Public Library Of Youngstown & Mahoning County: Naturalization Records

Press release from the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County:

Tim Seman

July 28th, 2021

All Aboard the Citizen Ship! Using Naturalization Records to Find Ancestral Homes 

Summer is a great time to take genealogy road trips, and here’s one you can enjoy without leaving Mahoning County.  Finding the overseas homes of our ancestors can be challenging, but the results when successful are rewarding and open up a whole new set of challenges and discoveries.   

When the place of birth is in another country, it is imperative that we gain access to documents that provide accurate information.  We may know the place of birth of our immigrant ancestors from birth records, family stories, obituaries, and especially passenger lists.  But is the information accurate?  If they were born overseas, then you may not have the birth certificate.  Family stories and obituaries are often unreliable sources.  In the case of passenger lists, these documents can be difficult to read or they provide only country of origin information and little else.  When accuracy and precision are crucial, the naturalization record is the document that can be a treasure trove of information. 

What is a naturalization record? 

Your first task is to pin down the county where your ancestor was naturalized.  If they lived their entire life in Youngstown, for example, then you can be fairly certain that the event occurred in Mahoning County.  It is also helpful to know, approximately, when the naturalization took place.  Here, the U.S. Census offers clues.   

Using a database like Ancestry, you can look up your ancestor and see what their citizenship status was and how it changed as time marched along.  For example, the 1920 U.S. Census may indicate status as “alien” (abbreviation Al), then in the 1930 U.S. Census you may see the abbreviation “Pa,” which means that they were in the process of filing “first papers” for citizenship.  This was their “declaration of intention” to become a U.S. citizen.  If in the 1940 U.S. Census you see “Na” as their citizenship status, then in this example you know that sometime during the 1930s the naturalization was finalized.  This information will be helpful when you go forth in search of the naturalization record. 

So, where are these records in Mahoning County?  What is the process for acquiring them?  (For naturalization records beyond Mahoning County, please contact me for assistance: tseman@libraryvisit.org) 

Mahoning County Naturalization Records 

For those of you who have not attempted to acquire naturalization records, no worries, the process is fairly straightforward.  You go to Oak Hill Renaissance Building (formerly the South Side Hospital), 345 Oak Hill Avenue, Entrance A, first floor (the same entrance used by those going to the automobile Title Department and Veterans Service Commission).  There is a locked filing cabinet in the lobby that contains the naturalization record index, which is arranged alphabetically by surname.  You must go to the title desk and ask for access.  They will come out and unlock the entire cabinet.  Be sure to lock all drawers when finished.   

The file is tight, so you may want to carefully pull out a small section of index cards in order to give your eyes and fingers room to scan.  Be mindful to maintain original order.  Return the removed section with care.  When you find a name of interest, write down the volume and page number shown at the top of the card.  This reference and the immigrant’s name are what you share with title department staff.   

They will retrieve the docket, which is fragile, and bring it to you in a waiting room off to either side of the desk area.  They will make copies for you but since these records are old you may wish to tell them not to photocopy.  You can jot down information from the books, you can take a digital photo, or you can use a wand scanner.  Until these documents are microfilmed and digitized, we need to preserve them.  Note: Tell them your wishes when you give them the card reference before they retrieve the old docket.  In one experience I had, they photocopied the record without first asking me whether I wanted copies.  

The naturalization record is a “time machine.”  It may show the spelling of the immigrant’s name before changes brought about by error or Anglicization.  It may specify the day of arrival, name of ship, location of port, date of birth and birthplace (often including the village or town name).  In some instances, you will find a photo of the newly naturalized citizen.  After naturalization was granted, the record will show the new citizen’s name (as it may have changed since arrival), name of spouse and their own particulars, and the names and birth locations of children.   

Although the process may be a bit awkward, it is not arcane, and the results are powerful.  Here are two examples of how I used a naturalization record. 

We gathered at Oak Hill Renaissance and pulled his naturalization record.  After hiking back to Main Library with gems such as his arrival date, the name of the ship, the port of entry, and the original spelling of his surname, it took only a few minutes to produce the passenger list that documented his journey to America.  The village where he was born (in Galicia, for Poland didn’t exist in 1913) as described in his naturalization record was confirmed on the passenger list.   

We had but one more stop to make.  We went online to Google Earth (street view), looked up the village, and gazed with astonishment at the roads, buildings and rolling landscape of the ancestral village as it appears today.  What a trip! 

Before you go… 

Here’s the process in a nutshell: 

Naturalization Records County Clerk of Courts Title Office 345 Oak Hill Avenue Renaissance Place, Entrance A Youngstown, Ohio 44502 330-740-2111 Monday-Friday, 8:00AM-4:00PM 

Procedure:

You may ask for photocopies, but in the interest of preservation you could take notes or capture with digital camera or wand scanner. Docket books and the contents are fragile. 

In general, immigration information is important and can be quite interesting.  Here are some useful resources concerning immigration research: 

In 1909 the Commission presented a report to the U.S. Senate regarding their findings.  See this 1911 reprint of the Reports of the Immigration Commission, particularly the section titled “Steerage Conditions.”  Disgusting and demoralizing conditions persisted, despite attempts to ameliorate the “standard practices” of shipping companies.  So, when you think about your ancestor’s American experience, remember that it probably started aboard ship, and it may not have been a gentle arrival on our shores. 

You can gather a lot of information from this research to prepare for overseas trips.  In a blog post coming soon I will talk more about how to find and request records from other countries, and how to use social media to connect with ancestral communities.   

Tim Seman

Tim Seman has worked in archives and libraries from Washington, D.C. to Youngstown, spanning more than thirty years.  A staunch abolitionist vegan, Tim shares life with a multispecies family, reads broadly, writes occasionally, and enjoys cooking and marksmanship.  Contact him at tseman@libraryvisit.org

This press release was produced by the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County. The views expressed here are the author’s own.