If you have an ancestor who became a United States citizen in the 20th century, you will have a rich source of information about their origins, emigration, residence, family, and more. The changes made to the naturalization process in 1906 by the U.S. Congress resulted in standardized forms that requested detailed information and specific requirements for citizenship. Before 1906, little identifying information was included in the naturalization forms. In part 1 of this series, we...
This is part 2 in a six-part series on tracing your Irish ancestor back to Ireland. In the last post, we discussed the critical questions to ask before conducting research (when your ancestor immigrated, what was their religion, their birth date, and names of Irish-born relatives, which county they came from in Ireland). Now, we’ll discuss which resources will help you find the answers to these questions. The resources discussed here are U.S. based; given...
Naturalization records are important sources to explore for information on our immigrant ancestors – especially those who arrived in the United States in the 1800s and early 1900s. If we want to discover the home country or village, a naturalization record could help to make connections between our ancestor and the family left behind. Part 1 of this series discussed why we want to seek out naturalization records, detailed the process of naturalization, and gave...
Do you have ancestors who immigrated to the United States since 1790? Have you discovered their village, town, or even country of origin? Family stories or census records might give clues but often give conflicting information. Is there another record type that could give additional hints to your ancestor’s homeland? Naturalization records might provide important details but what are these records, and how do you find them? This three-part series will address those questions and...