Migration

        While I am very fortunate to have many, many direct ancestors who came to this American continent in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s, I don’t have many stories to tell about their migration, mainly because it was so long ago.There are some stories, but they are fuzzy to say the least. My 5th great grandfather Christopher Sauer arrived at the port of Philadelphia with his parents at the age of 3 in 1724 from Germany. And another 5th great grandfather, Rudolph Harley, was born at sea in July 1719, on a ship bound for America with his parents. Incredible! 

So for this week’s topic I thought I would write a little about my great aunt Edythe, who I had just researched more in-depth just a few weeks ago. She was born in Philadelphia, PA, in December 1887, and her parents were also born in this country, her father in Pennsylvania, and her mother in Ohio.  So you can imagine how surprised I was when I got a hint on Ancestry for a naturalization petition for her dated September 1925. How could that be? 

Edythe age 11 or 12

At first I thought the hint must be for someone else with the same or similar name, But it was her. Her name, birth date, maiden name - and the name of her second husband David Oliver Dillon - it all matched! Why would she have had to apply for naturalization to become a citizen, when she already was a citizen, since parents had been born in the US, as was she. In fact, it was her paternal grandfather who became a naturalized citizen when he immigrated from Germany in 1856.

Edythe was widowed from her first marriage, and she married her second husband David Dillon in June 1920. David was born in northern Ireland, and came to the US in 1912 at the age of 16, joining many family members already here. But in 1914, he returned to Ireland, to fight on England’s side in the First World War. He did not return to the US until 1919. David and Edythe married the following year. So my Great Aunt Edythe married an Irish citizen.

Oliver and Edythe July 1920 (one month after marriage)

What could be the problem with that? Well, US immigration laws were changing quite a lot from 1907 through 1920’s, particularly for women. In 1907 the US passed the Expatriation Act, which mandated that any American woman who married a foreigner shall take the nationality of her husband. It didn’t matter where they were living either. So Aunt Edythe became an Irish citizen when she married Uncle Oliver!

Then, in Sept 1922 congress passed “The Cable Act” (named for the bill’s sponsor) nicknamed the “Married Women’s Act” which repealed the 1907 Act. So no longer would an American woman who married a non-US citizen lose her citizenship. 

But….. what about those women who had already lost their citizenship? They would still have to follow the full standard naturalization process. Yep, that’s right. My Aunt Edythe had to go through the process and file a petition for naturalization in order to get back her US citizenship. She needed two sponsors who had known her for at least one year and stated that she was of good moral character. And that is just what she did. It's hard to believe that this law existed just around 100 years ago!

1st part of naturalization form

Oath section of form

So that ends the story of why my aunt Edythe had to file to get her citizenship back. I learned a lot in the process! These documents also had some good information I had not found anywhere else. And by the way, her husband David Oliver Dillon also did get his US citizenship completed in September 1942. Sure wish I had known all this when they were alive and could have asked them about it.