Question about US naturalization records from the 1890s

[Mark London mrl@psfc.mit.edu]

X-No-archive: yes
Hi - I have US naturalization papers from different families, from the 1890s,
where there is blatant misinformation filled in by the submitter and their
witnesses. The submitter claims to have been in America longer than they
actually were by several years. They also claim to have been a resident of a
city, for much longer than they actually were. And the people who were
vouching for them, support their claim.

These naturalizations occurred in New England. It appears to have been common
practice, considering that the examples I have, are from different families
and different states. If it was commonly done, then I can understand why
people were doing this. However, it still bothers me! Especially since I would
have liked to have known the real answers, to find out how long these people
actual did live in the cities. Also, if I show these papers to their
descendants, would like to be able to tell them, some good reasons why people
lied. :) Thanks!

Mark London
Natick, MA
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[Mark London mrl@psfc.mit.edu]

X-No-archive: yes
Someone here emailed me a fascinating reason why some people's naturalization
papers have suspect information. It's because they became naturalized, due to
the help of people who were looking for votes! These people were willing to
pay the fees to the immigrants, in order for them to become naturalized, and
they would be their witnesses, claiming to have known the person for many
years. This led to some cities and states enacting laws, that prevented people
from voting, unless they had been a citizen for a certain amount of time.

I did a search in the newspaper archives for naturalization and fraud, and
found all sorts of fun situations. The more common reasons for obtaining
naturalization back then, was to obtain licenses and jobs from the government.
But the laws varied from state to state. I found one article describing the
situation, where a couple was denied a marriage certificate, because the man
couldn't prove that he was a citizen. I would be curious how widespread that
requirement was, because I have relatives that were married in the early
1880s, and the husband later deserted the wife. 10 years later, the wife
found the husband, who had remarried, and she tried to prove that he had
married her. However, she could not produce a marriage certificate, and I
know that the husband did not become a citizen, under after he deserted her.

In any event, in the newspaper article, it went on to state that the denied
couple attempted to get around the problem, by paying someone else to appear
and request a marriage certificate in their names. Since there were no IDs
back then, they had to grant the person a marriage license. Only later did
they follow up and discover that indeed it was the original couple that used
the license to get married. :)