Naturalization Papers, 1831, 1840-1841, 1844-1856, 1862, 1867

About This Collection

Images of two types of documents are contained in the file: petitions of naturalization and declarations of intention. The naturalization petitions generally contain the name, country or city of origin, previous sovereign, and length of residence in the United States of the alien; the names of any vouchers; and the date and place where the person's declaration of intention was filed. As a rule, those declarations of intention that were submitted in Allegheny County give only the immigrant's name and country of origin, the name of the sovereign who was being renounced, and the date and place where the declaration was being made. Declarations made in other western counties, however, sometimes also record the birth date and birthplace of the petitioner. While most of the documents date from 1840-1856, there are a few petitions from 1831, 1862 and 1867.