Illinois, Northern District Petitions for Naturalization - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection includes Naturalization petitions from the District Court for the Chicago Division of the Northern District of Illinois for the years 1906-1994. The records were filmed at the Great Lakes Region of NARA at Chicago; they correspond with NARA ARC #593882. This collection is being published as images become available.

The Family History Library has records of the U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern and Southern Districts, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts. See in the FamilySearch Catalog. For records not found in the Family History Library collection, contact the National Archives, Chicago Branch.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The information given for each petition includes the following:


 * Name of the petitioner
 * Residence
 * Country of birth
 * Place and date of arrival
 * Names of two witnesses
 * Petition number
 * Date of petition
 * Volume and page number of the petition

Declarations of intent and Naturalization Petitions usually include 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 This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The full name of your ancestor
 * The approximate year of immigration
 * The approximate year of naturalization
 * The place where your ancestor lived

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.

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the :
 * 1) Select the County
 * 2) Select the Record Type, Year Range, and Volume Number or Letter to view the images

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s naturalization record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * 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
 * 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 the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the names
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties

Record Finder
Consult the Illinois Record Finder to search other records

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.


 * Collection Citation:“Illinois, Northern District Petitions for Naturalization, 1906-1994.” Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Citing U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of the Northern District of Illinois, 3/3/1905, NAID 593882. Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, RG 21. National Archives at Chicago.

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