I was wondering if anyone could fill me in on declarations of intent to file for US citizenship in the 1840's before I run off on a wild goose chase. My ancestor's brother became a US citizen in Belmont County in 1849, although I have not been able to turn up a declaration of intent despite the kind assistance of a list subscriber. Were aliens who wished to become citizens *required* to file a DI before their citizenship request could be considered? If so, did it have to be in the same municipality/county/state in which they later filed for citizenship, and is there anywhere else I should/could look in Belmont County other than the courthouse? Thanks for any/all help with this... -- Tim Capstack laurantim@earthlink.net

Tim- I have a photocopy of one of my ancestors papers filed when he became a citizen in 1840 in Belmont County Ohio. Evidently he appeared before the clerk and completed some papers because this page that I have says p. 4-A at the top. It is a statement of his length of time in the US and also a witness by others of his character and his renouncing any political ties to any other country. And the bottom line indicates that he was admitted by the Belmont court as a citizen on the day he filed. I do not know if there are other papers or what they may have been. Byron Knutsen Retired from Teaching Advanced Math and Physics But not from Learning knutbyro@m.sd351.k12.id.us ----- Original Message ----- From: Tim Capstack/Laura McCarthy <laurantim@earthlink.net> To: <OHBELMON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 6:26 AM Subject: [OHBELMON-L] DI's > I was wondering if anyone could fill me in on declarations of intent to file > for US citizenship in the 1840's before I run off on a wild goose chase. My > ancestor's brother became a US citizen in Belmont County in 1849, although I > have not been able to turn up a declaration of intent despite the kind > assistance of a list subscriber. > > Were aliens who wished to become citizens *required* to file a DI before > their citizenship request could be considered? If so, did it have to be in > the same municipality/county/state in which they later filed for > citizenship, and is there anywhere else I should/could look in Belmont > County other than the courthouse? > > Thanks for any/all help with this... > > -- Tim Capstack > laurantim@earthlink.net > >