Naturalizations: Local Holdings

Further information
The Naturalization Act of 1802 established a two-part naturalization process, essentially the same that exists today, wherein aliens must declare their intention to become a U.S. citizen, serve a required residency period, and file a petition for admission to citizenship. This process resulted in two major forms of records: the Declaration of Intention ("First Papers") and the Petition ("Second" or "Final Papers"), and each of these was usually supplemented with some kind of indexing system. A prospective citizen had to wait at least two years between declaring and petitioning, and at the time of petitioning had to have been a United States resident for at least five years.

PLEASE NOTE: Prior to 1922, and the passage of the Married Woman's Act, women did not generally naturalize themselves. Instead they received derivative citizenship when their husbands naturalized. Do not expect to find naturalization records for women prior to 1922.

Information found on naturalization forms vary greatly from county to county and year to year. Types of information that may be included are: birthplace and birth date of the immigrant, date and port of entry in the United States, the name of the ship in which the immigrant traveled, or even the names of the immigrant's spouse and children. Some 20th century records include the immigrant's photograph.