Ohio, Northern District, Eastern Division, Naturalization Index - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains an index to naturalization petitions. It corresponds to NARA microfilm publication M1893: Index Cards to Naturalization Petitions for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, Cleveland, 1855-1967. The collection is part of Record Group 21 Records of the District Courts of the United States.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Naturalization 
 * Name of immigrant
 * Place of residence
 * Title and location of court granting certificate of naturalization
 * Volume and page number where certificate is recorded
 * Country of birth
 * Age or birth date
 * Date of arrival and U. S. port of entry
 * Names and address of witnesses

Collection Content
The collection comprises 196,148 images, which may be browsed or searched with a name of your subject.

For browsing, the collection is divided into 44 segments of alphabetically arranged surnames. Each of these segments consists of a roll of the original microfilm series. Each roll of microfilm begins with a few images that document the roll and its filming data. Afterward, each image presents one or two index cards of information for a single person. The format and depth of information on a card varies with the year of indexing activity, and, occasionally, the information for a person includes the card reverse, which is presented in the following image. The order of presentation is, with rare exceptions, in careful alphabetic order.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The full name of your ancestor
 * The approximate date of immigration
 * The approximate date of naturalization
 * The place where your ancestor lived

If you do not know this information, check the 1900 census and then calculate the possible year of naturalization based on the date of immigration. The 1920 census may tell you the exact year of immigration or naturalization.

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the :
 * 1) Select the appropriate Surname Range to view the images.

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?
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
 * 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
 * Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings. Realize that the indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings and misinterpretations
 * 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 and records or nearby localities
 * Consult the Ohio Record Finder to find other records

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Ohio.
 * Beginning Research in United States Naturalization Records
 * Ohio Guided Research
 * Ohio Record Finder
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.