Well, believe it or not, in researching the answers to Estelle and Christine's questions, AFTER I posted, I also found the answer to mine about the "final papers" This was taken from www.nara.gov/genealogy/natural.html: "General Rule: The Two-Step Process Congress passed the first law regulating naturalization in 1790 (1 Stat. 103). As a general rule, naturalization was a two-step process that took a minimum of 5 years. After residing in the United States for 2 years, an alien could file a "declaration of intent" (so-called "first papers") to become a citizen. After 3 additional years, the alien could "petition for naturalization." After the petition was granted, a certificate of citizenship was issued to the alien. These two steps did not have to take place in the same court. As a general rule, the "declaration of intent" generally contains more genealogically useful information than the "petition." The "declaration" may include the alien's month and year (or possibly the exact date) of immigration into the United States." SOOO... the "Intent" was referred to as the "first papers" and the "petition" seems to be the prelude to the "naturalization" certificate. Okay, now is there a copy of the "petition" floating around? And exactly what would it say? AND THIS may help even more: "The second major exception to the general rule was that, from 1824 to 1906, minor aliens who had lived in the United States 5 years before their 23rd birthday could file both their declarations and petitions at the same time." Barbara