Women Who Lost Citizenship
This idea came to me after reading about women’s rights in the newsletter:
Did you ever think that your American-born grandmother might have lost her U.S. citizenship? If she married a man who was born in another country (an alien) it could have happened. From between 1922 and 1931 (when the law was changed) thousands of American women lost their citizenship. Many of these same women went to federal courts and went through the naturalization process to reclaim their citizenship, as one of my relatives did. The papers that I found for her were at the National Archives in Chicago.
Mary Patricia
Browse the Whole Register
When you’re looking at records that are in register form, be sure to browse through the entire register, whether in print or on microfilm. I was looking for my great-grandparents’ marriage record and had gone through all of the S names. As I scrolled through the remainder of the microfilm, after the letter Z, I found several letters (including S) had pages that were started at the end of the book. They must have run out of room on the pages set aside for those letters and since it was in a bound book, they started new pages at the end of the register.
Sylvia Shorn
Easter Hunt
This Easter, when my grandchildren were getting a little stir-crazy, I came up with a fun game to entertain them. We like to have little hunts where we hide clues in various place–each clue leading to the next, with the last one leading to an egg with a prize in it.
This year I injected a little family history into the game, with some of the clues leading to photographs of ancestors that I have displayed on tables, or other family related heirlooms. For example, one read “Look behind the pillow with the picture of Nana’s Mom, Mary Day on it.†Another said “Look behind the photo of Nana’s brother, John.†Of course I had to give some hints like, “He’s wearing a police uniform.â€
This got the kids looking at the photographs that they’d seen so many times, but never really looked closely at, and it also taught them who the family members in the photos were. We had lots of fun and they learned a little family history along the way.
Bertie Wagner
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Yes, my mother lost her citizenship. She had come from Scotland at the age of 14 and became a citizen under her father. She married my father who was still a Canadian, although working and living in the USA. Mom went through the process to become a citizen by herself. She was very proud of her naturalization papers. My dad had become an American citizen by that time.
I love the idea of incorporating family into holiday hunts. I think when my grandkids (ages 9mth and 11/2 years) are old enough to hunt for clues, I will add it to Easter and St. Patrick’s Day. My kids used to “Hunt for the Leprechaun’s Gold” as well as eggs when they were younger. Thanks for the idea.