Naturalization No Records...Philadelphia

[Lindsey322]

I first found out about dual citizenship from a woman sitting next to me on a flight from Rome and quickly found out I qualify through my great grandfather. He came over a few times between 1890's and 1910. My family is 99% sure he was never naturalized and does not come up on my state lists. My family and I are from northern DE and so I am under the consulate of Philadelphia. Luckily DE's a small state and Philly is real close, so research shouldn't be a problem.

I've seen many websites that offer to do the work for you for hundreds of dollars. I know and have visited the town my family is from, so any opinions on writing the town for the cetrificates myself? The consulate says it's free but I could include an international money order for postage. Great! I really only need the marriage certificate (Date unknown, but we know it's from about 1900) and two birth certificates.

And so I find myself grappling with the naturalization papers. I've seen lots of posts for NYC and SF, but anyone familiar with Philly? I'm so confused as to which papers from where... archives.gov said that they do not give 'no records' papers. I have a the g639 form. Is that all I need? I'm not too clear on what it is.

I'm not in a hurry, but I would like to have my citizenship in two or two and a half years, before I go back again! ANY suggestions, comments would be so appreciated!

Edited to comment that in filling out the g639, am I correct that I need my great grandfather's death certificate? He also was an illegal alien, of sorts, for his whole life. No social, no registration numbers, nothing... which to me proves he was never naturalized but I want to fill out this form as best as possible... I heard it takes a while.

My great grandfather died in 1960. My local vital records only keeps death certificates from 1962 on... wonderful... are there any exceptions for the g639 for this?

[peggymckee]

"My family is 99% sure he was never naturalized and does not come up on my state lists."

What state lists are you referring to? Are they on the Web?

Peggy M

[Lindsey322]

Delaware. Yes, the lists are online and my family is not on them. It's nice because we are such a very small state that the lists are not big!

[LvItalian1979]

I just found out I might also qualify to have a dual citizenship. It is through my great grandfather. Only problem is I need to first find out if he was naturalized. I talked to someone at Italiandualcitizenship.com and they said I should look at the 1920 census to see if my great grandfather was listed as an alien. He said to do this because my grandmother was born in 1919. So this will tell me if he was a citizen before or after my grandmother was born. But, my family is from Wilkes-barre, PA and I am in Las Vegas. So I tried contacting the Pennsylvania State Archives for information but they a closed to the public till further notice. So I ordered a census form from National Archives to see if I can get information from them. I also took his advice and looked under Ancestry.com and all I found was a death certificate. I even looked at EllisIsland.org and only found my great grandmother. They came over seperate and even got married in PA. So if anybody else can give me any ideas to try I would be very grateful.

Lindsey322: Where to have to write to get the Italian certificates?