Citizenship - The Final Step

About a month ago I explored the Naturalization Indexes on Ancestry and wrote a post about my findings for my 2nd Great Grandfather, Walter Leeming.    After arriving in the U.S. in 1899 by way of Canada, Walter filed his Declaration of Intention in 1901.  Then on 28 May 1904 he submitted his Petition for Naturalization along with his son John Edward Leeming.   They were both assigned a court date of June 11, 1904. 

John Edward was the only other member of Walter's immediate family to apply for citizenship, because all other members of the family became citizens when Walter did.  His wife would receive derivative citizenship from her naturalized husband, and all other children still living at the time were under the age of 18 would also become citizens.

Bringing witnesses of their choosing (to testify that they met residence and character requirements), Walter and his son John became citizens of the United States on June 11, 1904.  Following are Walter's final naturalization documents, you can barely make out the date stamp in the first sentence.

The witnesses appeared to testify that Walter and John Edward had indeed been in the country for the last 5 years and that they were not any of the sort of people listed in all the fine print above - that they are men of good moral character.

From these documents I can confirm Walter's birth date, the town he is living in at the time,  and his approximate date of arrival in the U.S. something that I have not been able to confirm to date.  I had previously known that the family spent some time in Canada, and arrived prior to the 1900 census,  but could not find a border crossing for them - now I can narrow down a date range to search.   I can also research the witnesses to find how they fit in his life - were they neighbors (the street addresses were not provided for them) or co-workers?    As is often the case when we request documents, they lead to more areas of research. 

Citizenship - Petition for Naturalization

In two previous posts I discussed the U.S. Naturalization Indexes, and the filing of Declaration of Intention to become a United States citizen.

Once a declaration is filed, the person must then file a petition to become a citizen after the residence requirements are complete, having lived in the U.S. for 5 years or more, unless they came to the U.S. as an under-age child.

My great-great grandfather Walter Leeming and his oldest son John whose documents I've been discussing both filed petitions for naturalization on the same day, 28 May 1904. At that time they were given a hearing date to appear in court for the final step.

The next step is their court hearing, in this case on 11 June 1904,  along with witnesses chosen by the petitioners to give testimony as proof of their residency and character.
 

Citizenship - Declaration of Intention

In my previous post I showed three cards for family members who had filed or partially filed for naturalization in the U.S.    Noting that the card of George Roe wasn't complete I found that he had only filed his declaration of intention or "first papers" and had not followed through with the process of becoming naturalized.

A declaration of  intention states that the person wishes to become a citizen of the United States and renounces all allegiance to any other foreign country.


Walter Leeming filed his first papers on 6th July 1901 at the district court in Central Falls, Rhode Island.   The document doesn't give very much information other than his city and county of residence at the time, in this case Lincoln, Providence, Rhode Island.   Because his son John Edward Leeming came to the U.S. as a minor, he was not required to file the declaration of intention.

Here is Walter's declaration:

These declarations are typically filed two or more years prior to the actual proof of residency and the finalization of citizenship.    

Exploring the U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes

I recently began searching a bit in the U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes on Ancestry.  I was somewhat expecting not to find my ancestors in the index, simply because it was previously believed that many of them never went through the process of becoming naturalized citizens.  Yet again it's been proven - don't believe everything you hear!

I first searched for Walter Leeming, my 2nd great grandfather who I knew came to the US (via Canada) in 1899, according to the 1900 US census.

I found Walter's card easily and then began to search for the other members of his family, some of whom were born in England, others in Canada.

I quickly found another record, this one for Walter's oldest son, John Edward Leeming, who was also born in England.  Note the dates on these two records are the same.   Father and son became citizens together, with the same witnesses.

I next turned my attention to another 2nd great grandfather, George Roe.  With many spelling variations (Row, Rowe, Wroe) on various records, I had much trouble finding George in passenger arrival lists but managed to find him in this index without a problem.

Note that George's card appears to be incomplete.  After speaking with a nice employee at the NARA in Waltham, MA, I learned that George filed his declaration of intention (also called First Papers) in the Albany County Court on 8 August 1898, and his petition in Adams on 30 Mar 1901.  He did not appear in court to complete the process.

The NARA offers copies of the naturalization documents for $7.50.  I have ordered copies of the documents for Walter and John and will post them in a follow-up later this week.