Hamilton County Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 15865
Cincinnati, Ohio 45215-0865
Telephone:  (513) 956-7078

HCGS Facebook  

A chapter of the
Ohio Genealogical Society

Naturalizations

Records on FamilySearch 

For information on the following record repositories mentioned on this page see:

Use the process described below to search the unindexed images of Hamilton County naturalization records in "Ohio County Naturalizations" on FamilySearch. All six steps are needed only if a record can't be found in prior steps. A list of the exact dates, volume numbers, and microfilm numbers for each set of naturalization images clarifies the generic record titles and overlapping date ranges on FamilySearch. 

Step 1

Search the Hamilton County Citizenship Records index or Lois Hughes, Hamilton County, Ohio Citizenship Record Abstracts, 1837-1916 (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1991) at the University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Books Library (ARB) website.  [NOTE: The PDF files are temporarily not available online.  Email the ARB for a copy: archives@ucmail.uc.edu.]  This index is incomplete. If a name is found, use the volume and page number to locate the record on FamilySearch. If no volume number is given, the record is probably in one of the alphabetical record series on FamilySearch (step 3). 

  • Volumes 1-18: Declarations of intention, 1848-1862, 1871-73
  • Volumes 19, 21: Declarations of intention, 1885-1895 (no Volume 20 entries in the index) 
  • Volumes 22-27: Declarations of intention, 1848, 1849, 1852, 1856, 1860
  • Volume 28: Special naturalizations, 1887-1926
Step 2
 
Search the Naturalization Indexes, 1856-1906, on the Probate Court websiteFor names found with (J) in the first index volume, or any names in the second index volume, use the volume and page number to locate the Probate Journal record in “Ohio Probate Records” on FamilySearchAn essential finding aid for records coded as J is a list showing Probate Journal volumes, dates, page numbers and image numbers (scroll down to the second page). If a name is found with another code or no code, contact Probate Court to obtain a copy of the record.
 
Step 3
 
Search three sets of alphabetically filed naturalization records on FamilySearch
  • Declarations of Intention, 1850-1902
  • Post-naturalization Records, 1850-1902
  • Declarations of Intention, 1880-1890, A-M, N-Z
Step 4
 
Search four sets of naturalization records with internal indexes on FamilySearch
  • Declarations of Intention, 1848-1873
  • Declarations of Intention, 1848, 1849, 1852, 1856, 1860
  • Declarations of Intention, 1885-1895
  • Special Naturalizations, 1887-1926
Step 5
 
Search the FamilySearch card index for naturalizations in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, in Cincinnati. Many residents of large cities like Cincinnati chose to file in federal rather than local courts. None of the record titles on FamilySearch refer to the name of the court where the records were filed. The Cincinnati indexes are listed below:
  • 1852-1892
  • 1906-1986, Aakhus – Bui
  • 1906-1986, Bujak – Ghizas
  • 1906-1986, Ghouri – Kron
  • 1906-1986, Kronberger – O’Sullivan
  • 1906-1986, Osuszt – Simons
  • 1906-1986, Simonsen – Zysset 
Step 6
 
If the name isn’t found through any of these methods, try the search engine in “Ohio County Naturalizations” on FamilySearch on a regular basis. Eventually, after volunteers index the Hamilton County records, the search engine will retrieve references to them and links to the images.
 
For more information about using online images of naturalization records, see “Hamilton County Online Naturalization Records and Indexes” in the June and September 2013 issues of The Tracer.
 
Offline naturalization records
 
The remaining naturalization records covered by the indexes on the Probate Court website (preserved and restored declarations and naturalizations of aliens, minors and soldiers) are being digitized and will be placed on FamilySearch in the future. See the May 2009 Tracer article, “Hamilton County Naturalization Records Filed in Local Courts Before 1906,” for details about the content of these records and how to access them at the Probate Court office.
 
The records indexed by the U.S. District Court cards on FamilySearch as well as U.S. Circuit Court records (1852-1905) are held by the National Archives and Records Administration facility in Chicago. See “Hamilton County Naturalization Records Filed in Federal Courts, 1852-1990, and All Courts, 1906-1956” in the August 2009 issue of The Tracer for information about the types of records at NARA and the ordering process.
 
The office of the U. S. District Court in downtown Cincinnati has indexes and some original naturalization records after 1956. The phone number is 513-564-7500.
 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will search its post-1906 record indexes (containing about 48 million entries) for all citations related to a specific immigrant. The cost of an index search for one individual is $20. Once you have the citation, you can request copies of records for $25.  
 
 
 
page modified: 08/21/2019 RTB