Minnesota Naturalization Records

Well, I learned something new again- but then, I always learn something new every day!!! I had heard that naturalization records are hard to find, usually unorganized, hard to use, etc. so I really hadn't included them in my "usual list of records to search" but in helping a friend do her Minnesota research this last weekend over at the Minnesota Historical Society, I found them to be an easy record to utilize in Minnesota.

Each county is indexed, in book format, and available in the microfilm reading room. Finding the surname is easy enough. The index entry refers you to a SAM number (microfilm catagory at the MHS), which has the first and second papers on microfilm by county and by page number. We were looking at her great-grandfather's second papers within ten minutes of entering the microfilm reading room! It gave us his port of entry into the U.S., his country of origin, and the year of his immigration. He entered in Baltimore, not New York, as she had thought and now we have another few clues to follow to find his village of origin.