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Letter to the editor

Genealogy

Shortcut for citizenship papers

By DONNA MURRAY ALLEN
Published July 8, 2004

Zack Wilske, a historian with the History Office and Library of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, was kind enough to e-mail me an address update following a recent column on obtaining citizenship papers. Apparently a lot of local rooters wrote to USCIS formerly known as Immigration and Naturalization Services after that column appeared. (See Web site at http://uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm)

Wilske suggested using this address for a faster response: Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act Program, 425 I St. NW, 2nd Floor, ULLICO Building, Washington, DC 20536. Under the FOIA, you may request copies of citizenship records filed after 1906, which is when the federal government took over the responsibility. Wilske said that this address is subject to change once the USCIS mailroom is capable of handling the volume of mail received by FOIA.

Citizenship papers were filed in any court before 1906. The records may be in the county courthouse or the state's archives. They also may be lost.

You can't create your entire family tree in the comfort of your home, but you can get some of the legwork done by logging on to various online searchable databases. The Web site at www.progenealogists.com/genealogysleuthb.htm provides a list of searchable databases ranging from St. Louis, Mo., Catholic burials, Utah state burial records and African-American cemeteries to online death records for more than a half-dozen states to passenger ship lists and immigration records. Most of the databases are free, but, as with too many sites these days, some ultimately lead to Ancestry.com.

Kentucky played an important role in the east-west migration patterns. Check out the state's online searchable database of birth, death, marriage and divorce records at http://ukcc.uky.edu/~vitalrec/ You can also download request forms to order the records you need.

A few county governments finally have noticed that genealogy has become the second most popular hobby in the world and are starting to capitalize on it. At www.co.westmoreland.pa.us you'll find a free searchable database of marriage license applications dating back to 1900 that are on file at the courthouse in Westmoreland County, Pa. It's not complete, but you may hit on the one you need. The county also has started a fee-based subscription service for other records.

Need to calculate a birth date using the person's age at death? If Harry Mills died on April 15, 1902, age 73y 2m 1d, for example you can use the birth date calculator at www.progenealogists.com/freegenealogy.htm to determine the day he was born. You'll also find a Soundex calculator and a guide to help you correctly cite your sources.

Want a free copy of an ancestral chart form? Get them online at the Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library (www.thpl.org) Go to Information Gateway, click on genealogy, scroll to the bottom and look under user guides.

There's also help at www.raogk.com for those who need a quick lookup or a copy of an obituary from a newspaper 1,000 miles away. This is a legitimate service. Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness is comprised of more than 4,000 volunteers who have agreed to fulfill at least one act of kindness a month for rooters. These favors primarily include pulling and copying public records, locating obits on microfilm and printing a copy and taking digital photos of tombstones. You do not have to pay them for their time, but you are expected to reimburse them for copy and postage fees and other out-of-pocket expenses.

Read past Donna Murray Allen columns online at www.sptimes.com Type "Donna Murray Allen" in the search box. You can write to Allen c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@yahoo.com Her Web site: www.rootsdetective.com includes information on classes and lectures. Allen welcomes your questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in future columns.

[Last modified July 7, 2004, 10:52:01]