Citizenship Records
When an immigrant came to the United States, they were required to complete a series of papers if they wanted to become a citizen. The citizenship process was completed in two steps. First, individuals completed a declaration paper which stated that the immigrant intended to become a citizen of the United States. After usually waiting five years, individuals completed the second step and filled out a naturalization or petition paper, which was the final step to becoming a citizen. These papers can contain helpful genealogy information such as: birthplace and birth date of the immigrant, date and port of entry in the United States, the name of the ship in which the immigrant traveled, or even the names of the immigrant's wife and children. Some papers contain very little information, while more recent papers may contain a lot of information.
These records are referred to by a lot of different names: declarations, intentions, citizenship records, naturalizations, petitions, and immigrant papers. They all refer to the same set of records.
The ARC has citizenship records for the following counties:
| Brown County | 1829-1984 | 1829-1984 Online Index available at: http://www.uwgb.edu/Library/spc/citizenship/citizen1.asp |
| Calumet County | 1850-1955 | |
| Door County | 1861-1950 | |
| Florence County | 1882-1947 | |
| Kewaunee County | 1850-1950 | |
| Manitowoc County | 1848-1955 | |
| Marinette County | 1879-1980 | |
| Oconto County | 1857-1952 | |
| Outagamie County | 1852-1963 | |
| Shawano County | 1858-1949 |
Each county is indexed differently; some have several separate index volumes for both declarations and naturalizations, others have card indexes or photocopies of card indexes, and others are indexed at the front of each volume. Some counties also have chronological indexes--that is, indexes which list the immigrants in the order in which they filed their Declaration of Intention.
When researching an immigrant, it is wise to first check for the name in the naturalization indexes. If the individual was naturalized, their Declaration of Intention document is usually attached to the Naturalization Certificate. There were many immigrants who declared but never filed for final citizenship, so ALWAYS check the Declaration of Intention indexes if the individual did not appear in the naturalization indexes.
For more detailed explanation of the citizenship process and its accompanying documentation, see our information leaflet on Citizenship Records.