New York State Department of State Alien Depositions of Intent to Become U.S. Citizens

Roughly chronological.

Alien depositions were submitted to the Secretary of State's office in Albany pursuant to an act passed April 21, 1825 enabling resident aliens to acquire, own, and dispose of real property. The alien's right in regard to real property expired six years after filing the deposition. The 1825 law pertained only to individuals specified by name, but was amended in 1826 to provide for a more general application. After the mid-nineteenth century women made many of the alien depositions (up to one third of the total). Statutes passed between 1848 and 1862 allowed married women in New York to own real property in their own names.

This series consists of ninety two volumes of bound depositions of resident aliens affirming their intentions to become naturalized U.S. citizens. Arranged in loose chronological order by the date on which they were received in the Department of State, the depositions include: name of alien and place of residence (later years sometimes list address); alien's signature or mark; and occasionally the country of origin and/or occupation of the resident alien. The format of the deposition varies, although printed forms were sometimes used. Depositions prior to 1850 are docketed on the verso with date of receipt and book and page number of the entry in Abstracts of Alien Depositions, 1825-1913 (series A1870). Depositions were apparently filed at the local level and transferred by the local official to the Office of the Secretary of State for registration and filing.

This series is not indexed. The earlier depositions are calendered in Kenneth Scott and Rosemary Conway, comps. New York Alien Residents, 1825-1848. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1978.

High resolution images of selected original documents in this series are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

The entire series is digitized and is available to New York State residents for free on Ancestry.com New York. You must sign up for a free account to access these records without a paid subscription.

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A1870 Abstracts of alien depositions, contains related records

A1871 Alien deposition fee registers, contains related records.

Volume list is available at the repository.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.