General
The Rusk County Naturalization Records, 1885-1954, consist of the Index to Citizenship; Declarations of Intentions; Petitions; Certificates of Naturalization; lists of citizenship petitions granted and denied; Repatriations; and miscellaneous records.
The original system of numbering volumes was retained because the indexes are often keyed to this system. For preservation purposes some volumes have been dismantled and placed in boxes. For these volumes, the contents list below gives the volume number in parentheses ( ) for identification purposes, and the box, folder number, and reel for location purposes.
Records
Researchers searching for information prior to 1947 should begin by using the INDEX TO CITIZENSHIP. The index is a bound volume and lists Name; date, number, and place of Declaration; date and number of Petition; and date and number of Certificate of Citizenship. The Index to Citizenship is arranged in alphabetical segments; individuals whose last names begin with the same letter are filed in the same segment, but not in alphabetical order. The order is somewhat chronological, but researchers should not depend on a strict chronological ordering system. Information also can be located through the indexes in the front of individual volumes. With the exception of Petitions 1903-1906, Lists of Citizenship Petitions Granted and Denied (1929-1954), and Miscellaneous Depositions and Interrogatories (1903-1946), each volume in the Rusk Series 10 has an index at the front of the volume. As with the bound Index to Citizenship, individuals are filed under the first letter of their last names in alphabetical segments.
The DECLARATIONS date 1901-1951. The bulk of the declaration records can be located through the Index to Citizenship. For those records dated after 1947 and not included in the Index to Citizenship, researchers should turn to the indexes at the front of each volume.
For preservation purposes, many PETITIONS have been disbound and placed in archival folders and boxes. The bulk of the Petitions can be located through the Index to Citizenship. For those records dated after 1947 and not included in the Index to Citizenship, researchers should turn to the indexes at the front of each volume. The Petitions dated 1902-1906 do not have an index and are filed alphabetically by the individual's last name.
The CERTIFICATES TO NATURALIZATION, 1902-1903, are in volumes and CERTIFICATES, 1907-1927, are STUB BOOKS. (After 1906, two-part certificates were issued. One copy of the certificate went to the new citizen and the second to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Local clerks retained only the Certificate Stub books from which the certificates were separated.) All of the Certificates can be located through the Index to Citizenship. The Certificates/Stub books list number of certificate; name; date and place of Declaration; date of Petition; name, age and place of residence of wife; name, ages and places of residence of any minor children; date or order of Certificate; and signature. The Certificates/Stub books are ordered chronologically and thereunder numerically by Certificate number.
Additional records included in this series are ADULT NATURALIZATION RECORDS (Gates Co.), 1903-1906; MINOR NATURALIZATION RECORD (Gates Co.), 1904; LISTS OF CITIZENSHIP PETITONS GRANTED AND DENIED, 1929-1954; a single declaration for Vaclav Snajberk, 1913; REPATRIATIONS, 1942-1945; and MISCELLANEOUS DEPOSITIONS AND INTERROGATORIES, 1930-1946. The Adult Naturalization Records are from Gates County and can be located using the Index to Naturalization and by the volume index; the Petition and Certificate are filed together and list name, signature, date of petition and naturalization, and country of origin. The Minor Naturalization Records volume consists of records for two individuals, Joseph and Bernard Paschilka. The Adult and Minor Naturalization records are not standard to others used in the state; researchers should be aware that Naturalization rules were not standardized until 1922.
Lists of Citizenship Petitions Granted and Denied are the official orders of the court finally conferring or denying citizenship. They list name, any change of name, and petition number for each individual. Repatriations are Oaths of Allegiance for any woman who had believed she lost her citizenship by virtue of her marriage to an alien prior to September 1922 and whose marriage with that alien had since terminated or who had lived in the United States since her marriage; Repatriation is her entitlement to reclaim her citizenship. The application lists her name, place and date of birth, spouse's name, and the date of termination of her marriage or continuous residency. An oath of allegiance is also included. When a petitioner lives outside of Wisconsin during part of the required period of residency, two additional witnesses from the place of previous residency are required to testify to the character of the petitioner. In these cases, naturalization examiners in other states are empowered to take written Depositions and Interrogatories of the witnesses.
