Listers: I have a naturalization question. In our DOLAN ancestry there were three siblings who came to the US together (sometime in the early to mid 1840's): an older brother, b. 1822; a sister, b. 1825; and a brother, b. 1826. For the naturalization process (none were married when they came here) would the two male siblings be naturalized and the female not naturalized? My understanding is that females were not naturalized who were accompanied by their husbands, but if the woman was single how was this handled? If later here in the US, she married an Irish immigrant, was she then automatically naturalized if the husband became a citizen? Hope I am making myself clear, as I am trying to find them on Footnote's naturalization link. Any help or ideas greatly appreciated. Marybeth [email protected]

Marybeth Here are two articles from the National Archives (US) web page that shows the complexity of the issue). http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1998/summer/women-and-naturali zation-1.html http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1998/summer/women-and-naturali zation-2.html In general, women assumed the citizenship of their husband in the days before women received the right to vote. If they travelled by themselves, they would remain an "alien" until they married a US citizen. But some states might have let them vote in school or municipal elections. And if he died or they divorced and she remarried a non-citizen, she (and the children) would assume the citizenship of the new husband. But it is more complex than that so check those two articles. "Unless a woman was single or widowed, she had few reasons to naturalize prior to the twentieth century. Women, foreign-born or native, could not vote. Until the mid-nineteenth century, women typically did not hold property or appear as "persons" before the law. Under these circumstances, only widows and spinsters would be expected to seek the protections U.S. citizenship might afford. One might also remember that naturalization involved the payment of court fees. Without any tangible benefit resulting from a woman's naturalization, it is doubtful that many women or their husbands considered the fees to be money well spent." ---------------------- "Happily, Congress was at work and on September 22, 1922, passed the Married Women's Act, also known as the Cable Act. This 1922 law finally gave each woman a nationality of her own. No marriage since that date has granted U.S. citizenship to any alien woman nor taken it from any U.S.-born women who married an alien eligible to naturalization.(11) Under the new law women became eligible to naturalize on (almost) the same terms as men." Ray Marshall Where it is still snowing and I'm very tired of it in Minneapolis. Anybody have a spare bedroom so I can move south for three months? <GR> -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 4:12 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [IRL-KERRY] question abt. naturalization, c. early 1840's Listers: I have a naturalization question. In our DOLAN ancestry there were three siblings who came to the US together (sometime in the early to mid 1840's): an older brother, b. 1822; a sister, b. 1825; and a brother, b. 1826. For the naturalization process (none were married when they came here) would the two male siblings be naturalized and the female not naturalized? My understanding is that females were not naturalized who were accompanied by their husbands, but if the woman was single how was this handled? If later here in the US, she married an Irish immigrant, was she then automatically naturalized if the husband became a citizen? Hope I am making myself clear, as I am trying to find them on Footnote's naturalization link. Any help or ideas greatly appreciated. Marybeth [email protected] _______________ --------------- Policies of the IRL-Kerry List: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlker/mailing.html To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message. To subscribe to the Digest version of the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'subscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message. To visit the County Kerry Research and Resources Page go to: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlker/ Share your stuff! If you transcribed research data, share it with the Irish genealogy community. Contribute it to the Kerry website to reach a wide audience. Contact Ann Hammer, data maintenance. Her contact info is at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlker/ contrib.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1191 / Virus Database: 1435/3379 - Release Date: 01/14/11