948 Born in Greece - Pennsylvania Eastern District Naturalization Indexes, 1795-1952

FamilySearch.org has a FREE database titled PENNSYLVANIA EASTERN DISTRICT NATURALIZATION INDEXES, 1795-1952.  There are 948 people in this index declaring Greece as their place of birth.   

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Record Information provided by FamilySearch.org

RECORD DESCRIPTION

The collection consists of Soundex card indexes to naturalization petitions and declarations of intention from the U.S. Circuit and District Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The information typically includes the name of the individual, petition number, declaration number, birth date, date of petition or declaration, and occasionally other pieces of information: name variations, marriage information, etc. This collection corresponds to NARA M1248: Indexes to Naturalization Petitions to the U.S. Circuit and District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1795-1951.

Using the Information

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors. You can use naturalization records to:

• Learn an immigrant’s place of origin
• Confirm their date of arrival
• Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
• Find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, or ship’s manifests

Tips to Keep in Mind

• Look for the Declaration of Intent soon after the immigrant arrived, and then look for the Naturalization Petition five years later, when the residency requirement would have been met. Look for naturalization records in federal courts and then in state, county, or city courts.
• An individual may have filed the first and final papers in different courts and sometimes in a different state if the person moved. Immigrants who were younger than 18 when they arrived did not need to file a Declaration of Intent as part of the process.
• If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct.
• Continue to search the naturalization records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who may have naturalized in the same area or nearby.
• The witnesses named on naturalization records may have been older relatives of the person in the naturalization process. Search for their naturalizations.
• You may want to obtain the naturalization records of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname if they lived in the same county or nearby. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors.
• Indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings and misinterpretations.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

• Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
• Try a different index if there is one for the years needed. You may also need to search the naturalization records year by year.
• Search the indexes of nearby counties.

General Information About These Records

Naturalization is a voluntary process by which immigrants can become American citizens and receive the rights granted with citizenship. Before 1790, British immigrants were automatically considered citizens. Some Protestant immigrants from other counties swore allegiance and requested citizenship from civil authorities. The process by which foreign immigrants could become citizens of the British empire colony, and later American citizens, varied between states until 1906, when the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization standardized immigration laws and procedures. The general requirements for citizenship include residency in one U.S. state for one year and in the United States for five years.

Naturalization papers are an important source of information about an immigrant's nation of origin, his foreign and “Americanized” names, residence, and date of arrival. Naturalization records were created to process naturalizations and keep track of immigrants in the United States.

Immigrants could naturalize in any court that performed naturalizations. That included city, county, state and federal courts. Begin by looking for naturalization records in the courts of the county or city where the immigrant lived. Look first for the petition (second papers), because they are usually easier to find in courts near where the immigrant eventually settled. After 1906, the declaration can be filed with the petition as the immigrant was required to submit a copy when he submitted the petition.

Because immigrants were allowed to naturalize in any court, they often selected the most convenient court. If they lived in the Eastern District but worked elsewhere, they may have gone to a court closer to work. Naturalization records are generally reliable, but may occasionally be subject to error or falsification. Be sure to search all possible spellings of your ancestor's surname. Think about how the surname was pronounced, and how it sounded in your ancestor's probable accent. The surname may be spelled differently in earlier records that were closer to your ancestor's immigration date.