General
The Crawford County naturalization records consist of the Card Index to Naturalizations, Declarations of Intention, Petitions, Certificates of Naturalization, Orders Granting and Denying Petitions, Certificate of Naturalization Stubs and indexes to these records.
The original system of identifying volumes by number or letter was retained because the indexes are often keyed to this system. To eliminate confusion when requesting a particular volume, the researcher should specify not only the volume number but also the type of volume (e.g. Declarations of Intention) and dates.
For preservation purposes some volumes have been dismantled and placed in boxes. These volume numbers are designated by parentheses in the contents list below for identification purposes; the box number is listed for retrieval purposes.
All records are available in both original format and on microfilm.
Of special interest in this series are the early naturalization records. Declarations and petitions exist for Charles Giasson (dated 1824). Declarations for Jean Brunet, Pierre Lessard, and Francis Prevost were filed in 1825. Petitions for Brunet and Lessard are also included. Many of these early documents were signed by James Duane Doty, judge of the District Court for the counties of Crawford, Brown, and Michilimackinac from 1823 to circa 1830. Later, Doty succeeded Henry Dodge in 1841 as the governor of the Wisconsin Territory.
Researchers should note that there is a gap in the Declarations between 1829 and 1838. In part, this can be explained by the fact that after the organization of Iowa County in 1830, the county of Crawford was attached to Iowa County for judicial purposes and remained so until Wisconsin Territory was organized in 1836.
Indexes
Researchers will want to start their search with the Card Index to Naturalization, 1837-1943 (Box 7 and also available on Reel 4). There are cards for most individuals found in the naturalization records (except pre-1837 declarations). The cards are arranged alphabetically by surname. Information provided on each card includes family and given names, place and date of birth, volume and page number, date and port of U.S. arrival, date of declarations and naturalization, volume and page of petition volume or petition number, names and addresses of witnesses, and any remarks. There are often references on the index cards to Volume B, Reg. of Citizenship. This volume has not been found in the courthouse so it is not presently available in this series. If there is no card for the person you are seeking, check the indexes at the front of each volume (except Volume A of Certificates). As a last resort consult the other indexes.
The Index to Individual Declarations can serve as an index to the declarations in Boxes 2-6. The arrangement is chronological according to the year each declaration was filed, and thereunder alphabetical. The index was not created by the court.
All other indexes are arranged in alphabetical segments by first letter of surname and more or less chronologically therein. The Index to Declarations (available only on microfilm) and the Index to Petitions give only the name and the date of the document. The Index to Citizenship gives the name, date, volume, page, and document number for declarations, petitions, and admission to citizenship, but only for a short period of time (1907-1910).
In order to find a Certificate of Naturalization Stub (which are arranged by year), it is helpful to have the certificate number, which can be found on the corresponding petition.
