Using the "Illinois, Northern District Naturalization Index, 1850-1950" to Locate Original Naturalization Records

Many have used the "Illinois, Northern District Naturalization Index, 1850-1950" available through www.familysearch.org.  In this collection you may have discovered an index card for one or more of your ancestors.  However, did you know this card can lead to more than just the date of arrival and naturalization?  You may also discover further information the person abstracting the information did not index.  Take for instance the following index card for John Maslan.

From this index card we see that John Maslan naturalized on December 13, 1915.  His citizenship was granted by the Will County Circuit Court in Joliet, Illinois.  However, missing from the index card is the date and port of arrival.  Not to fret though; this card gives us all the information we need to locate the original record!  In order to locate the original record you must contact the following: 

Will County Circuit Court Archives*

806 N. Nicholson St.

Joliet, Ill.  60435

(815)-774-7494

You may submit a written request to the address above, or make a request via the phone number above.  When making a request provide the following:  name of the individual (as it appears on the card), certificate/volume/page number, and date of naturalization.  Additionally, if submitting a written request provide your name, address, and phone number.  The phone number will help if the archivist searching has any questions regarding your request.  

Once the search has been completed you will be notified of the findings.  In some cases; although rare,  the document may have been lost or misfiled.  If the documents are found you will be charged a copy fee.  Payment** must be received before they will mail copies of any records.  

In the case of John Maslan his "Petition for Naturalization" was located with the indexed information.  

From this we learn additional information regarding John and his family.  We learn the ship he arrived on; the date he arrived; and the port he arrived in.  Also, is listed the place of his wife's birth, and name and birth dates of his children.  He also stated that he made his "Declaration of Intent" at the circuit court in Waukegan, Lake County, Illinois (If the "Declaration of Intent" and "Petition for Naturalization" were both filed in Will County the archivist will generally provide copies of both).  

With the information from this document you have the option of locating several more documents.  You may write the circuit court in which the "Declaration of Intent" was made, and request copies of that document.  Also, available is the original ship manifest from his arrival to the United States.  In the case of John it was located on www.ellisisland.org.  

*The Will County Circuit Court Archives is a separate facility maintained by Will County.  Admittance is by appointment only, and access to records is limited to archivist.  

**The Will County Circuit Clerk only accepts payments in the form of cash or money orders.  Personal checks are not accepted by the circuit court.  

Finding a Missing Death Certificate

We have all been in the same position before; not being able to find a family member's death certificate.    They are buried in a local cemetery, the family has never moved, and now you cannot find proof of their death.

You have searched multiple databases online, and still no results!  You ask your self how can this be?! Exasperated by multiple search attempts you give up.  The search is pushed aside for another day.  After several attempts you find yourself wanting to give up.

What you might not be taking into account is an error in the index.  Some records are transcribed incorrectly when entered into a electronic database.  In most cases this is a hand written document or index that is being prepared for a searchable database.  The original record was handwritten, and now it's up to the volunteer to decipher the writing.

For instance the surname Feehan has been a difficult name to locate death certificates for.  The second E in the surname can be interpreted as a C, L, or R.  The following are examples of how a transcription have been entered in the "Illinois Statewide Death Index, 1916-1950".

Matthew Feehan's death certificate has been entered under the name Matthew Felhan.

You can see that the transcriber interpreted the second E as a L.  This could be due to the fact the loop is larger on the second E.  

Charles Joseph Feehan's death certificate has been entered under the name Charles Joseph Fechan.

You can see that the transcriber interpreted the second E as a C.  This could be because of the curve on the loop of the second E.  

Ellen Feehan's death certificate has been entered under the name Ellen Ferhan. 

You can see the transcriber interpreted the second E as a R.  This could be the formation of the second E in comparison to the first E.  

When searching try using a broader search.  Instead of entering the full surname, enter only the first few letters of the surname.  In the case for the surname Feehan I entered only the first two letters.  To help narrow the results enter the first name of the individual.  Be creative and imagine what your sloppy penmanship might look like.  It may take a few wildcard searches, however, you may find that death certificate you have almost given up on.  

