Ionia County Genealogical Research Guide
NATURALIZATION
What are naturalization records and what kind of information
can I find in them?
Naturalization records document the process by which an immigrant becomes a citizen. An individual has to live in the United States for a specific period of time and file a series of forms with a court before he or she can become naturalized. Naturalization records provide the following information: place and date of birth, date of arrival into the United States, place of residence at the time of naturalization, a personal description, and sometimes the name of the ship that the individual arrived on and the individual's occupation.
Most early naturalization papers are held with the county court that presided over the process. Later naturalization papers can be found at the National Archives.
Naturalization records for the years 1787 through 1906 are available through the National Archives. Records after 1906 are available through the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Most of Michigan’s pre-statehood settlers came from New York, Ohio, the New England states, and Ontario Canada. Later immigrant arrivals from Germany and the Netherlands arrived by 1850.
A helpful source on Michigan immigrants is C. Warren Vander Hill, Settling the Great Lakes Frontier: Immigration to Michigan, 1837-1924 (Lansing: Michigan Historical Commission, 1970; Family History Library Book 977.4 W2v).
Major ports of entry to Michigan have been through New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Quebec. The Family History Libraries and the National Archives have passenger lists for American ports for the years 1820 - 1943. Lists from Quebec for 1865 to 1900 are also available. No immigration records exist for those individuals that arrived via Michigan ports and harbors.
lonia County, Michigan surname index : naturalization, 1835-1959. State Archives of Michigan, 1990.
Michigan Documents ST H673: 2165
(This is a hint: Some people have been successful in obtaining their ancestors naturalization papers by sending an e-mail message to the State Archives of Michigan. The address is
archives@sos.state.mi.us Good luck!)
Ionia Naturalizations 1835-1959 Record Group 85-32 A computer index is available