Series 85174

District Court (Second District) Declarations of intention record book, i 1874-1895.

1 microfilm reel

These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.

Historical Note

See history of the records' creator.

Summary of Records

These two volumes were maintained by the Second District Court and record the declarations of individuals' intentions to become United States citizens and renounce current citizenship.

Scope and Content

To become a citizen of the United States, an individual normally filed a "declaration of intention to become a citizen" at least two years prior to applying for citizenship. The next step was the naturalization hearing at which the candidate and witnesses either made oral statements or filed written petitions and affidavits attesting to the applicant's character, worthiness to become a citizen, and the validity of statements made to the court. If the judge found the applicant eligible to become a citizen, an oath was administered and the individual renounced his former citizenship. At this point a certificate of citizenship was issued documenting the fact. These two volumes record the declarations of individuals' intentions to later become United States citizens and renounce current citizenship.
Although the first volume is handwritten and the second pre-printed, both volumes have standardized forms for declarations of intention with insertions of the individual's name, formersovereign, date, and signatures of the individual and the court clerks witnessing the statement.
At statehood in 1896, Beaver County, which was the seat of the Second District Court, became part of the Fifth District Court. One entry for 1896 from the Fifth District was mistakenly entered at the end of the second volume in this series, with the words "territory" and "second" crossed out and replaced with "state" and "fifth" respectively; the same entry appears as the first entry in DECLARATIONS OF INTENTION, series 85176.

Arrangement

Chronological.

Additional Forms

This series is available on microfilm.
Copies of these records are located at Familysearch.org View Online.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public.

Use Restrictions

These records are available for reproduction and use.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Acquisition Information

These records were acquired from the creating agency through established retention schedules.

Other Finding Aids

Indexes: One of the two volumes contains a name index, alphabetized by the first letter of the individual's surname. , covering from December 19, 1878 thru 1895. Indexes: An electronic index was created by Archives staff, covering from 1874 thru 1895. View index.

Related Material

Certificate of naturalization record books from the District Court (Second District), Series 26729, includes declaration of intention records created by the court.
Certificates of citizenship record books from the District Court (Second District), Series 85175, contain the final naturalizations, including those issued to individuals who filed these declarations earlier in the same court.

Container List

ReelDescription
11874 Oct 22-1878 May 18; Volume 1
11878 Jun 19-1895 Dec 22; Volume 2, labeled 1