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Archiver > IOWA > 2002-11 > 1036292260


From: "fritzh31" <>
Subject: Re: [IOWA] Iowa Naturalizations
Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 20:57:40 -0600
References: <200211022256.gA2Muqtc002290@traer.net>


Hi Jene:

I think you have been misadvised that it was likely your gggf used the
Federal court system for his naturalization. That was less and less likely
to happen the further you get back into our history. Only in relatively
'modern' times has it become the practice to almost exclusively use the
Federal system for such purposes. In the 'good old days' the only
requirement was that naturalization proceedings be accomplished in what was
a 'court of record'. Depending on what jurisdiction you are talking about
that might have been a municipal court, a county court, a state district
court, a federal district court, or any other 'court of record' a particular
jurisdiction might have had.

To make matters even more interesting, the various steps involved in the
multi-year process (thanks to residency requirements [the length of which
varied from time to time] between initial applications and final papers
being issued)did not have to be accomplished in the same court, or even in
the same state for that matter. And the proceedings did not have to be
pursued in the area of the applicant's residence, either. Cases in point:
I personally know of Iowa ancestral relatives who lived in neighboring
Shelby and Audubon counties in the late 1800's who each went to the town of
Atlantic in their jointly common neighbor of Cass county for their
respective naturalizations.

I heartily recommend a book entitled "Guide to Naturalization Records of the
United States" by Christian K Schaefer. She tells where you can find
naturalization records on a state by state and county by county basis for
varying time frames. She devotes 15 pages of her almost 400 page book to
the locations of Iowa naturalization records.

Just to whet your appetite - she mentions that there is an index to
naturalization petitions for the period 1840-1950 generated in several types
of Iowa courts in 40 eastern Iowa counties (including Washington, but not
Union county) which were at one time in District 9 of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS). In addition to covering eastern Iowa,
District 9 of the INS at the time of the index preparation also covered
parts of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Ms. Schaefer, in her one
paragraph history of the types of Iowa courts of record which historically
handled naturalization matters, also advises as follows: "In 1930 most Iowa
counties relinquished jurisdiction of naturalizations to the federal
courts."

Fritz


----- Original Message -----
From: John and Jene' Daub <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 6:57 PM
Subject: [IOWA] Iowa Naturalizations


> Hello all, I am looking for a gg grandfather's naturalization record. He
> came to Iow ain the early 1860's. He settled in Washington County and
lived
> there for 30 years and then moved to Union CO. and lived there for 5 or 6
> years. Then he and his wife moved out to Oklahoma. On the 1900 census
he
> indicated that he was naturalized. I figured Washington CO. and they
> checked for me and found nothing. I then checked in Union Co. and
nothing
> found there either.
>
> I have been talking to a few people who said that they would have gone to
a
> Federal Court House of the time rather than the county ones we have now.
> My question is What were the Federal Court Houses of that time and where
> should I be checking next? Burlington? Iowa City? Davenport? Any
help
> on this brick wall would be very much appreciated. I am looking for a
> Wendel Daub. His parents' names were Christoph and Judithe. Christoph
was
> naturalized as a Canadian citizen in 1848.
>
> Jene Daub
>
>
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