Naturalization and Related Records

Naturalization records are created by the Federal and State courts. State court naturalization records generally remain in custody of the county clerks. Older Federal court naturalization records have been transferred to the National Archives. Photocopies of naturalization documents and indexes for New York City for the period 1792-1906 (both Federal and State courts) are held by the National Archives--Northeast Region, 201 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014. A table of locations and dates of naturalization records for New York counties is found in James C. and Lila Lee Neagles, Locating Your Immigrant Ancestor: A Guide to Naturalization Records (Logan, UT: 1986), pp. 111-13. See also NYS Archives Information Leaflet #6 Naturalization Records.

The State Archives holds Alien Depositions of Intent to Become U.S. Citizens, 1825-1913 (A1869) and abstracts thereof (A1870). The depositions typically provide information on name of alien, country of origin, and date and place of making deposition. Because there is no unified index to the depositions, Archives staff will not search them. The records and the multiple indexes to them are available for use at the Archives. The earlier alien depositions, which contain a little more personal information than the later ones, are abstracted in New York Alien Residents, 1825-1848, comp. Kenneth Scott and Rosanne Conway (Baltimore: 1978).

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