Maine Naturalization and Citizenship

Online Resources
Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:
 * 1718-1957 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1787-1906 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images
 * 1791-1906 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index
 * 1791-1992 U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes for Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, 1791-1992 at Ancestry($); Index
 * 1800-1990 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images
 * 1833-1868 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1906-1929 Maine, Naturalization Records - Originals, 1906-1929 at Ancestry($); index and images
 * 1918-1991 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * Maine State Archive Collections - FamilySearch Historical Records
 * Maine, Washington County Courthouse Records - FamilySearch Historical Records
 * United States New England Naturalization Index - FamilySearch Historical Records

Applications for citizenship before 1906 could be filed in any county, state, or federal court in Maine. Some immigrants went to the office of the selectmen in their towns. The Maine State Archives is gathering all pre-1930 Maine court records, including declarations, petitions, and oaths. The Family History Library has naturalization records for many of the Maine counties.

Index
In the late 1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) copied and indexed New England naturalization records for 1791 to 1906. The copies and index are at the National Archives—New England Region. The National Archives in Washington, D.C., and the Family History Library have microfilm copies of the index:


 * United States, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Index to New England Naturalization Petitions, 1791-1906. Washington, D.C.: The National Archives, 1983. Some of the records are more recent than 1906. The index gives the name and location of the court, the date of naturalization, and the volume and page number (or certificate number) of the naturalization record. Also on line at  at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images


 * United States District Court (Maine), Index to declarations of intention and index to naturalization petitions [Maine], 1906-1955 (SLC, Utah, 2004)

Records

 * For records after 1906, use the Genealogy Program at www.uscis.gov.


 * United States Circuit Court and District Court, Naturalization Records (Maine), 1790-1945 : NARA, RG21 (SLC, Utah, 2008)