Naturalization Records

Finding naturalization records can be frustrating. The early process called for an immigrant to declare intent at any court. That meant, for some residents in Minnesota, quite a choice.

Take for example, those residing in St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota. Not only could an immigrant make application at the Ramsey County District Court, but there were several other possibilities in the same city: municipal courts, the Minnesota Supreme Court and the U.S. District and Circuit Courts. This meant that the records are dispersed, and a researcher will need to check in several places until the information is found.

To help narrow that search, there are several on-line indexes:

Minnesota's federal court records are divided between two of the Regional Branches of the National Archives. When the Regional Branches were first established, Minnesota was served by the Kansas City Branch, and most of the early federal court records for the state were transferred there. In 1971 Minnesota was switched to the Chicago Branch. Consequently records transferred from the Minnesota's federal courts after that date were sent to Chicago. A full list of the holdings for each can be found here. You can use the original records when you visit the appropriate branch.

Some of the records at Kansas City have been indexed and are available on-line:

• Name Index to St. Paul, Minnesota, Naturalization Records (1859-1916), U.S. District and U.S. Circuit Courts, District of Minnesota

• Minneapolis Naturalizations, 1890-1965 - Part 1
  
• Minneapolis Naturalizations, 1890-1965 - Part 2
  This index contains naturalization petitions filed in the U.S. Circuit Court and U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, 1890-1965 and the declarations of intention filed in the U.S. Circuit Court, 1890-1911.

• Winona Naturalizations, Name index to petitions and declarations of intention 1895-1924, U.S. District Court and U.S. Circuit Court, First District of Minnesota, Winona, MN, Record Group 21.

While the microfilm copies of the County District Court and the Minnesota Supreme Court records can be borrowed through interlibrary loan, note that only the books set aside for naturalizations have been microfilmed. Some early records were written in Miscellaneous District Court books, interspersed with other court activities. (See the Minnesota Genealogical Journal for naturalizations in Benton and Fillmore Counties.)

While not on-line, the Minnesota Supreme Court records have been indexed and published in the Minnesota Genealogical Index, by Wiley Pope, available from Park Genealogical Books.

The Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) holds the originals of the records done in local courts. Check the MHS holdings through the on-line PALS catalog. All county District Court naturalization records plus those from the Minnesota Supreme Court are also available on microfilm through interlibrary loan from MHS.

Persistence pays!

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