There was a pledge of allegiance required upon arrival, but there was also other requirements before purchasing land. There may have been different requirements for different states, but in Maryland I believe it was required to have lived in the US for seven years and to be naturalized which was different from the pledge upon arrival. I have a widow who became naturalized years after living here with her husband so she would be able to purchase land. =================== www.MidMdRoots.com -----Original Message----- From: Mr G Crooks 2nd Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 7:48 AM To: Art Miller Cc: Md Fred Subject: Re: [MDFR] naturalization Actually Art his naturalization would have come much earlier and her is why. Until 1776 we were subjects of the British Crown. The Crown was interested in populating the colonies so the entrance rules were quite liberal for its time. Upon arrival in a port here the Ship's captain and/or land agents were required to submit a list of it passengers and the foreign born were require to sign a pledge of allegiance to the Crown. This was then submitted to the Royal Governor, but normally handled by the lieutenant Governor who then signed the petition and only then were the foreign born allowed off the ship. This act admited them to citzenship Going back to your George Kraft, if he came from Chester, Pa., he mostb probably arrived at either the port of Philadelphia and/or New Casrle, Delaware. Many arrived down the river at New castle because there was no Port of Philadelphia head tax I have a copy on the arrivals book on German and other foreign immigrants and I see a Gottfried Krafft arrived in Sept 1731 at Philadelphia, is he yours ?? Gordon Crooks ----- Original Message ----- From: "Art Miller" <[email protected]> To: "ZZ-Frederick Co., Md." <[email protected]>; "ZZ-Washington Co., Md." <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 5:59 PM Subject: [MDFR] naturalization > Looking for someone that has copy of "Colonial Maryland Naturalizations" > who is willing to check for a record for George Craft/Kraft. He came to > Md. in 1754 from Chester Co., Pa. and I suspect his naturalization would > have been in 1760's. > Thanks for any help. > Art Miller, Louisville > Visit www.MidMdRoots.com > for Old Court Records, Tombstone > Inscriptions, Old Newspaper items, etc > ------------------------------- > 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 Visit www.MidMdRoots.com for Old Court Records, Tombstone Inscriptions, Old Newspaper items, etc ------------------------------- 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