Dear Barbara,

Don't expect the number written on the manifest to match either the
declaration or the petition number. It's the number for the certificate of
arrival, which was issued either by the Department of Labor or the
Department of Justice to confirm that the person who made the declaration
was the same person who immigrated.

If a copy of the certificate of arrival was kept with the naturalization
documents by the court or the Immigration and Naturalization Service, then
you can match the number - but only after you find the naturalization
documents. However, since it was not considered an essential document, it
wasn't always kept. It also wasn't a certificate, it was a small piece of
paper slightly larger than an index card. And they were issued only for
immigrations made after June 30, 1906

The number on the manifest for the certificate of naturalization doesn't
help because documents are never filed by that number. Sometimes there's a
dash preceded or followed by two digits, which can tell you which court
asked for the certificate of arrival. I believe that the date is when
manifest was checked and the certificate of naturalization issued, usually
shortly after the naturalization process was started, but not helpful in
finding documents.

Ira
Ira Leviton
New York, N.Y.

Barbara Zimmer's prior message asked questions regarding numbers and dates
written on manifest records.