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I wanted to share a GENEALOGY tip that I recently discovered. I found the mother lode of free Declaration of Intention and Petition for Naturalization (also in some cases Certificates of Arrival) scans on Family Search! These particular records are for New Haven, Connecticut for the years 1906 – 1945; however, the method I discovered in finding these records is what will be of interest to any genealogist as all you would need to do is apply this research methodology to any similar database on Family Search or Ancestry via their catalog.

Normally we begin a search for an ancestor’s Declaration of Intention or Petition for Naturalization records via a SURNAME search. We may or may not get a hit, and often times, especially on Ancestry, you will only be rewarded with an INDEX file and the question of a possible match. While index files are basically stubs of information, they do have clues to uncover all the potential information that exists on Declarations and Petitions!

For this honey hole of information I found you won’t be relying on SURNAMES, but on PETITION and DECLARATION NUMBERS. This is why it will evade most basic searches. If you have an index file from either Family Search or Ancestry which contains a Declaration of Intention # or Petition for Naturalization # then you can navigate though these pages and certainly find your records for free!

Here’s an example of an index card showing a Petition number. There are many different types of index cards; can you spot the Petition number? It should read #1638.

How to Find Free Declaration of Intention and Petition for Naturalization Records — Example of Immigration Index File

This is the information you will need BEFORE you search this particular database. You will need either a PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION NUMBER, a DECLARATION OF INTENTION NUMBER, or both (henceforth Petition # and Declaration #). The Family Search database is organized into two blocks, Petitions and Declarations, and from there aggregated according to numbered batches.

Petition for Naturalization Example Family Search — Example of Petition for Naturalization Numbered Batches.

Declaration of Intention Example Family Search — Example of Declaration of Intention Numbered Batches.

Again this particular link is for New Haven, Connecticut. There should be other data sets corresponding to other regions also in the Family Search card catalog. TOP TIP: I find it easier to use Google’s search engine rather than the FS internal search.

Once you’ve found the batch containing the Petition or Declaration #, use the CAMERA ICON on the far right of the page to access the database. Now, you may have to scroll through hundreds of pages to get to your record as they are ordered numerically. Also note that the page numbers do not correspond to the document numbers. TOP TIP: Each record usually has a few pages/documents in it so make sure you scroll backwards and forwards to make sure you get everything in there under your ancestor’s name!

=>Naturalization records (New Haven County, Connecticut), 1906-1945

I had a huge success with this technique. I found my all of great-grandfathers original immigration records which led me finally finding his ship’s manifest! I also found records for 5 other family members who came from Lithuania after being told by the Boston Archives that they didn’t exist! Always keep persisting in your genealogical research.