The following information was sent to NYERIE-L over the last several years by members of that List. I tend to cut out useful information from the List and I store it in text files, adding to them when ever new or more detailed information is provided. It is a bit like a scrap book, but I have hundreds of bits of good information at my fingertips. Herewith an example for Naturalization which someone was asking about this week.. Sorry, I cannot provide who submitted the items. If you recognize a bit as yours, please take appropriate credit! Joe Felt ====================================================== As you can see there is helpful information, although not all declarations are so detailed as parish of birth and way of reaching the US. You do get age, approximate date of entry into the US and port of entry. With the port of entry, you can check for ships. In my case unfortunately, I'm not aware of any records for port of entry thru Buffalo NY. However, if they came thru New York City(Ellis Island) you could check those records ,which are microfilmed, for ships from England around that time, and then check passenger lists. If you live in the US, records can be checked at a Federal Regional Depository(you can check the federal National Archives and Records Administration(NARA) website for regional centers), or sometimes a big regional library will have the microfilms. Also the Family History Centers can order microfilms. I believe they can also be ordered thru commercial services like AGLL(American Genealogical Lending Library). Please remember that even though a date is given for port of entry, that the ship may have come before or after that date; a search of at least 30 days( or even two months) on either side of the date is a good idea. You can also double check this time of arrival by the date under 2) No. of yrs in US. If 3) Naturalization has been checked or there is a NA(naturalized) then there is an additional request, and oath taken, and naturalization declared and naturalization papers issued. Often there was an additional two years between the declaration of intention, and naturalization. Naturalization did not have to take place in the same county or district court as the declaration of intent. Depending upon when your ancestor arrived in 1880, he may be in the 1880 census. Many censuses were done in June, but took several days to several weeks depending on where in the country people were. Remember, almost all the 1890 census burned, so there won't be one. A terrific primer on naturalization is available at http://infoukes.com/culture/lemkos/genealogy/naturalization.html ******************************** For those of you interested in obtaining the alien applications and final Naturalization papers for your immigrants in Erie County, you can order them through your local Family History Library. There are quite a number of microfilm rolls, so you might want to order the index rolls first. The index to alien applications 1835-1891 is: 979358 The index to alien applications 1892-1906 is: 979359 The index to final papers 1840-1894, 1895-1906 is: 979256 ************************************** Declaration of Intention to become a citizen and this is the info I got from it: His name, physical description, date and place of birth(city also) race and nationality wifes name, date and place of marriage, her birth date and place childrens names, birthdates, and places--where they all live at present date and port of arrival and departure, ships name spelling of his name when he arrived ================================== I had my fathers naturalization certificate. Found out from that that he became naturalized in Chicago. I called the district court that issued it, and they gave me the phone number of the National Archives, Great Lakes Region. Called them and asked for a copy of my fathers C-files. This includes the Declaration of Intention: Certificate of Arrival; Petition for Citizenship and Oath of Allegiance. Sometimes the information filled out by the applicant on the Declaration of Intention can be wrong, as it was with the case with my dad. He thought he came over on a different ship, at a slightly different time. After 1906 the courts had to verify the exact date of arrival and ship other wise the person could not become naturalized. So, on the Certificate of Arrival, I found out the exact date and correct ship. You want the entire set of files. By the way, they didn't charge me any fee, and I had them in about 2 weeks. I was really impressed. ================================== There are usually two documents, the declaration of intent and the actual naturalization certificate. Both contain minimal information, just date and signature and the name of the foreign state or sovereign to which allegiance is renounced and the names of a couple of witnesses. If you are trying to build as complete a picture of an immigrant's life as possible, these documents are important and should not be ignored. However, if you are just tree-climbing they will not be of much use. =================================

There does not seem to be one set rule or pattern for people seeking naturalization. The documents of those applying in the 1860's for example (I have my great grandfathers) tell you nothing but that he gave up allegiance to the British thrown. My grandfathers, filed in two different states however, are a treasure trove of information as are those of several other family members who filed in the early to mid 1900's. My advice to anyone seriously searching...do just that ...seriously search all avenues. Do not overlook the county in which they resided at the time you think they were naturalized. While I have not found family members who started but didn't complete the process, I imagine there are many who did just that. Good Luck hunting Elizabeth V. Cardinal evc1369@comcast.net