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Library of Virginia
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Processed by: Library of Virginia staff
New Kent County's loose naturalization records, 1848, are digitized and available through the Naturalization Records Digital Collection on the Library of Virginia website. Please use digital images.
There are no restrictions.
New Kent County (Va.) Naturalization Records, 1848. Local government records collection, New Kent County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, 23219.
These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from New Kent County.
Loose naturalization records, 1848, were processed and indexed for the purpose of inclusion in the Library of Virginia's Naturalization Records digital collection by Library of Virginia staff.
Encoded by G. Crawford: February 2019; updated by M. Long: October 2024.
Context for Record Type: Beginning in 1795, a person could declare their intent to become a citizen at any time and in any place after they arrived in the United States. Prior to the Naturalization Act of 1906, the naturalization process primarily occurred in local and state courts. Declarations of intent were the record by which an applicant for U.S. citizenship declared their intent to become a citizen and renounced their allegiance to a foreign government. This document typically preceded proof of residence or a petition to become a citizen by two or more years.
Locality History: New Kent County may have been named either for the English county of Kent or for Kent Island, in the upper waters of the Chesapeake Bay. William Claiborne, a native of Kent who had been driven from Kent Island by Lord Baltimore, was a prominent resident of the New Kent area about 1654 when the county was formed from York County. Part of James City County was added in 1767. The county seat is New Kent.
Lost Locality Note: Created in 1654. Records were destroyed when John Posey set fire to the courthouse on July 15, 1787. Many records were lost when the courthouse was partially destroyed by fire during Civil War hostilities in 1862. Additional records were burned on April 3, 1865, in Richmond, where they had been moved for safekeeping during the Civil War.
New Kent County (Va.) Naturalization Records, 1848, consists of loose naturalization records filed in the local court. Loose naturalization records may include affidavits, reports for naturalization, declarations of intent to become United States citizens, and notices of application for admission of citizenship. The reports are narrative accounts made by applicants summarizing their journey to the United States. The declarations of intent record the person's name, place of birth, age, country of previous citizenship, renunciation of allegiance and fidelity to the nation of which the person is currently a citizen, and the date the intention was sworn. Affidavits, signed by those who knew the applicant and could vouch for their loyalty to the United States, may also be filed with the reports and declarations.
This collection is arranged into the following series:
Additional New Kent County Court Records can be found on microfilm at The Library of Virginia. Consult "A Guide to Virginia County and City Records on Microfilm."
New Kent County is one of Virginia's Lost Records Localities. Additional New Kent County Court Records may be found in the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection available on the Library of Virginia website.