General
The Door County Naturalization Records, 1861-1950, consist of Declarations of Intention, Petitions, various indexes to these records, and a volume of Orders Granting and Denying Petitions. The earliest Declarations, 1861-1869, are missing from the series, as are Petitions filed in the 1880-1886 period. As with most naturalization records, the numbering of volumes and documents started anew when the Naturalization Act of 1906 went into effect (September 27, 1906), and indexes followed this new numbering system. Hence, when ordering a volume, the researcher should stipulate not only the type of record (Declaration, Petition, or Index), but also the dates of the desired volume.
All records are available both in original paper form and on microfilm.
Indexes
1. The beginning place for using the Door County Naturalization Records is Volume 1 of the indexes: “Index to Citizenship, 1861-1949.” It lists those who completed the naturalization process. It is arranged in alphabetical segments by first letter of surname and therein by date of Petition. For Petitions filed prior to September 27, 1906, it gives the volume and page. Most Petitions filed in the 1880s, however, are not in this series, but they are listed in this index. For these, the index references “envelope” rather than a volume and page number. For Petitions filed September 27, 1906-1949, the index gives the volume, page, and Petition number. The Petition numbers are listed in parentheses on the list below.
This index also provides information on the Declarations (volume, page, and Declaration number) and the Certificates (Certificate number) of individuals who completed the naturalization process in Door County.
2. Because many aliens in Wisconsin, especially in the nineteenth century, did not complete the naturalization process, names not found in the index described above should be searched in Volume 2 of the indexes, “Index to Declarations of Intention, 1861-1938.”
This index is arranged in alphabetical segments by first letter of surname and therein by date of filing the Declaration. Note, however, that while chronological, the pagination for a group of names beginning with the same letter may be out of order since sometimes the allotted space would be consumed and the indexer would back up and use earlier pages.
This index gives the date (and occasionally the Declaration number) for Declarations filed prior to 1881, the Declaration number for those filed 1881-1905, and the volume and Declaration number for those filed 1906-1938. Declaration numbers are given in parentheses on the Container List.
3. If the individual being searched is not found in either of the indexes described above, the researcher, as a long shot, may wish to examine Volume 3 (Index to Citizenship, 1861-1936) and Volume 4 (Index to Petitions, 1863-1936) of the indexes. Volume 3 is a handwritten version of Volume 1, except it ends in 1936. It is possible that a name could have been omitted or a date, volume, or page number improperly transcribed from Volume 3 when Volume 1 was created. Only for that reason is this index included in this series.
Volume 4 is essentially also duplicated in Volume 1. Volume 4, however, offers less finding aid information. It gives the date for Petitions filed in the 1861-1881 period and the date and volume number for those filed in 1887-1936. It also is included in this series only in case a name was accidentally omitted when creating Volume 1.
Records
The DECLARATIONS OF INTENTION, 1870-1948, are arranged chronologically by date filed.
PETITIONS, 1861-1949, are arranged chronologically by date filed. The records consist of petitions and certificates of naturalization.
