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26 January 2013

Naturalized Under the 17 July 1862 Act

This act of the US Congress allow Union army veterans to become naturalized citizens after living in the United States for only 1 year. This was a change from the necessity to reside in the United States for seven years before naturalizing. If your ancestor naturalized under the 17 July 1862 act, it means he had been honorably discharged from the US army.


2 comments:

  1. How do we find out if an ancestor was naturalized under this provision??
    Did they have to send in a copy of their war records?
    When was this provision in effect??
    Thanks, KMC

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  2. It would have been in effect until at least the 1906 reform. They might have had to bring in a discharge with them when they naturalized, but that might not have been made a part of the record.

    In some counties, there might have been a separate series of books to record these naturalizations as men who qualified to naturalize under this act were not required to declare their intent either. The law created a slightly different naturalization process for military veterans of US wars and that might have caused some courts to create separate forms.

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