April 26, 2024 Passenger lists are my favorite records. They document a momentous time in our ancestors’ lives – the day they set forth on a journey to a new life in America. Finding an ancestor’s name on a ship’s list verifies an event that changed our ancestor lives. It continues to impact our own …
Ineligible for Citizenship
April 19, 2024 From the beginning, the United States has considered some categories of people ineligible to become citizens. If your ancestors fall into any of these categories, they could never become citizens, no matter how long they spent in the United States. That means that you won’t find any kind of naturalization documents for …
Not Everyone Naturalized
April 12, 2024 Many genealogists assume that their immigrant ancestors became American citizens as soon as they were able. While many did, some did not. During the peak immigration years of the mid-19th century through the early 20th century, at least 25% of eligible immigrants never naturalized. Some of these immigrants came to the …