{"id":9148,"date":"2019-08-24T15:52:49","date_gmt":"2019-08-24T15:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/?p=9148"},"modified":"2019-08-24T15:52:49","modified_gmt":"2019-08-24T15:52:49","slug":"naturalization-witnesses-and-record-book-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/?p=9148","title":{"rendered":"Naturalization Witnesses and Record Book Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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James Corbin was the witness on the naturalization of Samuel Neill in Hancock County, Illinois, on 14 September 1880. Witnesses on naturalizations can be clues as to ancestral associates and tracing their background can lead to information on the actual person of interest. I need to determine who James Corbin was and see if he has a potential connection to Samuel. The 1880 census enumeration for James Corbin finds him as the thirty-seven year old Illinois native who was the Hancock County Treasurer. He was the only person by that name living in Hancock County. It seems reasonable that he was the same James Corbin who was Samuel’s “naturalization witness.” What I might want to do (and what I have not done yet) is to see if other county officials were witnesses on other naturalizations during the same time period. In the case of Samuel it does not seem that his “naturalization witness” is any clue as to his ancestral origins. The search for a connection should not only focus on the men as both Samuel Neill and James Corbin were married and their “connection” could have been between their wives. Note: <\/em>Anna R. Corbin, wife of James, like her husband was an Illinois native. Neither of the Corbins had an Irish parent based upon their 1880 census enumeration. Both Neill and his wife, Annie Murphy, were Irish natives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The title of the volume as given in FamilySearch<\/em> is “Petitions for naturalization 1876-1903, volume A.” The book does contain petitions for naturalization, but that’s the content of the item not the actual title. The title on the actual spine of the book (which was originally microfilmed and is now digitized) is actually “Naturalization Record (Final).” It’s a small distinction, but still a difference. Using the actual title allows me to know exactly what I searched if ever am able access the original copies of local records. It also tells someone exactly what I used when I share my research with someone else. I should include in my notes for this item the actual title on the spine of the volume and how FamilySearch<\/em> catalogs the item. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those titles are different from the index FamilySearch <\/em>has for county naturalization records in Illinois.<\/em> There’s three titles that are involved in finding Samuel if we used the FamilySearch <\/em>finding aids to find him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n