New Hampshire Naturalization and Citizenship

Naturalization is the process of granting citizenship privileges and responsibilities to foreign-born residents. Naturalization papers are an important source of information about an immigrant’s place of origin, foreign and Americanized names, residence, and date of arrival.

Immigrants to the United States have never been required to apply for citizenship. Of those who applied, many did not complete the requirements for citizenship. Evidence that an immigrant completed citizenship requirements can be found in censuses, court minutes, homestead records, passports, voting registers, and military papers. Even if an immigrant ancestor did not become a citizen, he or she may have filed a declaration, or first papers. These declaration records still exist and contain some genealogical information. See the United States Research Outline (30972) for a more complete discussion of the naturalization process and the records created. An index to New England naturalization records is:

United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Index to New England Naturalization Petitions, 179United States Research Outline1–1906. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M1299. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1983. (FHL films 1429671–787.) Those pertaining to New Hampshire begin with film 1429717. These index cards are organized by state and then by petitioner, arranged according to the Soundex system. The index gives the name and location of the court that granted the naturalization, date of naturalization, and volume and page number of the naturalization record.

Some early New Hampshire naturalization records as well as civil court cases can be found in the Colonial Court Records, 1638–1772 Approx. mentioned in the "Court Records" section of this outline. This includes an alphabetical card index.

For naturalization records after September 1906, contact the local United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS), or the National Archives-Northeast Region (Boston). For the address, see the "Archives and Libraries" section of this outline.

Other New Hampshire naturalization records can be found in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

NEW HAMPSHIRE- NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP

NEW HAMPSHIRE, [COUNTY]- NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP