Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Accomack County (Va.) Naturalization Petition and Record, 1912-1925. Local government records collection, Accomack County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Acquisition Information

This item came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from Accomack County under the accession number 44549.

Historical Information

Accomack County was named for the Accomac Indians, who lived on the eastern Shore at the time of the first English settlement in Virginia. One of the original eight shires established in 1634, Accomac County (spelled without a k) became Northampton County in 1643. The present country was formed from Northampton about 1663. In 1940 the General Assembly adopted the county's present spelling.

Declarations of intent were the record by which an applicant for U.S. citizenship declared their intent to become a citizen and renounced their allegiance to a foreign government. A declaration of intention normally preceded proof of residence or a petition to become a citizen by two or more years. Beginning in 1795, a person could declare their intent to become a citizen at any time and in any place after they arrived in the United States. Petitions for naturalization likewise could be recorded in any court--federal, state, county, or city. New federal legislation in 1802 required aliens to register with the clerk of the district court where they arrived. Declarations of intent and petitions for naturalization did not have to be recorded in the same court.

Scope and Content

Accomack County (Va.) Naturalization Petition and Record, 1912-1925, is a volume that records the petitions for naturalization, oaths of allegiance, and orders of court admitting petitioner to United States citizenship. For the majority of the petitions, a declaration of intent and occasionally other correspondence or related documentation is pasted into the volume facing the naturalization petition. Not all parts may be completed as all stages of the citizenship process could be completed in different courts and in different locations in the United States. There is an index.

A petition for naturalization contains the petitioner's name, address, occupation, birthdate and place, place where emigrated from and date and port of arrival in the U.S., name of ship on which emigrated, where declared intention to become a citizen, spouse's name, place of birth and address, and number of children with their names, birth dates and places of birth. Additional recorded information includes a renunciation of allegiance and fidelity to the state of which the person is currently a citizen or subject, a statement that the petitioner can speak English, and the date since the petitioner has resided constantly in the U.S. An affidavit of witness to these facts is signed by two persons.

On the reverse of the petition is an additional oath of allegiance signed by the petitioner and a renunciation of allegiance to the state of which the person is currently a citizen or subject. Also included is an order of the court admitting the petitioner to United States citizenship that includes date of citizenship and certificate of naturalization number.

For most petitions, a declaration of intent is pasted into the volume on the page facing the petition. Information on the declaration of intent includes record a person's name, age, occupation, color, complexion, height in feet and inches, weight, color of hair, color of eyes, other visible distinctive marks, place and date of birth, current residence, place from where emigrated to the United States, vessel arrived on, last foreign residence, a renunciation of allegiance and fidelity to the state of which the person is currently a citizen, and the date the intention was sworn.

Inserted into the volume at various points were correspondence and regulations from the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Naturalization. These loose papers have been filed together in a folder in the front of the volume.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Accomack County (Va.) Circuit Court.

Subjects:

• Immigrants -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Naturalization records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.

Geographical Names:

• Accomack County (Va.) -- History -- 20th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Declarations -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Local government records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Naturalization records -- Virginia -- Accomack County.
• Petitions -- Virginia -- Accomack County.