Never reach a conclusion from reading part of a record. A relative claimed in his initial homestead application that he was a citizen at the time his entry was filed. Additional documentation in the file indicated that he actually was not naturalized until shortly before his homestead paperwork was completed.
Always read the entire item before concluding.
And read it again just to be certain.
2 Responses
I can take that one step further. I have a MALE relative who was born in China to an English sea captain. He was brought to US when he was about 8 years old and was raised by family friends in KY. There are letters, and even the 1860 census notes he was born in China. By the time he was an adult he listed himself as native born on numerous records, and even combined his foster father’s first name with his own last name on various documents.
Since records keeping and tracking was limited, I wonder how many people could claim being native born or naturalized when that was never the case. Perhaps they came to US as a small child, but parents never naturalized. Who is to really know, when it was easy to pass themselves off as native born?
My maternal uncle was b. 1908 in India, to American parents, Methodist missionaries. My grandfather was a chemistry professor at a College operated by British Methodist missionaries. After my grandmother died in 1914, my grandfather returned to the U.S. with the children, ages 9 (my mother) and 6 (my uncle). Eventually, he brought the children to Tacoma, WA, where my uncle grew up and spent the rest of his long life. Most Pacific Northwesterners enjoy brief visits to our northern neighbor cities, Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. The Border Patrol always asked drivers and passengers for their place of birth. When my uncle answered, “India,” he was inevitably brought into the office for further questioning and explaining. After a few repetitions of this scene, he simply answered, “the U.S.”
Interestingly, one of the U.S. Census records for my uncle and his family lists his birthplace as Indiana. I don’t know whether that was his answer to the enumerator’s question, or whether he had answered “India” and she wrote it as “Indiana,” either out of habit or disbelief that he was actually b. in India.