Naturalization Document Search

[goingtorome]

Hello friends!

I am trying to find out IF and WHEN my g-g-grandfather and g-grandfather naturalized in the USA.

So far on my own I have not been very lucky.

My great-great-grandfather's name was:

Vincenzo Perona (perhaps he went by Vincent at one point)
Born: August 13, 1885 in Prascorsano, Italy
Died: December 7, 1950 in San Bernardino, CA
He came to the USA once in 1905, then went back to Italy, got married in 1908, his son was born in 1909, and he returned to the USA in 1913 with his wife and son.

His son, my great-grandfather's name:
Antonio Perona
Born: May 26, 1909 (I found a record that said 1908, but it is truly 1909) in Italy (Levone, or Prascorsano)
Died: June 2000 in San Bernardino, CA (possibly registered in Reno, NV)

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Mulé]

Shame you weren't 10+ years earlier - much easier when Antonio was alive to register his children as Italian citizens.
Did you do a USCIS genealogy search?

[goingtorome]

I submitted a search for Antonio's parents (my gggrandparents)

So, I will try one for him now. (the others are still in process).

But I just wanted to see if anyone who is better at searching than I am could find any info on their own.

Thanks!

[Mulé]

best to kick off those long searches and then fill in the cracks while you wait... might be worth you getting the free trial at ancestry.com or footnote.com so you can dig deeper. Also contact NARA to search... good luck...

[PeterTimber]

see if footnote has the name you are seeking listed so that if you want to pay perhaps you can get a one time check for a small fee instead of a trial period which canbe a pain when you want to pull out. Footnote seems to specialize in citizenship records. =Peter=

[DeFilippis78]

Also make sure you contact the state and county records they lived in. The consulate will need records on all 4 levels. With some of my family I found no one had the records BUT the small county court.

Alicia

[goingtorome]

Is NARA different from USCIS? If yes, how do I contact them for this info?

[DeFilippis78]

USCIS is what used to be called INS...its for immigration. They hold records for people who became citizens and want to become citizens. NARA has records for all sorts of things but can have naturalization records too.

Alicia

[PeterTimber]

Dear Going to Rome...Just clicked on a name check for www.worldvitalrecords.com and put in Antonio Perona and then click and when the listing comes up you will see Naturalziation and the number 7 indicating that there are 7 Antonio Perona connected to Naturalziation. Click that and when the 7 listings come up check for details and see if any of them relate. I noticed they refer you to www.footnote.com so they must have been taken over by them. At least we know there are 7 to consider! =Peter=

[goingtorome]

Thanks Peter for the info.

If I remember correctly, this Antonio Perona was not the same as my great-grandpa. He had a different birth date.

My trial with footnote.com ended a month ago; does anyone still have a membership with footnote.com that would be willing to double check this for me?

Thanks!

[johnnyonthespot]

Hello friends!

I am trying to find out IF and WHEN my g-g-grandfather and g-grandfather naturalized in the USA.
...
Thanks for any help in advance!

As mentioned in this other thread ( http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/Foru ... 15730.html ), the fact that there are no notations on Vincenzo/Caterina/Antonio's 1913 manifest is a strong indication that they did not naturalize.

Ultimately, you wil need to file an Index Search Request with USCIS, so you may as well get cracking. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ ... 18190aRCRD

Presuming this is in reference to dual citizenship: because your grandfather was born in Italy and came to the US as a minor, you will need to provide proof that your grandfather (Antonio) did not naturalize on his own as an adult and also that your great-grandfather (Vincenzo) did not naturalize while Antonio was still a minor (21, if I recall correctly) because, if he did so, Antonio would have automatically naturalized with him.

It is unfortunate that you carry this double burden of proof. Proving non-naturalization for one ancestor is difficult enough; proving for two is just that much more work.

On the other hand, if you can show that Antonio naturalized after the birth of his child/children, then you would be in great shape.