Montana Naturalization Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Montana

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes naturalization Records from the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Montana, part of RG 21Records of the United States of the United States from the Denver Regional NARA facility for the following collections.


 * NAID 6857750	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Naturalization Records, 1889-1999
 * NAID 1137799	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Butte Term, Citizenship Record Books, 1894-1903
 * NAID 1137818	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Butte Term.Declarations of Intention for Naturalization, 1894-1902
 * NAID 1137887	U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Butte Term. Index to Declarations of Intention for Naturalization, 1894-1902
 * NAID 1137235	U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Butte Term.Naturalization Petiton and Record Books, 1910-1929
 * NAID 1137242	U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Great Falls Term. Declarations of Intention for Naturalization, 1924-1924
 * NAID 1138216	U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Montana. Butte Term. Index to Citizenship Record Books, 1894-1903
 * NAID 1136993	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Index to Naturalization Records, 1894-1906
 * NAID 4529409	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Naturalization Certificate Stub Books, 1907-1927
 * NAID 1136813	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Butte Term. Naturalization Petition Record Book, 1926-1926
 * NAID 1138230	U.S. Territorial Court for the First (Bozeman) District of Montana. Declarations of Intention, 1868-1885
 * NAID 1136970	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Naturalization Petitons, 1907-1927
 * NAID 1137591	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Naturalization, 1892-1929
 * NAID 1138207	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Declarations of Intention for Naturalization, 1891-1893
 * NAID 1136984	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Naturalization Records, 1889-1999
 * NAID 1136990	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Naturalization records,1894-1906
 * NAID 2674600	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Helena Term. Index to  Naturalization records,1891-1898
 * NAID 1137809	U.S. District Court for the Distrct of Montana. Butte Term. Index to Citizenship Record Book, 1894-1903

Collection Contents
These records may contain any of the following:


 * Name of the immigrant
 * Country of birth
 * Arrival date
 * Date of Declaration of Intent or Naturalization
 * Names of witnesses
 * Signature of judge or court official
 * Birth date
 * Birthplace
 * Age
 * Race
 * Last foreign residence
 * Current residence
 * Arrival place
 * Marital status
 * Name of spouse
 * Maiden name of wife
 * Birth date of spouse
 * Residence of spouse

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know the following:


 * The full name of your ancestor
 * The approximate immigration and naturalization dates
 * The ancestor’s residence

If you do not know this information, check the 1900 or 1910 census and then calculate the possible year of naturalization based on the date of immigration. The 1920 census may tell you the exact year of immigration or naturalization.

To browse by image: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of linkes: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "County" ⇒Select the appropriate "Record Type, Year Range, and Volume number or letter" which takes you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example, you can use naturalization records to:


 * Learn an immigrant’s place of origin
 * Confirm their date of arrival
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, or ship’s manifests.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Look for the Declaration of Intent soon after the immigrant arrived, and then look for the Naturalization Petition five years later, when the residency requirement would have been met. Look for naturalization records in federal courts and then in state, county, or city courts.
 * An individual may have filed the first and final papers in different courts and sometimes in a different state if the person moved. Immigrants who were younger than 18 when they arrived did not need to file a Declaration of Intent as part of the process.
 * If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct.
 * Continue to search the naturalization records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who may have naturalized in the same area or nearby.
 * The witnesses named on naturalization records may have been older relatives of the person in the naturalization process. Search for their naturalizations.
 * You may want to obtain the naturalization records of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname if they lived in the same county or nearby. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For, Now What?

 * Check for variant spellings. Realize that the indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings and misinterpretations.
 * Try a different index if there is one for the years needed. You may also need to search the naturalization records year by year.
 * Search the indexes of nearby counties.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Related Websites
Montana Naturalization Records

Related Wiki Articles
Montana, United States Genealogy

Citing this Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection Citation

Image Citation