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New York State courts that performed naturalizations during the nineteenth century included the county courts of common pleas (pre-1847); the county courts (post-1847); the Court of Chancery; the Supreme Court; the higher city courts in New York, Brooklyn, Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo; and (rarely) the county surrogate's courts. After 1906 only the New York Supreme Court could perform naturalizations, and in most counties it has ceased doing so.

Below is a listing of records cited in the descriptions above. This guide is meant for quick reference. The researcher should carefully read the brief descriptions of record series in this leaflet. Fuller descriptions are available in the Archives' finding aids.

Secretary of State's Office

A0453 Record of Deeds (Miscellaneous Records, 1652-1884 (43 vols.)

12943 Letters Patent, 1664+ (apx. 40 c.f.)

Many immigrants to New York legally changed their names in order to simplify the spelling, or to adopt an American -sounding name. Prior to 1875 a change in a personal name could be accomplished through a special act of the Legislature. In addition, an 1847 statute authorized a court proceeding for the same purpose. Any person over age 21 could petition a county-level court to issue an order changing his or her name.

The New York State Legislature passed hundreds of special acts enabling individual aliens to acquire, hold, and dispose of title to real property. These acts date from the late 1780s through the early 1870s; however, relatively few of them date after 1830. A general name index to most of them is found in General Index of the Documents and Laws of the State of New-York (Albany: 1842), pp. 198- 233; updated editions of the index to laws (including references to acts enabling individual aliens to hold real property) were published in 1850, 1859, and 1866.

Reception and supervision of immigrants are functions of the federal government, specifically the U.S. Customs Service and the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service or their predecessor agencies. Customs passenger lists (1820-97) and immigration passenger lists (1896-1957) for immigrants arriving at New York City (and partial indexes to the lists) are held by the National Archives; most of the lists are available on microfilm.

The National Archives at Philadelphia holds the older naturalization records from federal courts in New York, as well as photographic copies of naturalization records from state and federal courts in the counties now comprising New York City and from state courts in two upstate counties. Following is a summary of the National Archives' holdings of naturalization records for New York State, along with microfilm copies of indexes:

Since 1790 all naturalizations have been performed pursuant to federal law, under a provision of the U.S. Constitution (Art. I, Sect. 8). Until 1906 any state or federal court of record (a court having a seal and a clerk) could naturalize aliens. (In New York the courts of record included the Supreme Court and the county- and some city-level courts, but not the lower- level city, town, or village justices' courts.) An alien intending to be naturalized first files a declaration of intention to become a citizen (the declaration has been voluntary since 1952).

The New York State Constitution of 1777 (Art. 42) authorized the Legislature to naturalize aliens. A few legislative acts of naturalization were passed between 1782 and 1789. They are found in Laws of the State of New York [1777- 1800], 4 vols. (Albany: 1886-87). There is no name index to these naturalizations performed under State law.

Naturalization is a grant of the full legal rights and privileges of a native-born individual to a non-native foreigner. In England, in the American colonies, and in the United States, naturalization has been granted by special legislative act, or by court proceedings authorized by legislation. The Assembly of New York Colony occasionally passed acts naturalizing aliens. In addition, under a British statute of 1740, an alien who had resided in a colony for at least seven years could be naturalized by swearing an oath of allegiance before a local magistrate.

Naturalization and related records help document New York's ethnically and racially diverse population over the past three centuries. The records are useful for family history, because they indicate when immigrant ancestors arrived in America and became naturalized. Since 1790 naturalization proceedings have been a function of the federal government, which may be performed by either a state or federal court.