Help! I have no information on the “naturalization process” and am wondering if my great-grandfather Patrick J. Creegan was naturalized. I am looking for information on his parents and heard that the naturalization papers list fathers name. Is this true? Patrick came to Allegany Co. in 1852, enlisted in US Army in 1862 and died in 1891. A couple other questions I have: 1. Did everyone have to become naturalized? 2. Did being in the service cause one to be naturalized? 3. What was the benefit to the immigrant to become naturalized? I guess a final question is did anyone on the list, gain any good info when getting naturalization papers on their ancestors? Thx to all for any help and hope you are all keeping warm where ever you are. It’s 62 degrees here in Anaheim, CA and partly cloudy. Good luck to all in your searches. Karen Creegan Cooper

Unfortunately, naturalization papers did not list the names of parents, and, particularly before 1906, contained very little biographical information. Typical naturalization records for this time period contained only the name and location of the naturalizing court, the name of the person seeking naturalization, a statement renouncing allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty (naming country of origin), and the date of the event (declaration of intention, petition, or final certificate) Many people were NOT naturalized; data from the 1890 through 1930 censuses indicate that 25.7 percent of the foreign-born population was not naturalized or had filed only declarations of intention. There was no requirement to become a citizen, and not a lot of material advantages to it back in that time period. One incentive was if they wanted to qualify for land grants under the various homestead acts. And, of course, many wanted to show their allegiance to their adopted country. You did not have to be a citizen to serve in the military. In fact, you still don't, although you do have to have a green card (legal immigrant status). For a lot of really useful information about naturalization records as a genealogy source, see: http://www.ancestry.com/wiki/index.php?title=American_Sources_for_Documenting_Immigrants#Naturalization_Records Also the NARA page about naturalization records: http://www.archives.gov/research/naturalization/ Good luck! Martha Grenzeback graymatters@windstream.net At 02:24 PM 2/23/2011, Karen Cooper wrote: >Help! I have no information on the >“naturalization process” and am wondering if >my great-grandfather Patrick J. Creegan was >naturalized. I am looking for information on >his parents and heard that the naturalization >papers list fathers name. Is this true? Patrick >came to Allegany Co. in 1852, enlisted in US >Army in 1862 and died in 1891. A couple other >questions I have: 1. Did everyone have to >become naturalized? 2. Did being in the >service cause one to be naturalized? 3. What >was the benefit to the immigrant to become >naturalized? I guess a final question is did >anyone on the list, gain any good info when >getting naturalization papers on their >ancestors? Thx to all for any help and hope you >are all keeping warm where ever you are. It’s >62 degrees here in Anaheim, CA and partly >cloudy. Good luck to all in your searches. >Karen Creegan Cooper >------------------------------- To unsubscribe >from the list, please send an email to >MDALLEGA-request@rootsweb.com 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: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3464 - Release Date: 02/23/11

If you can supply some more info on Patrick J. Creegan (spouse,kids, etc. town,) I can search newspaperarchive online for articles to see what I can find for you. Ruth

You are correct , more info is needed. I just checked ancestry and found 15 Patrick Creegan's. Didn't know if any of them were the one wanted.