General
The Vilas County Naturalization Records consist of the Card Index to Naturalizations and additional Indexes to Declarations and Certificates; Declarations of Intention; Petitions; Certificates of Naturalization; Lists of Citizenship Petitions Granted and Denied; Notices of Application for Admission to Citizenship; 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 should begin by using the CARD INDEX TO NATURALIZATIONS contained in Box 1 and 2. This index includes separate cards for Declarant, Petitioner, and Certificate of Naturalization (see examples of the different types of cards attached). Declarant cards provide name, residence, volume and page number of declaration, and date. Petitioner cards include name, residence, date petition granted, place and date of birth, and both certificate and petition numbers. The Certificate cards provide name, residence, age, date of admission order, date certificate issued, and both certificate and petition numbers.
The bulk of the DECLARATIONS OF INTENTION date 1893-1949; however, there are a few Declarations issued in Vilas County as well as from other counties dating 1876-1902 included in this series. Declarations dated 1893 and after can be located both through the Card Index to Naturalizations and the Index to Declarations of Intention. The cumulative Index to Declarations of Intention is arranged in alphabetical segments and thereunder chronological, and provides the individual's name; year, month, and date of declaration; and number of declaration. Most of the Declaration volumes also contain an alphabetical index at the front of each volume. Note: there is no index to the miscellaneous Declarations dated 1876-1902 (Box 3, Folder 5), nor to those Declarations dated after 1945.
PETITIONS can be located by using the Card Index to Naturalizations. Unlike the Declarations, the Petitions have no separate index which indexes only the Petitions. However, some of the Petition volumes do have an alphabetical index at the front of each volume. There are only a few, scattered Petitions dating 1903-1906. Box 6, Folder 3 contains copies of Petitions and Orders for Henry Schrankel (1903); William Johnson (1905); and James Campbell (1906).
CERTIFICATES OF NATURALIZATIONS can not only be located through the Card Index to Naturalizations, but also through the Index to Certificates of Naturalization. This cumulative index is arranged in alphabetical segments and thereunder chronological, and provides the individual's name; year, month, and date of certificate; and number of certificate of naturalization.
Additional records included in this series are LISTS OF CITIZENSHIP PETITIONS GRANTED AND DENIED (1930-1948); NOTICES OF APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION TO CITIZENSHIP (1907-1931); REPATRIATIONS (1940-1943); and MISCELLANEOUS (1898-1902). Notices of applications are summary lists of persons applying for naturalization. These lists provide individual's name, date and place of arrival in the United States, approximate date of final hearing, and witness names and addresses. Miscellaneous records found in Box 5, Folder 12 consist of miscellaneous correspondence; one certificates of naturalization for P. B. Little (1898); and the incomplete petition of James Lynch (1902).
