Wisconsin Naturalization and Citizenship

United States U.S. Naturalizations  Wisconsin  Naturalizations

History
Naturalization records have been filed in the U.S. district and circuit courts, circuit courts, and in local (usually county) courts in Illinois. Each court had its own style of record keeping before 1906.

Various types of records were created during the naturalization process, including declarations of intention, petitions for naturalization, oaths of allegiance, and certificates of naturalization and citizenship. Each record can give details about a person, such as age, residence, country or city of origin, ethnic background, the date and port of arrival, the name of the ship, names of spouse and children with their birth dates and places, or current address.

Records for earlier years usually contain less information than those after 1906, when the federal court system for naturalization was revised and details such as birth date and place, physical description, and marital status may be given. See United States Naturalization and Citizenship for a more complete discussion of the naturalization process and the records created.

Availability
Naturalization records have been filed primarily in municipal, county, circuit, supreme, and U.S. district courts. Some of the older evidences of citizenship are found in the minutes of these courts and not in separate books. The records of approximately two-thirds of the counties are on microfilm at the area research centers.

The Family History Library has microfilm copies of records from some Wisconsin counties and it continues to acquire records of additional counties. From Dane County, for example, the library has:


 * Circuit court admissions, 1855-1906
 * Circuit court declarations, 1848-1906
 * Circuit court petitions and oaths, 1841-1906
 * Municipal court declarations, 1875-1906
 * Municipal court index to declarations, 1861-1906
 * U.S. district court declarations of intention, 1841-47
 * General card index to various courts, 1800-1907

The Milwaukee circuit and municipal court records of 1836 to 1941 are at:

Milwaukee County Historical Society 910 North World 3rd Street Milwaukee, WI 53203-1591 Telephone: 414-273-8288 Fax: 414-273-3268 Internet: http://www.milwaukeecountyhistsoc.org/

Post-1906 Records
In 1906 the Immigration and Naturalization Service (now United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) was created, forms were standardized, and duplicate records were created by the court and sent to the INS. To access these records, use the Genealogy Program at www.uscis.gov. You may also contact the National Archives—Great Lakes Region, for naturalization records. The archives branch has records of the U.S. District Court from 1866 to 1921 and an extensive index to other federal records.