Obtaining proofs which accompanied naturalization forms
I just can't find how to join the naturalization Group. Can you tell me how? Also can you tell me if I'm posting this message to the whole group, as a new independent message, or am I just adding a comment onto your posting (so that it would not be so likely to be read, because your comment is not the newest naturalization comment anymore) ?
What I want to post is this, and maybe you know the answer:
The NARA (National Archives & Records Administration) website https://www.archives.gov/files/dc-metro/know-your-records/genealogy-fair/2012/handouts/naturalziation.pdf says at the bottom of of pg 1:
“[Petition for Naturalization] Forms [N-405] filed after 1967 contained only the following information: name, applicable section of the Naturalization Act, address, date and place of birth, marital status and number (but not names) of children, date of admission to the United States, current nationality, alien registration number, opportunity to change the applicant's name, affidavits of witnesses, date of petition, and signature of the applicant.”
See the attached sample N-405 petition for naturalization. (It's from Ancestry https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/298810:2509?tid=&pid=&queryId=40c1af46edafcf4eaf0c337a913b465e&_phsrc=Fno84&_phstart=successSource ) None of the many N-405 petitions I have viewed on Ancestry has any of the information which I have bolded in the NARA paragraph above! Nor are there questions or blanks for this information on the petition forms. Is this information on another page or document in the naturalization file? If so, Ancestry never filmed it, for any of the nat. applicants.
In addition, N-405 petitions lack PROOF of dates and places of birth. When an immigrant applied for naturalization he couldn’t merely write his date and place of birth onto the naturalization forms (the Declaration of Intention and the Petition for Naturalization); the court or the INS required PROOF. The PROOF was the immigrant’s foreign passport and/or foreign birth certificate. Immigrants were required to have passports to leave their old country and also to enter the US. They had to show birth certificates to obtain those foreign passports. Certainly the US naturalization authorities would have required both documents.
Some years ago during visits to NARA I saw the files of many immigrants who arrived circa 1900 to 1980. The files contained the usual naturalization forms, together with their supporting PROOFS. The PROOFS were very helpful because the naturalization forms didn’t show the immigrants’ parents. The enclosed birth certificates showed the parents. The naturalization forms didn’t show middle names or patronymic names, nor foreign addresses. The enclosed foreign passports showed these. Other proofs, and letters to the court or INS, showed many other facts. In the decades when the forms showed less information, the PROOFS supplied even more missing information, such as town of birth, and the dates and towns of birth of wives and children.
Can one still obtain these PROOFS from NARA, and/or from USCIS? Their several website pages tell only about obtaining copies of the forms (the Declarations of Intention and the Petitions for Naturalization). I’ve read many other websites about naturalization research, such as Family Search, Family Tree, and Ancestry Message Boards. They discuss naturalization extensively, but none mention the PROOFS. Does anyone have any information on this? Thank you.
Answers
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You will get good information if you post your question to the History Hub of NARA.
https://historyhub.history.gov/welcome
They are very quick to answer questions about their collections or how to proceed to find helpful information.
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I've spent an hour trying the History Hub, but it won't allow me type a single word of my question. Whatever I type into "What is my question about", I can never get to any space to type a question. Do you think you can send the below to them?
The NARA (National Archives & Records Administration) website https://www.archives.gov/files/dc-metro/know-your-records/genealogy-fair/2012/handouts/naturalziation.pdf says at the bottom of of pg 1:
“[Petition for Naturalization] Forms [N-405] filed after 1967 contained only the following information: name, applicable section of the Naturalization Act, address, date and place of birth, marital status and NUMBER (BUT NOT NAMES) OF CHILDREN, DATE OF ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES, CURRENT NATIONALITY, alien registration number, opportunity to change the applicant's name, affidavits of witnesses, date of petition, and signature of the applicant.”
See the attached N-405 petition for naturalization. (They're at Ancestry https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/298810:2509?tid=&pid=&queryId=40c1af46edafcf4eaf0c337a913b465e&_phsrc=Fno84&_phstart=successSource )
None of the many N-405 petitions I have viewed on Ancestry has any of the information which I have CAPITALIZED in the paragraph above. Nor do the petition forms have blanks for any of this information. Is this information on another page or document in the naturalization file?
In addition, N-405 petitions lack PROOF of dates and places of birth. When an immigrant applied for naturalization he couldn’t merely write his date and place of birth onto the naturalization forms (the Declaration of Intention and the Petition for Naturalization); the court or the INS required PROOF. The PROOF was the immigrant’s foreign passport and/or foreign birth certificate. By the time N-405 came into use, immigrants were required to have passports to leave their old country and also to enter the US. They had to show birth certificates to obtain those foreign passports. Certainly the US naturalization authorities would have required both these PROOFS.
Some years ago during visits to NARA I saw the files of many immigrants who arrived circa 1900 to 1980. The files contained the usual naturalization forms, together with their supporting PROOFS. The PROOFS were very helpful because the naturalization forms didn’t show the immigrants’ parents. The enclosed birth certificates showed the parents. The naturalization forms didn’t show middle names or patronymic names, nor foreign addresses. The foreign passports in the files showed these. Other proofs, and letters to the court or INS, showed other facts. In the decades when the forms showed less information, the PROOFS supplied even more missing information, such as town of birth, and the dates and towns of birth of wives and children.
Can one still obtain these PROOFS from NARA, and/or from USCIS? Their several website pages tell only about the forms (the Declarations of Intention and the Petitions for Naturalization). The naturalization websites for Family Search, Family Tree, and Ancestry Message Boards also discuss naturalization extensively, but none mention the PROOFS. Thank you for any help.
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Maybe a dumb question, but, did you register and sign in? I didn't have any problem typing in the bar for What is Your Question About? Or looking through the many questions already answered.
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