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Archiver > ILHENRY > 1998-07 > 0901904135


From: Rollie Littlewood <>
Subject: Re: [ILHENRY-L] Naturalization Info
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 11:55:35 -0500


At 06:59 AM 7/31/98 EDT, "Mary" wrote to ILHENRY-L:
>My ancestor, Mathew Joyce b 1806 & Mary Farrell Joyce b 1823. They
>emigrated from Co Carlow Ireland about 1852 and lived in Kewanee, in
> Henry Co, Illinois from about 1853 until late 1870's when they moved
to
>Missouri. Four of their six children were born in Kewanee and three of
>the girls stayed there.
>
>I am trying to find information on Matthew's naturalization.
>Any ideas on who I can contact?
...

Up until about 1906 all naturalization records were kept in the court
in which the action took place. First of all, do you have any evidence
(e.g., from the 1900 or 1910 census records) that Matthew was actually
naturalized? If yes, it seems likely that it would have taken place in
Henry Co., either in some court (*any* court of record!) in Kewanee or
in the County Court of Henry County (which I assume was in Cambridge
then). If he didn't have any other reason to travel to Cambridge, I
suspect he might have tried to take care of these matters in Kewanee.

I do not know if naturalization records for this time frame are still
housed somewhere in Henry County, or if they have been shipped off to
the Illinois State Archives. They may very well have been filmed by the
FHL (I know that those for Bureau County from about 1850 to about 1906
are available on film from the FHL--on eight reels, as of yet unindexed
[I am part of a group working to create an index for them].) I suggest
that you start with a call to the County Clerk in Cambridge and ask
which court would have the naturalization records, then ask to be
transferred to that court. Keep in mind that the court will probably
have a copy of the declaration of intent (although it may be in an
attic somewhere, unaccessible!), but the naturalization papers
themselves went *only* to the new citizen. At most the court may have a
"stub" record of the naturalization and/or a copy of the affidavits
filed on behalf of the applicant at the time he applied for his final
citizenship papers.

Now that I have written all of the above, it occurs to me to check on
the some of the resources made available by the Henry County
Genealogical Society. They will sell you their "Naturalizations - Henry
County Court, Henry County Circuit Court & Kewanee Court" booklet for a
mere $12.00. That sounds to me like what you want.

Rollie

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