Part 831s – Smith Groh Genealogy – GGGG-Grandfather Lawrence St. Thomas – 1892 US Naturalization

Good Day,

In the search and research of the genealogy and ancestry of the St. Thomas Family I have been looking for some information and documentation that will prove from where in Canada the St. Thomas’s originated. According to a number of US Federal Censuses CK’s gggg-grandparents Lawrence and Marie Louise (née Sauvé) St. Thomas and their eldest two children; ggg-grandmother Marie Louise (née St. Thomas) Parisé and ggg-granduncle Joseph Lawrence St. Thomas were all born in Canada… somewhere.

I have since found a record of the Index to Naturalization Petitions for U.S. District & Circuit Courts of Northern District of Illinois and Immigration and Naturalization Service District 9, 1840-1950 for gggg-grandfather Lawrence St. Thomas. The Date the Certificate was Issued indicated is 18 October 1892. All-things-being-equal gggg-grandfather Lawrence had been in the United States since around about 1881.

The Index record does state that he was born in Canada, but it does not narrow down to the location. All-things-being-equal gggg-grandmother Marie Louise, ggg-grandmother Marie Louise, and ggg-granduncle Joseph Lawrence all become American citizens at the same date.

From the National Archives - In innumerable cases under the 1855 law, an immigrant woman instantly became a U.S. citizen at the moment a judge's order naturalized her immigrant husband. If her husband naturalized prior to September 27, 1906, the woman may or may not be mentioned on the record which actually granted her citizenship. Her only proof of U.S. citizenship would be a combination of the marriage certificate and her husband's naturalization record. Prior to 1922, this provision applied to women regardless of their place of residence. Thus if a woman's husband left their home abroad to seek work in America, became a naturalized citizen, then sent for her to join him, that woman might enter the United States for the first time listed as a U.S. citizen.

It can be stated that this is the time that the St. Thomas Line became American citizens. I am still searching for the St. Thomas family and their Canadian origins.

If you have any ideas, comments, questions, or thoughts, please feel free to contact me.

Enjoy,

Jim