Hello Ray & listers Reading your message about declarations of Intent. Where does someone search for these and for naturalizations for USA please? 19th century timewise Have James Faulkner leaving Ireland c1875 and going to the US but cant find him. I have no idea where he went in the States and the only one I can find that MIGHT be him I found on Passenger and Immigration Index arriving in Philidelphia in 1875. The census of course only give Ireland as place of birth which isnt any help when you have a number of people with the same name. Appreciate any help from you or the listers thanks cheers from downunder Patsy www.genebug.net

Patsy You are requesting information on the correct document. The Declaration of Intent is usually the only document that has valuable genealogical information on it. Naturalization is the process by which an alien becomes an American citizen. It is a voluntary act; naturalization is not required. Of the foreign-born persons listed on the 1890 through 1930 censuses, 25 percent had not become naturalized or filed their "first papers." (U.S. Archive information) In the 19th century, the responsibility for processing Intent Applications was in the hands of the various states. Generally they were filed with the local district/state courts. Most often, all they would tell you is the country where they had emigrated (generally it was the country where they had been born). Now and then you might see one with a city on it. Most often the most valuable piece of information is the date and the place they arrived in the U.S. That is useful for then going to the passenger lists for that location. New York City is generally not indexed, so that presents a big problem in itself. There are problems with dates. First of all, if the record is filed a long time after the arrival in the U.S., the filer may not know the actual date. I have one that says another ancestor arrived July 4, 1869. I am exceedingly suspicious of that date, but not the year. (For Patsy: July 4 is our "Independence Day"). Or, in the case of my g-greatgrandfather, John Marszalkiewicz, he very specifically says on his Intent (that he signed with an "X") that he arrived in the United States on July 24, 1872. Wonderful! A relatively short period between the arrival in the U.S. and the Naturalization filing date of November 4, 1872 (a date suspiciously close to Election Day, indicating to me that some political party volunteer accompanied John up to the court to get the Intent filed so John could vote. Except that his brother, Andrew, with whom he traveled from German occupied Poland, arrived on 15 May 1872 and John's name is on the May 15 passenger list. July 24 might be the day he arrived in Duluth, Minnesota. So be careful of dates. Fortunately, in my case, I discovered the May 15 arrival long before I found the July 24th date. http://www.rootsweb.com/~fianna/oc/usa/naturl.html http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/naturalization/naturalization.html Most court systems have turned over the copies of their naturalization records to a state archive or historical society. You would need to contact some genealogist in the state in which you believe that your relative filed to see where to get access to the naturalization records. Mine were in Michigan (Irish) and Minnesota (Polish). I don't know how much help that information I just provided will be to you in your particular case, Patsy. Your James Faulkner may have stayed in Philadelphia or caught a train west from there to any of a number of places, to include California. But I guess since the coal and steel industries were huge employers of unskilled laborers in Pennsylvania in those days, I'd at least try the Pennsylvania naturalizations as long as you are in the mood. Faulkner is probably not a real common name. If it was Sullivan or Murphy, I'd say to go to another project. Maybe one Jack Sweeney of Palmer, PA, might be able to help you with the question as to how to access the Naturalization papers there. He's the one that sicced me on to this, anyway, so I should pay him back with some work. -----Original Message----- From: Patsy McMillan [mailto:patsym@inet.net.nz] Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 2:55 PM To: raymarsh@mninter.net Cc: IRL-Kerry@rootsweb.com Subject: declarations of intent Hello Ray & listers Reading your message about declarations of Intent. Where does someone search for these and for naturalizations for USA please? 19th century timewise Have James Faulkner leaving Ireland c1875 and going to the US but cant find him. I have no idea where he went in the States and the only one I can find that MIGHT be him I found on Passenger and Immigration Index arriving in Philidelphia in 1875. The census of course only give Ireland as place of birth which isnt any help when you have a number of people with the same name. Appreciate any help from you or the listers thanks cheers from downunder Patsy www.genebug.net