I don't think I have any record of his being naturalized (I'll have to double check on that) but as long as he wasn't a citizen he'd have to sign the oaths. Joan