Note:  This method was illustrated with the Illinois State Archives database titled "Illinois Statewide Death Index, 1916-1950".  The method can be used in any online database you are searching and allows wildcard searches.  

What is in a "Return of a Marriage" ?

Recently I had a client looking for a marriage license for her deceased aunt.  They wanted to locate this marriage license because of the "Return of a Marriage" portion of the license.  The reason for locating this was because of privacy laws in Illinois.  The birth certificate is not yet 75 years old and the death certificate is not yet 20 years old.  Making these records only available to the parents, children, and grandchildren of the individual.  However,  marriage records are an open record in the state of Illinois. Although, some restrictions do apply on applications under 50 years old.  

In a previous blog (Illinois Marriage Certificates, 1860-1917)  I showed the progression of marriage licenses in Illinois.  Starting with simple forms only asking the name of the bride and groom.  Sometimes containing an affidavit by the groom stating the bride and groom were of legal age to marry.    In 1877 Illinois counties started to include a "Return of a Marriage" with the marriage license they filed.  This is a form that asked biographical information of both parties.  It also contains the signature of the bride and groom.  As well as the signature of witnesses.  In many cases the witnesses may be relatives of the bride and groom.  It should be noted that this is different from a marriage application.  That was a separate document filed.

For the biographical information it asked the name, age at next birthday, residence, parents names, race, place of birth, and number of marriages.  It does ask the maiden name of the bride in the case she was a widow.  For the groom his occupation was asked.  This information was supplied by the bride and groom, however, it is not always 100% accurate.  It should verified with any other sources you may have.

This can prove useful when a birth certificate was not filed for an individual.  In the state of Illinois birth certificates were not strictly mandated until 1916.  This would be helpful if the parties were of marrying age before 1916.  A birth certificate might not have been filed but the "Return of a Marriage" could have been.  Additionally the names of parents are not always filled out on a death certificate.  This is due to several factors.  The death certificate was filled out by a person in hospital records.  In most cases the very basic of vital information is filled out about the individual.  Another situation might be it was filled out by a child of the deceased.  The grandparents could have been deceased before the birth of the child.  In this case the child of the deceased may have not known or remembered the names of their grandparents.

A "Return of a Marriage" from 1892.

A "Return of a Marriage" from 1910.

A "Return of a Marriage" from 1917.

World War II Newspaper Clippings from a Joliet Township High School Yearbook

Several years ago my great-aunt had to be admitted to a nursing home.  After being admitted my cousin sent me many family photographs and mementos.  I was entrusted with these items as I had become the family historian nearly a decade before.  Among those items was a 1937 issue of "The J".  This was the yearbook for Joliet Township High School.  My great-aunt had been a member of this class.  In 1987 she returned to Joliet from Fresno, California to attend her 50 year high school reunion.

Contained in the yearbook were the dates of class members marriages.  These were noted under the names of individuals in the margins of the pages.  Additionally were newspaper clippings for members of the class that had enlisted in the armed forces.  I do not believe it to be a comprehensive collection of members who joined.  Perhaps they were the women and men my great-aunt had been friends with.

Below in no particular order are some of the men and women who served in various branches of the armed forces.

Robert Larson

Lt. Robert W. Mitchell

Pvt. Anton Popek, Jr.

Vincent Zielinski

George Strunk

Robert Lang

Sgt. David Lind

John Hartong

Edward F. Cleghorn

Lt. Donald L. Jasinek

Charles Hughes

J.F. Moretti

Sgt. William B. Weigerding & Sgt. Richard W. Weigerding 

Cadet William C. Elms

Lt. M.L. Wells

J.E. Coyle

Althea M. Overton

Staff Sergt. Bert Larson

Pvt. Robert S. Hodgdon

Pvt. Robert E. Miller

Pvt. Russell S. Brown

Pvt. William Cutler

Pvt. John Koncar

Sgt. Chester Cooper

Norman E. Johnson

George Arthur

Dale Beasley & Robert Beasley

Mary Hammel

Cadet Richard L. Adler

Mark L. Hanna

Chester Olroyd

Lucille A. Ambrose

Discovering Baptism Records from the Chicago Catholic Diocese

In 2011 familysearch.org released their collection titled "Illinois, Chicago, Catholic Church Records, 1833-1925" online  (There is a wiki available through the website).  These are the actual images of the parish registers of the diocese.  That may include baptism, marriage, confirmation, and death registers.  Some parishes chose to index these registers by last name as they became full.  Although, if a name does not appear in the index it should not be ruled out as a possibility.  In some cases the person indexing the register could have missed a name.  Discovering the actual record is sometimes simple.  It is determining which parish your family attended that can sometimes be challenging.  Below is a system for locating baptism records within this collection of records.

