In my genealogy research I have once requested & received naturalization records from the national archives, and now that I want to do it again for a few more people – I don’t remember the first thing about how to do it!

So, for various families arriving at different times, I am going to document the process here. Most branches of my family’s arrival predates the existence of the U.S., so the ones I will start with are: the Winters family, immigrated via a US-Canada crossing, and the Dombrowski and Gerard families, both 19th century European ship crossings.

So the vague recollection I have is, find the crossing info, their residence at time of naturalization, find the naturalization number somehow, and send some money somewhere. Let’s embark!

Winters, Jacob

My mother’s father’s family emigrated from Canada (Ontario to Upper Michigan) in 1882ish, according to the 1900 Federal US Census.

Born 19 May 1874 @ Watt, Muskoka, Ontario, died 18 Dec 1902 @ Mathias, Alger, Michigan. He had a little lumber town up there in the UP, with a “Winters, MI” post office and everything.

My mother’s grandfather, my great-grandfather, this family was actually relocated to Canada from New York State by the British after they fought as Loyalists in the Revolutionary War. Obtaining this documentation would be a key element in requesting “Lost Canadian” proof of citizenship, which I believe both my mother & I are eligible for since 2025 (but reading legal things puts my brain in a kind of non-functional mode, so traversing that process will probably be documented in another post)

Gerard, Girard, Gérard, etc

My mother’s mother’s family. I haven’t done the research on this family for a few years, I have a note attributed to “Biography of Charles L. Gerard” from “Stark County Atlas, Ohio” that reads:

Emigration
1829 • USA

(Jean) Georges Gérard (Charles L.' grandfather), with son Nicolas, his wife
Frances and their children (and probably Nicolas' brothers) emigrated from
France in 1829.

And on Ancestry I have a somewhat documented GGGGF called Nicolas Gérard born 14 Feb 1800 @ Lure, Haute-Saone, Franche-Comte, France who died 27 May 1879 @ Salt Creek Township, Wayne County Ohio. Nicolas’s wife was called Frances Lingon (b. 30 Aug 1807 @ Nancy, Alsace Lorraine, France & d. 1888 @ Kansas City), their son and my GGGF Frank was born 1837, maybe in New York.

Dombrowski, John

According to 1910 U.S. Federal Census, arrived in 1893 from Poland, my patrilineal great-grandfather (b. 10 May 1872 @ Warszawa, Mazowieckie, Poland & d. 06 Jul 1914 @ Neenah, Winnebago, Wisconsin)

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