My great grandfather, Orville Villemaire Ouellette (Willette), born in La Pocatiere, Kamouraska Co., Quebec, arrived in the US at Buffalo in 1849 on his way to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He married Celina Celeste Cyr in January of 1850 and settled down in the Town of Friendship, Fond du Lac County, where there was a large French Canadian colony. I contacted the Wisconsin Historical Society Area Research Center at UW-Oshkosh, requesting them to search for my great grandfather's naturalization papers. They found his declaration of intent to become a citizen, but nothing beyond this. He should have followed up, after 5 years I believe, to become a citizen. I have read in several sources that early immigrants typically filled out only their declaration of intent and believed that this made them citizens. Apparently they really didn't need to do anything else to continue living and raising families in the US. I found the same declaration of intent for an Irish great grandfather with nothing beyond that either. Hope this helps. Russell Prust West Bend, WI

I came across a 1933 high school year book from Fond Du Lac that is on ebay right now, in case you are interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2152937292&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1 PRUSTR@cs.com wrote: >My great grandfather, Orville Villemaire Ouellette (Willette), born in La >Pocatiere, Kamouraska Co., Quebec, arrived in the US at Buffalo in 1849 on >his way to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He married Celina Celeste Cyr in January >of 1850 and settled down in the Town of Friendship, Fond du Lac County, where >there was a large French Canadian colony. I contacted the Wisconsin >Historical Society Area Research Center at UW-Oshkosh, requesting them to >search for my great grandfather's naturalization papers. They found his >declaration of intent to become a citizen, but nothing beyond this. He should >have followed up, after 5 years I believe, to become a citizen. I have read >in several sources that early immigrants typically filled out only their >declaration of intent and believed that this made them citizens. Apparently >they really didn't need to do anything else to continue living and raising >families in the US. I found the same declaration of intent for an Irish >great grandfather with nothing beyond that either. Hope this helps. > >Russell Prust >West Bend, WI > > >==== WIDOUGLA Mailing List ==== >Post messages: Widougla-L@rootsweb.com > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > >