Immigration, naturalization, Renounce citizenship of germany

hannover-l
1

Hello,
I am hoping someone can help me with my dumb question.

  Fritz Meyer [ Juergen Heinrich Friedrich Meyer and two sisters from Oldendorf] is persuaded to come to america in 1869. He goes through the channels to make sure everything is correct. He is close to military age. He has documents at AIDA that says he has taken care of his money obligation and his father has consented and all that. Any one of age would probably not have to do all that in order to leave. When they do all that are they saying to their country that they have no plans on coming back. Or do they leave there with implication that probably they are not coming back. [I would think if you are near military age you would not want to hint you are not coming back.]

Then after about six years around 1875 or so he becomes a citizen. I suppose the laws of naturalization may be why Fritz chose to live and work in Iowa rather than Jo Daviess Illinois. He must have decided early on to live in Iowa.
They renounce to u.s.a. that they are no longer under the government of the hannover or Prussia - germany what ever it may be. How does germany government learn of this naturalization. Are letters sent from the new citizen or from our government to theirs. Or is it just something that they do when they leave.
They often visit when they leave. And they can no longer inherit there. Some do if they are not a citizen.

So if you can understand what I have written here, can you help me understand or make sense of this process. where would be the best place to read of this.
Does anyone know.?
Thanks
jo

2

Hi Jo,
    I don't have any "official" information about your question, but I
doubt that
there would be any notification by the US government concerning an immigrant's
new citizenship. I suspect that the American passport a US citizen carries
when he traveled overseas would establish his citizenship status. (However,
that would not protect him from the draft if he were of draft age ... foreign
citizens living in the US were drafted into the US Army during WW II. Ditto
for American citizens visiting Japan and , I believe, Germany).
    Don Roddy
    Jacksonville, Florida USA

----- Message from gengeeheide@hotmail.com ---------

3

Hi Jo,

The concept of dual citizenship wasn't known back then.
Hanover had already ceased to be a sovereign kingdom, and was a Prussian
Province in 1869, and 1875.
The Austro-Prussian War was in full blossom when your ancestor went to the
US.

Like Don, I very much doubt that the US government had those detailed
diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Prussia.
Have you considered checking naturalization documents, and passport
application books ? You can get most at ancestry.com - use the trial
membership, and bail out before the big bill comes. You should be able to
grab all relevant documents within the trial period.

4

I don't think that our goverment lets the old country know as a rule, maybe
some countrties insist on being informed and then I think it would go to
their homeland's consulte closest to the area, every country has one or
more consulte were they can go for a new pasport etc. there is atleast one
in N.Y., L.A. and Chicago that I know of because not all imigrantes took
the U.S.citzenship, some remained German to their dying day. As to
inhertance I don't think they were exculded from inherting but that it was
inpractical because it was mostly land they inherited and how would you
manage it if you are a sea away, it is also possible that the person had to
take phyical possesion in other words live on the estate, if it is Germany
it went to the oldest child either boy or girl the land would not be
divided,(so the other brothers and sisters received nothing as of the 1700
or 1800's, before that time they would receive a part of the estate if only
on the deed and received a part of any profits, but it would not be spilt
but it would still be only one who was the inheritor who lived there and
ran it and made the decisions) it was keep as a whole, and the one intiteled
could accept or reject, then it went to the next in line if rejected. If the
one to inheit the property already married and thur his wife he had an
estate he would reject his inheritance unless he decided that his family
estate was much better then his wife's then she would pass hers on to the
next in her line but I don't think this happened much. Unless you are
talking about lesser royality they owned property all over the place but
they were responseable for imploying someone to run the property. Just my
take on things, maybe that someone in the group knows the legal rules of
that time and can inform you better. Anna Marie

