by Sherri Mastrangelo, 23 January 2025
This post is a follow-up to the last, Certificate of Arrival Numbers on Passenger Lists and Naturalization Forms
Is it possible to find naturalization paperwork by searching with a Certificate of Arrival (COA) number that we found on a passenger list?
Let’s say we found our ancestor, or research subject, on an early 20th century passenger list. That would be from 1906 through the early 1950’s or so, when COA’s were used most. To the right of the handwritten COA number is also likely the date the immigration clerk wrote it down, around the time the Declaration of Intent was filed.
FamilySearch
FamilySearch recently launched a set of experimental features within “FamilySearch Labs”, one of which is “Full Text Search”, and it is simply amazing.
You can start at: https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/ and look for the “Full Text” experiment, or go right to https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text if you have used it before.
In the example search pictured below, I used the Certificate of Arrival number of Anna Miseiko, that we found in her passenger list as shown in my previous post, to pull up her Naturalization file. Until now, this was not possible within FamilySearch, or really anywhere else!
If you’re familiar with FamilySearch, you know there is no search field box to enter any certificate numbers when searching for records. This Lab allows you to search records in a new way, and with seemingly great results.
We don’t know how long this FamilySearch Labs feature will be available, but you should definitely take advantage of it while you can.
Have you tried this Lab? What else have you been able to find?