In a message dated 2/1/04 11:11:23 PM Pacific Standard Time, ktlkate@extremezone.com writes: > It's in a beautiful old script handwriting, it has the > witnesses to the naturalization, and it has my great-grandpa's signature on > it. It says he renounces the "kingdom" of Germany Yes, that is the wording in my grandfather's Declaration. The Declarations are still available. They were NOT destroyed. I'm sorry that I mentioned this at all because it seems there is confusion as to what was destroyed and what was retained. There are still Naturalization Records at the Civil Courts Dept. Before 1980 they had BOTH the Petitions and the Declarations, but in 1980, the Petitions were destroyed. The Declarations were retained and they were also microfilmed by LDS in 1984. The Declarations DO say what you quoted in your last message about "renouncing allegiance to Germany, etc." so if anyone doesn't have it, you definitely want to get it. Presumably, the Petitions which were destroyed had more information on them, but now I'll never know for sure. I hope this clears this up and everyone understands that just the naturalizations Petitions for the period before 1980 were destroyed. The Declarations were retained and are available from the Civil Courts Department. Happy Hunting. Glodean St. Louis Civil Court had Naturalization Records for before 1906. (Civil Courts Building, 10 N. Tucker Street, St. Louis, Mo 63101) According to a clerk there,in 1980 all the Petitions were destroyed by the Civil Court Records Department because they hadn't been refiled and were “a mess.” Only the Declarations are remaining and they were microfilmed by LDS in 1984.