New Naturalization Indices Added to the StLGS Website!

Almost all of us had immigrant ancestors, although not all of them chose to become American citizens. Necessary for voting and to attain some legal status, citizenship was not a priority for those who didn't expect to buy land, weren't welcomed by the often-crowded communities in which they found themselves, or didn't especially care about electing local or national officials. Prior to September 1906, naturalization was a function of individual states and could take place in any court in the country. The number of years one had to be a resident fluctuated over time, and there were no restrictions about where you had to complete the process once you started it. And it was a process. First, an immigrant had to file a declaration of intention to become a citizen; these were often called first papers. The next step, after a certain number of years had passed, was a petition for citizenship, or final papers.

Beginning in late 1906, naturalization came under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Now, for the first time, an immigrant had to naturalize in a federal court, and the process included a third step, a certificate of arrival, which verified the ship, port, and date of arrival. Early naturalizations often do not contain much genealogical information. Most courts did not ask for more than a name, age, country of origin, and a statement renouncing the ruler of the person's native country. It is rare to find a specific village, parents' names, or other sought-after family information. After the federal government assumed responsibility for naturalization, though, the forms are rich with information for the genealogist.

Naturalization Information on the StLGS Website

We have long had some St. Louis naturalization records on our website for StLGS members, thanks to the efforts of StLGS volunteers who worked with the Missouri State Archives and the St. Louis Circuit Court in the early 2000s. Thousands of index cards were sorted and indexed, and the resulting index points researchers to microfilms available in several locations. We recommend you utilize this information in the following sequence:

1. Start by reading about the process of naturalization, Naturalization Information for Genealogists.
2. Read the explanation of the St. Louis Circuit Court project, St. Louis Circuit Court Naturalization Index Cards, 1816–1906.
3. Read more about The Index Cards. Then look at some Sample Cards.
4. Now you are ready to take a look at the actual index and perhaps find your ancestor on our Naturalization page.

And Now for A Lot More!

Recently, StLGS volunteers completed a difficult transcription project that involved hundreds of names printed in extremely tiny type almost fifty years ago in our StLGS Quarterly. The names appeared in a series of lists of declarations of intention from 1816 to 1849, taken from ledger pages in the St. Louis Circuit Court. This data is especially important because it includes specific locations of origin and many original spellings. This new data is open to everyone.

For StLGS members, we have also provided links to the online PDFs of the Quarterly back issues for those who might like to see the original lists. 

Find this new information at . . .

St. Louis Circuit Court Declarations of Intention, 1816–1849

Finally, we are excited to be able to provide everyone with links to another half dozen indices of declarations and petitions, indexed and shared by our friends in the Emerson History and Genealogy Center, Clark Family Branch, St. Louis County Library. 

As you can see above, we also have included links to St. Louis naturalization records you can find at the FamilySearch library, and most of those are accessible online. You can find this page of treasures at "Declaration of Intention Indices."

Have fun, and we hope you enjoy this new set of records on our ever-growing StLGS website!