Up to the mid-1990s the Union Co courthouse in Elizabeth had all the Declarations of Intent for Union County residents applying for citizenship after living at least 5 years in the US up to the 1920s. I found the 1915 Declaration of Intent for a man who emigrated from Russia in 1901. It gave his full name, birth date, place of birth, each of his parents names including his mother's maiden name, their birth dates, the name of the ship which brought him to the US, port of entry and exact date he stepped on US soil, and a sworn oath of no longer having allegiance toward the czar of Russia, and a few other good pieces of information. The naturalization papers have nothing of value except the name and exact date of citizenship, but the declaration of intent has wonderful data. And I was surprised at the date, 1915, when all the books tell you that those declarations will not be located in the local county courthouse after 1906. Recently I checked, and the Union County D of C have been microfilmed and are located at the NJ Archives in Trenton. Pam Bush ----- Original Message ----- From: <EMSCRS@aol.com> To: <NJUNION-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 2:47 PM Subject: [NJUnion] Naturalization Question > The naturalization records for those years prior to 1906 or 7 are kept in the > New Jersey State Archives in Trenton. they will do a search for $10.00 (I > think), and they have a website with directions and phone numbers, etc. It > is possible that she was not herself naturalized, as at that time if a man > became a citizen, his wife and minor children automatically became citizens > also. Maybe it was 1911 - whenever the Federal government took over - prior > to that year (whatever it was) all naturalization records are in the state > where the naturalization took place. Good luck. (Having searched myself, I > can also tell you that these papers contain virtually no useful information.) > Elizabeth

I am enjoying the notes on the natualization question and learning a lot. I have a slightly different question about naturalization. My immigrant ancestor served in the Civil War shortly after his arrival in America. My understanding is that if you served for the Union Army you were automatically granted citizenship without going through the regular process. Is this true? Did you still have to file the declaration of intent or was this handled with some other kind of process and form via the military? So far I have not been successful in finding any documentation on his naturalization, but I know from one of the later censuses that he was a citizen Thanks for any help. Diane