Georgia Naturalization and Citizenship

Naturalizations were primarily recorded in local superior, district, or city court minutes. Most of these documents are preserved on microfilm at the Georgia Department of Archives and History. The Family History Library has copies of a few of these records. From Savannah and Chatham County, for example, the library has files of the Savannah City Court (1904-1906), and the superior court (1801-1910), and a combined index (1792-1908). The records include aliens' declarations, registers of citizenship, petitions, minors' papers, affidavits, and court orders.

Federal court naturalizations are discussed in Marion Hemperley, "Federal Naturalization Oaths: Savannah Georgia, 1790-1860," in the Georgia Historical Quarterly, Volume 51, number 4 (1967): pp. 454-87.

For naturalization papers filed after 1906, contact the National Archives—Southeast Region (Atlanta) at http://www.archives.gov/southeast/ or a federal office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The Archives Branch has records of the U.S. District Court (1906-1948) and the U.S. Circuit Court (1903-6).