Genealogy Research

As the tide of settlement (in Indiana) moved north, a new land office opened at Fort Wayne in 1823. It sold lands in all or part of the present day counties of Adams, Allen, Blackford, Cass, Clinton, DeKalb, Delaware, Grant, Howard, Huntington, Jay, Kosciusko, Lagrange, Madison, Miami, Noble, Randolph, Steuben, Tipton, Wabash, Wells, and Whitley. The final sales were in 1852; all lands remaining unsold were attached to the Indianapolis Land Office.

In the nineteenth century and most of the twentieth century, naturalization was a three step process. First, one declared intention to naturalize, then petitioned for naturalization, and lastly, received a certificate or a court order granting citizenship.

Declarations and Petitions

The first two steps involved the submission of specific documents — declarations of intent and petitions — that the Archives now holds for some counties.

If the individual you are looking for is not listed in the database, it will be necessary to know the county or counties in which the naturalization process began.

Please note that many immigrants never completed the full process. In the nineteenth century, many states allowed their residents to buy land and work without obtaining full citizenship. In Indiana, one could purchase land, own a business, and vote with a declaration of intention.

Final Papers

After 1907, the federal government required state/local courts to issue standardized certificates of citizenship, to send duplicate copies of the certificates to the federal government, and to retain a certificate stub for their own court records. The Archives has certificate stubs for a few counties. These stubs are organized by date, not alphabetically; thus, a date of naturalization or a certificate number is imperative to locating any individual’s certificate stub.

Many counties recorded the final process on the back of the petitions; therefore an additional “final paper” will not be available in the Archives.