General

The National Archives and Records Administration in Chicago has records for persons naturalized during certain years in federal courts in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio.  Dates vary from court to court. Records of citizens naturalized as an adult in our court prior to 1930 may be found there.  However, the vast majority of 18th and 19th century naturalizations and many 20th century naturalizations were conducted by the local or county court nearest the home of the person naturalized.  Records of non-federal court naturalizations are not in the National Archives. For assistance with non-federal court records, contact the Clerk of the Court for the county in which the naturalized individual resided or the appropriate state archives to which counties in the state transfer their old records.

Pre-September 27, 1906

Little information of biographical or genealogical value appears on most naturalization records before September 27, 1906.  On that date, new regulations first required standardized, more detailed federal naturalization forms to be used by all federal and non-federal courts.

Before September 27, 1906, wives and children were usually not named on the naturalization records of their husbands/fathers, although they received derivative U.S. citizenship through them.  Unmarried adult women were seldom individually naturalized until the law of September 22, 1922, that first required all women to file separately for naturalization.  It is therefore, uncommon to locate records for women prior to that date.
 

Additional Information

For further information, refer to the Resources for Genealogists page on the National Archives website.