He must produce a certificate today showing when he arrived and verifying the facts of his petition. Now. I have here a letter signed by William Williams. commissioner of the Immigration Service. formerly located at Ellis Island. New York. in reply to a request from an applicant for citizenship for such a certificate. It is dated January 28. 1905. and he says: I regret to have to advise you. In answer. to your request for verification of your landing here June 8. 1892. that this can not be done. owing to the unfortunate destruction of all the old Immigration records In possession of the Government In the Ellis. Island fire of June 14. 1897. This is a man with whom I am personally acquainted. who applied for naturalization. When he came to get his final papers the United States district court for the eastern district of New York required that he should produce a certificate from the Bureau of Immigration verifying the statements in his petition as to when he landed and the ship on which he came and the other information of which a record is kept. He applied to the Bureau to obtain the certificate for that purpose. with the result which I have stated. This shows that that is the practice today in the Federal court.
Keywords matched
Immigration naturalization