Joseph Geissler: Examining Naturalization Dockets

As discussed in Joseph Geisszler: An American Father, Joseph was born in Baden and immigrated to Franklin County, Ohio prior to 1858. He received a naturalization certificate which was passed down through the family and is currently in my distant cousin's possession. Had he not had the original certificate hanging on the family wall in his home, I would not have considered that the last name Keizler as a variation for Geißler. Incidentally, this record leads me to the discovery of Joseph signing the 1863 Civil War Draft record in Prairie Township, Franklin County, Ohio, in June 1863, a month prior to his death.

My previous post briefly mentioned when Joseph became a naturalized citizen and how that fits into his life story. This post will examine the naturalization process in more detail.

The Order Book for the Autumn Term of 1858, lists men completing their naturalization process on October 11, 1858. The list misspells Joseph's name the same way on the certificate in the family record collection.


Naturalization Docket in Columbus, Ohio August Term 1863
Naturalization registration with the Franklin County Superior Court
Autumn 1863 Term, date: October 11, 1858.  (1 of 2 pages)

Joseph Keizler appears as the second name of the above record and supports his national origin as Baden. His witness's name looks like Adam Nortlick or Novttichi.

As I review the two-page document regarding naturalization, the Genealogy Tip of the Day for 4 April 2013 is "Who Else Did That Day?" rings in my head. Who else was naturalized from Baden the same days as Joseph?

The name right after Joseph's was Ferdinand Reichardt and his witness is Jacob Fearbach. Given their names are so close to the document, would that be a clue that plays out in real life?

John Schlegel is another person from Baden on this first page. His witness is Peter Bauer. Could he be another relative or someone from Joseph's social circle?

Naturalization registration with the Franklin County Superior Court Autumn 1863
Naturalization registration with the Franklin County Superior Court
Autumn 1863 Term, date: October 11, 1858.  (2 of 2 pages)




On the next page, six more men from Baden are listed as taking their oath of allegiance and becoming naturalized citizens. I am having trouble reading the handwriting, but these are my best guesses at what I read. (Please click on the image to enlarge it and let me know if you can read the names better).
  • John Hoffman, witness - Herny Schreines (sp?)
  • John Werner, witness- Thos O'Harra
  • George Hiddebrand (sp?) - witness John Schultz
  • Gabe Fran (sp?) - wintess John Fearbach
  • Jacob Farbach, witness Jacob Haning
  • Anthony Hellendan, witness - Nicholas Sisel (sp?)
The Fearbach/Farbach name appears twice as a witness and once as a naturalization recipient. It is believed that the witness and the person seeking naturalization are not the same people, despite having the same name, as a witness was supposed to be a citizen of the country to act in this fashion. This name isn't directly connected to Joseph Keizler, but perhaps there is a connection.

Looks like I'm headed back to the 1860 Census document to see if I could find any information about these immigrants and their witnesses. It'll be difficult because I only know their name and place of origin. I know they appeared in the Franklin County court in 1858, but this doesn't mean they'll appear in the same county in the 1860 census two years later. Does anyone have any best practices for attempting to search names from this type of document?

Additionally, I need to attempt to find the Declarations of Intention which would precede the Naturalization granting on 11 October 1858. I have found a few such documents for other immigrant relatives but not for Joseph.

The next post will attempt to seek out the names of the individuals listed on this document from Baden. Stay tuned.

One of my ultimate goals of this series is to compile these posts into a printed book and share it with a family history archive. If you find grammar or spelling errors, please let me know. If you have suggestions or ideas on how I can improve this piece, share them as well. You can leave the comments below or send me an email using the form in my sidebar. Thanks for reading and helping me improve this history so my children may know.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Mother's Day Lura Long

Image
When I think of mothers on my family tree, Lura Smith tops the list of those I look forward to meeting in the afterlife. She is the adopted mother of my Grannie,  Louise Eleanor Long .  Grannie adored Lura. Lura was married to Harry Howard Long (1883-1937). The couple married in Columbus, Ohio on Jun 19, 1907. They were unable to have children and finally adopted their first child in 1916. In May 1920, a baby girl was born in Columbus, Ohio to an unwed mother. The mother died of preeclampsia. This baby girl would become my grandmother. Upon her mother's death, Baby Anderson became a ward of the State of Ohio Welfare Department. She had a caseworker, Ethel Huffman Ackerman, who wanted to place Baby Anderson in the home of Harry Long. The caseworker was a friend and classmate (at Ohio State) of Harry's sister Elizabeth Long. As Elizabeth retells the story, Ethel received Baby Anderson's birth mother's history and felt that Harry and Lura were just the parent
Read more

Mystery Monday: Which Karlsberger married Charles Stahl?

Image
Genealogy is kind of addicting. Sometimes, I get rather lost in the branches. As such, I run into mysteries that I can't seem to solve from the top down. I figured the genealogy community is awesome and may have ways to help me solve a mystery. Otherwise, perhaps a Karlsberger from Franklin County, Ohio might stumble upon my blog and help me solve this problem. My potential 3rd great-grand uncle George Paul Karlsberger was born on 10 August 1825 in Bavaria. Another researcher suggested his connection to my 3rd great-grandmother Anna Magaretha Karlsberger who married Christian or Christopher Hoppe. Margaretha was born 29 February 1824. There are no definitive records linking George and Margaretha. And Margaretha's parents were not recorded, though parents for George were suggested. As you can see, I am about to head down a twig on the tree that might be gnarled, or legitimate. George Karlsberger had six children born in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio to his wife Maria Elizabeth
Read more

Joseph Geissler: Coming to America

Image
The previous post about Joseph Geißler reviewed that he was born in Baden about 1836 and included a brief history of Baden, focusing on the political climate in the 1840s before Joseph's likely immigration to the United States of America. This post considers the migration process, even though I have yet to discover a passenger list with my relative on it. Perhaps you'll see why in reviewing this article. Coming to America Joseph's naturalization process was completed in 1858 when he was around 22 years-old. i The naturalization process generally took about 5 years from start to finish. He would have been 17 when he initiated the process in 1853. If he, and his family, arrived in America during the early 1850s, he was likely in Baden at the time of the 1848 revolutions and was a part of the migration from the home and.  The only question is where he would go and did he travel alone? The primary locations where German immigrated during this time period included: t
Read more