Begin with a birth certificate of the individual you would like to locate.  In this case the information needed has been highlighted in a yellow box.  The baptism record being sought is for Helen Feehan born February 17, 1912.  The place of birth is recorded as 2625 Lowe Ave. Chicago.  The residence of the mother has ditto marks indicating the same address.  The parents are identified as John and Alice Feehan.

With the address for the residence of the mother a search for likely parishes can be made.  The Newberry Library of Chicago has a website named ChicagoAncestors.org.  This website was developed specifically with genealogist and local historians in mind.  With this website an address can be entered and it will give you a list of parishes both existing and extent.  Once on the homepage enter the address of the mother gave as her residence.  Once you have entered the address click the search button. 

Once you hit search you will be brought to a search results page.  Scroll to the bottom to "Religious Institutions" and select "Roman Catholic Churches". 

The map zooms into the neighborhood and puts a numbered pinpoint to represent each of the parishes.  The blue star on the map represents residence entered on the first page.  In this case four Catholic parishes were found within a half mile of the residence.  One is named designated as St. Jerome Croatian.  This church would be less likely since the Feehan family was of Irish descent.  By clicking on the names of the church additional information is provided. 

To help narrow down the search an alphabetical list of Chicago Catholic churches can be consulted.  As well as being alphabetical this list categorizes the church by the ethnic background of the parishioners.  When the list is consulted the following information was learned.

First we learn that All Saints and St. Anthony has merged their parishes.  Additionally this is an Irish parish.  Santa Lucia-Maria Incoronata and St. John Nepomucence are an Italian and Bohemian parish respectively.   With the knowledge of All Saints-St. Anthony you may go to familysearch.org and begin browsing the images of the registers.  The images are divided in an alphabetical list according to parish.  

In the instance of All Saints-St. Anthony (located in the Bridgeport community) some of their records have been confused with the other All Saints (located in the Roseland community).  This is the case for the baptism register and index for the years 1905 through 1917.  Also, notice that there are two selections for All Saints.  One before the merger with St. Anthony and one after.  

The baptisms for the year 1912 appear on pages 119 through 134.  When examining the year an entry is not found for Helen Feehan.  However, one does appear for Ellen Dorothy Feehan on page 121 of the register.  This should be examined for the possibility Helen and Ellen are one in the same.  Additionally,  that year Berenice Catherine Feehan was baptized.  While examining the register it is important to look for other members of the family.  In this case the first cousins were baptized the same year at the same church.  

Upon examining page 121 an entry is discovered for Ellen Dorothy Feehan.  She was baptized on March 24, 1912.  The birthdate of February 17, 1912 corresponds with the birth certificate. The name of the parents are given as John Feehan and Alice McCabe.  By finding this entry we discover the maiden name of the mother.  The maiden name blank was not filled in by the physician when he filed the birth certificate.  The is one question left now.  Which is the correct first name?  Helen or Ellen?  Currently a death record is being sought.  It is known that she died prior to 1918.  A death certificate could answer the question of the first name.  

While searching this baptism register index an additional entry was found for another cousin.  He was baptized at All Saints in 1914.  When he married in 1939 the church he married at contacted All Saints with the details of his marriage.  This included the name of his wife, date of marriage, and place of marriage.  This information was recorded in the baptism register along with date of baptism.

This method of research has also been successful when locating an entry in marriage registers.  When a priest signed the marriage license he often put the address.  The address they often provided was that of the church or rectory.  By following the above steps it is possible to find the marriage register the marriage was recorded in.