If your grandfather was not born in the US, contacting the town where he was born will not help. First papers can be found in the US where they were filed. Usually it was in the local superior court, which covered the town where he was residing. Municipal courts cover cities. Superior courts cover counties. If your grandfather moved before the waiting period was up to file his petition, he could still proceed with the process to become a citizen without refiling any first papers. You need to know all the places he lived in the US before he became a citizen to be able to search for those records. After 1906, the filing place was changed to the Federal District Courts, who became the agency where the entire naturalization process was handled. In some areas of the US, the change did not occur, but in most it did. Here is a nice link to help you understand the paper trail for the naturalization process. It is at the NARA website. http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/naturalization/naturalization.html Sometimes different libraries, historical or genealogy associations have them because the courts have passed them on for others to have for us to have access. So ... check with the respectived courthouses in the places where he lived, if known. If you do not know all of them, you may never find that one document. Tina Ellis On 12/2/08, Chris <[email protected]> wrote: > > Has anyone been able to locate their ancestors 1st papers? > I was told I would have to contact the town my grandfather was born in > unless he was in the military,at which he may have applied to come to the > USA thru the military.My grandfathers' manifest states his residence was > Schinkell..I can't find that place anywhere.Can anyone shed some light on > this please. > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > 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 >