Carl Friedrich Krückeberg’s Naturaltion Declaration

Summary

In order to apply for and purchase land from the federal government, you had to either be native-born or have made your declaration to naturalize (started the first step in the naturalization process). See: U.S. Naturalization: The Records, the Laws, and the Impact.

The children of the father who immigrated automatically became U.S. citizens when the father completed his naturalization. They did not have to go through the naturalization process. If the father died after declaring his intention to naturalize, but before he completed the 2nd step, the children still were automatically naturalized. The wife/mother’s naturalization was completely tied to her husband.

The timeline for Carl Friedrich Krückeberg is:

  • On 19 November 1850, he and his family arrived in New York City. Then they had to travel to Fort Wayne (likely using the Wabash-Erie canal system).

  • On 16 December 1850, Carl Friedrich Krückeberg went to the Fort Wayne land office and applied and paid for a tract of federal land under the Swaplands Act. He must therefore have declared his intention to naturalize beforehand.

  • The News Sentinel obituary for his eldest son, Carl "Charles" Heinrich Wilhelm Krückeberg (1835-1915) states:

    He was born in German and brought by his parent to the United States…​ The family lived for a time in Fort Wayne, where his father was engaged in the tailoring business.

    — Fort Wayne News Sentinel
    18 December 1915

  • The Journal Gazette obituary for Carl Heinrich Wilhelm Krückeberg states:

    When fifteen years of age, the family settling in Fort Wayne, where the subject of this sketch was engaged in the tailoring business with his father.

    — Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
    18 December 1915

The family was living in Fort Wayne when Carl Friedrich applied and paid for a tract of federal land on 16 December 1850. It is therefore likely he made his declaration of intention to naturalize in a Fort Wayne court, either at the end of November 1850 or the beginning of December 1850. He might have made the declaration to naturalize in Decatur, but I’d look first in the court records of Allen county, which Family Search has digitized.

Question: You had to have made your Declaration of Intention to naturalization, if you wanted to apply for and purchase federal land in the Public Domain states like Indidana, but if you had to wait two years to first make your Declaration of Intention for naturaliztion, then how could someone like CFK apply and pay for federal land within 30 days of his arrival?

Records to Look For

Since the Genealogy Center is an affiliated institution of the Family History Library, you will be able to view the digitized court records of Allen and Adams counties in the Genealogy Center.

References