Series 85174
District Court (Second District) Declarations of intention record book
Dates: i 1874-1895.
1 microfilm reel
These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.
Historical Note
An agency history is available.
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, former sovereign, 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.
Related Records
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.
Access Restrictions
This series is classified as Public.
Preferred Citation
Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.
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.
Indexing Terms
- Declaration of intention—Utah.
- Naturalization—Utah.
- Emigration and immigration—Utah.
- Citizenship—Utah.
Page Last Updated October 18, 2012.