California Naturalization

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This entry was originally written by Dwight A. Radford, Thelma Berkey Walsmith, and Nell Sachse Woodard for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.

This article is part of
California sil.png
the California Family History Research series.
History of California
California Vital Records
Census Records for California
Background Sources for California
California Maps
California Land Records
California Probate Records
California Court Records
California Tax Records
California Cemetery Records
California Church Records
California Military Records
California Periodicals, Newspapers, and Manuscript Collections
California Archives, Libraries, and Societies
California Immigration
California Naturalization
Ethnic Groups of California
California Gold Rush
California County Resources
Map of California


As with other states, prior to 1906 a person might have filed for naturalization in any court in the state; for this time period, there are no guides for locating a naturalization in the state other than for those records that were entered at federal district court. Many of those naturalization records have been gathered and are located at either of the National Archives regional branches: Pacific (San Bruno) or Pacific (Laguna Niguel) (see page 12). These collections include the Northern U.S. Circuit Court (1855'1905) in San Francisco; U.S. District'Northern District (1846'1989) at San Francisco and San Jose; and the U.S. District Eastern Court (1917'58). The FHL also has a large microfilm collection of the NARA microfilm as well as a large collection of citizenship records filed in California counties.