Good morning list, Naturalization Books at DCCH: Volume: Date: #1 27 Feb 1860 - 27 Sep 1876 #2 27 Sep 1876 - 20 Oct 1883 #3 25 Oct 1883 - 23 Sep 1886 #4 23 Sep 1886 - 27 Sep 1888 #5 27 Sep 1888 - 2 Oct 1890 #6 2 Oct 1890 - 3 Oct 1892 #7 3 Oct 1892 - 7 Oct 1892 #8 7 Oct 1892 - 30 Dec 1892 #9 30 Dec 1892 - 13 Mar 1893 #10 13 Mar 1893 - 17 Sep 1894 #11 17 Sep 1894 - 2 Oct 1896 #12 2 Oct 1896 - 22 Sep 1897 #13 22 Sep 1897 - 28 Sep 1899 #14 28 Sep 1899? - 23 Mar 1903? (missing)* #15 23 Mar 1903 - 23 Sep 1906 *Rumor has it -- this Naturalization Book may be at the Neumann College Library -- sent there by mistake when the Tax Dockets were sent to Neumann, a few years ago. The information in these books, gives the name & date the immigrant became a citizen, the country they immigrated from & the name(s) of the witness(es). Little else is available in these documents. Petition Books for Naturalization 1. Certificate of Arrival 2. Declaration of Intention 3. Petition of Naturalization In the above named documents you have: Photo IDs; names; dates of birth; place of birth, (town, city, county, region); date of immigration; wife's name (if married) & some times info on her; occupation; etc. Happy hunting, Helen (DCGS) Other info: Naturalization date, laws and residency rules: 1790: required 2 years residency in US and 1 yr in state where final papers were filed 1795: changed to 5 yrs in US, 1 yr in state where nat. petition was filed, declaration of intention need to be filed 3 yrs before petition 1798: changed to 14 yrs in US, declar. of intent needed to be filed 5 yrs bef petition; aliens had to report their arrival to US through a process called Report and Registry 1802: back to the 1795 requirements 1804: aliens living in US betw the 1798 and 1802 law changes were allowed to naturalize without previously filing a declar of intent. 1824: reduced the filing time betw declar of intent and petition of nat from 3 yrs to 2 yrs 1828: dropped the Report and Registry requirement 1862: aliens over 21 with honorable discharge from military did not have to file a decla of inten after proving 1 yr residency 1918: Aliens in US military or navy were allwed to file a petition for nat. w/o a declar. of intent, also didn't need to prove 5 yrs residency 1926: need a picture with their declar of intent Under the 1855 law, while a woman became a citizen when her husband became naturalized, prior to the 1906 change in law, she may or may not have been mentioned on the record. Her only proof of US citizenship would have been a combination of her marriage cert and her husband's nat. record. However, in some cases a woman became a citizen when she married a US citizen. Then her proof of citizenship was a combination of two document-the marriage cert and her husband's birth record or his nat. cert. Another interesting development that effected women as a result of the 1855 law was that women born in the US who married a foreigner lost their US citizenship at the moment of marriage. They then became a citizen of their husband's country. Eventually this was taken to court and decided that between 1866 and 1907 no women lost her US citizenship by marriage to an alien unless she left the country. After 1907, marriage determined a woman's nationality status completely. Under the act of March 2, 1907, all women acquired their husband's nationality upon any marriage occurring after that date. This changed nothing for immigrant women, but US born citizen women could now lose their citizenship by any marriage to an alien. Most regained their US citizenship when their husbands became naturalized. Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com Married Women's Act On September 11, 1922, Congress passed the Married Women's Act, also known as the Cable Act. This 1922 law finally gave each woman a nationality of her own. No marriage since that date has granted US citizenship to any alien woman nor taken it from any US born women who married an alien eligible to naturalization. Under the new law women became eligible to naturalize on almost the same terms as men. The only difference concerned those women whose husbands had already naturalized. If her husband was a citizen, the wife did not need to file a declaration of intention. She could initiate naturalization proceedings with a petition alone (one paper naturalization). A woman whose husband remained an alien had to start at the beginning, with a declaration of intention. It is important to note that women who lost citizenship by marriage and regained it under the Cable act, could file in any naturalization court, regardless of her residence.