California, San Francisco, Immigration Office Special Inquiry Records - FamilySearch Historical Records: Difference between revisions

The records may contain any of the following:  

*The name of your immigrant ancestor.

*The approximate age or date of immigration.

# Select the '''Volume and Year Range''' which takes you to the images.

*Use the information found in the record to find other [[https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/California_Emigration_and_Immigration California Emigration and Immigration]] such as emigrations, port records, and ship’s manifests.

*Use the record to learn your ancestor’s foreign and “Americanized” names, if they were different.

*If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching other possible localities or ports of entry.

*Remember that sometimes individuals went by [http://usgenweb.org/research/nicknames.html nicknames] or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for [http://genealogy.about.com/od/first_names/fl/nickname-given-name-equivalents.htm these names] as well. 

*Look for the Declaration of Intent soon after the immigrant arrived. Then look for the Naturalization Petition five years later, when the residency requirement would have been met. Look for naturalization records in federal courts, then in state, county, or city courts. An individual may have filed the first and final papers in different courts and sometimes in a different state if the person moved. Immigrants who were younger than 18 when they arrived did not need to file a Declaration of Intent as part of the process.