The Pioneer Press (German paper) is available at the Sauk City/Prairie du Sac libraries and most of the obituaries have been translated which they, I believe, aren't at the State Historical Society. Kathy Waddell -----Original Message----- From: Tom Krakow <tomkrakow@juno.com> To: WISAUK-L@rootsweb.com <WISAUK-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, March 04, 2000 6:04 PM Subject: Re: [WISAUK] Naturalization Papers >Hello List, > >I am no expert in naturalization research, however I do have some >suggestions. > >1) Immigrants could initiate and/or complete the naturalization steps at >just about any court, including both state and federal courts. This makes >the process of finding the records wide open. They could have declared >their intention in the city where they landed, or just about anywhere in >between there and where they finally ended up. The place to start is in >the county they settled in (both state and federal courts). > >2) One of the best places to find naturalizations papers is actually in >immigrant's homestead papers. In order to legally homestead land, the >person had to be a citizen, or be in the process of becoming a citizen. >In many cases a copy of the naturalization papers is filed in the >homestead packet for the individual. These records are available from the >National Archives in Washington. The process for obtaining this records >is straightforward, but can take awhile. I found instructions on how to >do this in the South Dakota GENWEB page. Check it out. > >3) Unfortunately, many times the hometown of the person declaring their >intent is not listed in any of the naturalization papers. Each court had >their own forms, and the forms changed over time. So even if you find >your ancestors papers, the hometown may not be listed. > >4) Many of the Sauk and Columbia County naturalization papers are >available through the Family History Libraries. They charge $2.50 per >roll for film. The Historical Society in Madison charges out-of-state >researchers $15.00/roll. You can guess where I do most of my business. I >guess the people in Madison are trying to discourage out-of-state >researchers. > >5) I have found that one of the best places to find a hometown mentioned >is in the obituary of an immigrant. This is particularly true of the >German language newspapers in Sauk County. I have identified the hometown >of a number of my Sauk County ancestors in this manner. As far as I can >tell these newspapers are only available from the Historical Society in >Madison (see above for prices). I would be glad (within reason) to >translate any obituaries you send me. > >I hope that this helps. > >Tom in Chapel Hill >________________________________________________________________ >YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! >Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! >Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: >http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. > >