5

As a matter of fact you renounce your former when you take the oath of
allgances to America, at your citzen ceremony, you are not required to hand
in your old pasport so you could have a US pasport and a German at the same
time, but naturalized citzens have certain restrictions, they cannnot work
for a forgein govermant, serve volantarly in a forgein armed service, vote
in a forgein election etc without the chance of losing their U.S.
citzenship, they have to be phyically present on US soil so many years under
the age of 14 (if nat. as an young child ) and so many years above in total
you have be 10 yrs. were of 2yrs continuly after 14 yrs. (it is slightly
differant now, was changed about 20 yrs. ago) if shorter then that time and
you leave the country for a longer peroid of time (not for vacation) you can
lose your citzenship and not be allowed in to America as a resident. Even to
this day people with dual citzenship always have to travel to the US on an
American pasport.. Some countries make duel citzen childern choose when they
are 21yrs,for one or the other, I don't know if Germany does but I know
that in Belguim and Sweden you do. In Holland when a woman got married to a
foriener she automaticlly lost her dutch citzenship and was considered a
citzen of the country of the husband whether that country gave her
citzenship or not, even if she never left the country and lived in Holland
all her life this was not changed till 1967 for the marriage but if married
before 1967 were still not concidered Dutch anymore, so you see every
country has its weird laws. As to inheritance a large huis en property of
40 morgen, my gr. gr. grandfather received nothing it all went to his oldest
sister and that was in 1816 Germany. Anna Marie

6

Hello Joe,
my answers are below your questions.

jo meyer wrote:

Hello, I am hoping someone can help me with my dumb question.

Fritz Meyer [ Juergen Heinrich Friedrich Meyer and two sisters from
Oldendorf] is persuaded to come to america in 1869. He goes through the
channels to make sure everything is correct. He is close to military
age. He has documents at AIDA that says he has taken care of his money
obligation and his father has consented and all that. Any one of age
would probably not have to do all that in order to leave.

Answer:
Jo, everyone intending to emigrate had to obtain his release from feudal
bondage. This required that - especially male immigrants - had to apply at
the local level - mayor's office or nearest county seat - for a travel
permit or passport. This in turn initiated a three month waiting period for
  the immigrant in which his intention to emigrate was published in the
local newspaper under the heading "Edictalladung". This newspaper article
would name all of the people intending to emigrate from the surrounding
towns and requested that anyone having a claim against any person to come
forward within 3 months, otherwise the emigrant would be released of all
claims and was issued a passport. Of course the emigrant had to show that
he had satisfied his military obligations, did not leave behind a wife and
children or elderly parents whose support would fall onto the local
goverment, and above all did not leave any debts unpaid.

But now comes the clincher: Once the passport was issued, the emigrant was
no longer considered a citizen of the state, in other words he became a man
without a country. Many emigrants feared that they might not like it in
America and wanted to reserve the right to return home. This is why so many
young, generally unmarried men, came 'secretly' to America without the so
called 'consent'.
Just to tell you a short story of an emigrant from my hometown in Hesse;
Friederich Schmidt came to America in 1872; he had obtained a passport and
everything was ok. He spent 2 years in Pennsylvania living with relatives
but he didn't like it America and wanted to return to his hometown. With
him not being a citizen anymore he could not return. He had his mother go
to the local authorities and apply for a "Heimatbrief", which reinstated
his citizenship. Once he had received it, he returned, got married and died
a few short years later.

Then after about six years around 1875 or so he becomes a citizen.

The law in the US was that to become a citizen you had to have resided
uninterruptedly in the US for a minimum of five years. The immigrant could
apply for citizenship [Declaration of Intention or 1st paper] the moment he
stepped off the boat but he would not become naturalized until after he had
resided in this country for at least 5 years.

To renounce once allegiance for the home country became a mute point
especially since the immigrant was no longer considered a citizen of that
country anyway.
  I

suppose the laws of naturalization may be why Fritz chose to live and
work in Iowa rather than Jo Daviess Illinois.

That has nothing to do with naturalization. Men went where they could find
work, be it in the lumber camps in northern Michigan or in the coal mines
of Pennsylvania.

He must have decided early

on to live in Iowa. They renounce to u.s.a. that they are no longer
under the government of the hannover or Prussia - germany what ever it
may be.

How does germany government learn of this naturalization.
Answer: why would they care to know?

The immigrant - even before becoming naturalized - could visit his home
country as often as he cared to. Remember, he had relinquished his
citizenship when he applied for emigration.

And they can no longer inherit there.
That's not true!! Inheritance has nothing to do with immigration!
The oldest son generally inherited the property - if there was any property
to be inherited - and he was obligated to pay a given amount to each of his
siblings. This is where many families were torn athunder.
When you have a chance to read the book "German Immigrants write home" you
will find out that the siblings who left the country usually got the short
end of the stick. Nevertheless, there was usually much litigation between
lawyers in Germany and Lawyers in the US. There were lawyers in the US who
were German immigrants themselves, so it's not that there was a language
problem in those days.

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me.

Ursula