Naturalization Papers

[jeanne]

I recently discovered online that my grandfather's naturalization papers (Declaration of Intention, Petition for Naturalization and Oath of Allegiance) are at the US District Court Archives in Boston. What I really am looking for is the town in Poland where he was born. Does anyone know for sure if those documents would contain that information? I don't want to go crazy trying to read them if they don't contain what I want!

Thanks,
Jeanne

[rdywenur]

Jeanne..the only thing my papers say on it is Origin of birth ..Germany...no town. I am not sure if a birth certificate was needed. I was little and it was taken care of by my parents. If you are in Mass worth a trip to the archives as you would not really be going out of your way. Otherwise go to the Vital Statistics on line for State of MA and see what is required or if you can get a copy.

[Mary]

jeanne said:

I recently discovered online that my grandfather's naturalization papers (Declaration of Intention, Petition for Natualization and Oath of Allegiance) are at the US District Court Archives in Boston. What I really am looking for is the town in Poland where he was born. Does anyone know for sure if those documents would contain that information? I don't want to go crazy trying to read them if they don't contain what I want!

Thanks,
Jeanne

Jeanne,

I pulled out my Grandfathers papers. On his it only lists him as residing at his then present address in the USA, and that he was a citizen of (as they wrote) "the present government of Russia".
This was in 1922. There was no reference to a town on his papers. It may be worth you looking at them though as they may have recorded these differently in each state, or county.

Good luck,

Mary

[rdywenur]

It may be worth you looking at them though as they may have recorded these differently in each state, or county.

Good luck,

True. Even my birth certificate which I recently recieved and another person who sent me a copy of hers to compare info is different. Both of them from the same town but the person filling out write more ...or less..or whatever they want. Could be by the end of the day if you are filling out paper work there maybe less written.

[jeanne]

Rdy and Mary,

Thanks for the input. I suspected that all it would say for origin would be 'Poland'. I would have hated to arrive in Boston and find that out while expecting something more definitive. I will eventually check it out as I'm only 30 miles from Boston, but if I had known it definitely had town of birth, I would arrange a trip into Boston pronto. Who knows, there may be some other tidbit of information on them that may aid in my search. I'll keep plugging away...

Jeanne

[tex]

Jeanne,

From my experience, the documents can vary greatly. My great grandfathers Declaration of Intention simply stated his place of birth as Poland and his last foreign residence as Poland. The information was interesting, but not much help in tracing him back to Poland.

www.polish-texans.com/genealogy/showmedia.php?mediaID=22

However, my great grandmothers cousins declaration gave his town of birth and his last foreign residence. The information on this form gave me the clues I needed to trace both my great grandfather and great grandmother back to their ancestral towns.

www.polish-texans.com/genealogy/showmedia.php?mediaID=95

It is not unusual for the town names to be misspelled, but even a misspelled town name can be a valuable clue. You never know what you might find on one of these forms.

Good luck on your research.

James

[jeanne]

tex said:

However, my great grandmothers cousins declaration gave his town of birth and his last foreign residence. The information on this form gave me the clues I needed to trace both my great grandfather and great grandmother back to their ancestral towns.

James,

This is great to hear! Thanks. I will definitely check it out and hopefully it will contain some sort of clue.

Jeanne

[hollister]

Jeanne,
I hope you will keep us posted on your progress. What a fabulous find.

[jeanne]

hollister said:

Jeanne,
I hope you will keep us posted on your progress. What a fabulous find.

Holly,

I am really excited about it. I have not had any luck finding my grandfather on any ship's manifest even though I know the year he immigrated. So this is a good find for me and I hope it reveals some further information. I will definitely keep you all informed.

Jeanne