Dear Hilary,

Thanks for your suggestion. I wrote to the NY region and was not aware Washington
could have a better copy. Because of the poor quality of the copy, the office sent
a regular copy plus one on which the black and white had been reversed. The latter
improved legibility, but it did not make up for the fact that the available
information was very limited. A letter was included stating that there was no
additional information in the record, as for all naturalizations prior to October
1906.

The only thing a better copy might add would be a clearer view of the birth date,
which appeared as 1866 20 Ma." The month could have been March or May, as it was
truncated at the right margin. Since the person's death certificate had a date of
birth of June 9, 1867, he could have been like many immigrants and not known his
date of birth. The other possibility (which I suspect) is that he deliberately
lied, as he was under 21 years of age and wanted to be naturalized without waiting
for his next birthday. Perhaps someone in this group knows if a minor who had no
living father could be naturalized on his own, or if it was possible but was a very
complicated process.

The naturalization was done through the Court of Common Pleas in New York County,
which no longer exists. Naturalizations were done at various types of courts in
different levels of government. The original question related to a naturalization
that probably occurred in Northampton, PA, but it may not have occurred in the
county court. The National Archives are likely the best source of information in
many cases.

Sharon Block Korn
San Diego, CA

Searching YANKELOVICH (JANKELOWITZ), BLOCK and RODEZKY, all Lithuania > NY;
KORN, Vienna area > NY; WEILL, Alsace-Lorraine > NC