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From: "Richard A. Pence" <>
Subject: Re: Citizenship Codes
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 16:16:33 -0400
References: <f3.af56fe2.28494058@aol.com>


Debbie <> wrote:

> I came across the letters "al", "al+", and "pa" in the
> citizenship area of soundex cards. What do they mean?

Al = alien, that is, not a citizen

Pa = papers, that is, the person has applied for citizenship
and received his or her "first papers."

The other "official" abbreviation is "Na" which means
naturalized.

The "+" in "al+" probably did not appear on the original
census. Possibly it was some sort of note made by the
soundexer, or perhaps the soundexer saw a mark added by
someone tallying this part of the census. If there was no
notiation on the soundex card, you will have to check the
original census to see if the "+" is there. I would guess
there is no real significance to it, however.

You can find the abbreviations for any U.S. census, 1850
through 1990 at:

http://www.ipums.umn.edu/~pipums/voliii/tEnumInstr.html

where you will find the Instructions to Enumerators. Click
on the year you are interested in, then look for the
instructions for the column you are working with. Pertinent
abbreviations will be given in the instructions.

Example from 1920 instructions:

[Column 14]
For a foreign-born male 21 years of age and over, or a
foreign-born unmarried female of that age, write-

"NA" (for naturalized), if he, or she, has become a
full
citizen, either by taking out second or final papers
of
naturalization or, while he or she was under the age
of 21 years, through the naturalization of either of
the
parents.

"Pa" (for papers), if he, or she, has declared
intention to
become an American citizen and has taken out "first
papers."

"Al" (for alien), if he, or she, has taken no step
toward
becoming an American citizen.

Note that this blank is filled in only for foreign-born
persons. Also, the designations for the wife and children
were supposed to be the same as that of the father (or the
same as the mother's, if she was head of household). In
1920, the preceding column gives the year of arrival in the
U.S. and the following column gives the year of
naturalization (if the person was naturalized).

Regards,
Richard


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