Recently I needed to search for a possible Luzerne County naturalization and to do a thorough job, I needed to understand the records that are available on FamilySearch. This led to the post below.

The FamilySearch catalog includes a Luzerne County entry for “Declarations of intentions 1850-1894 ; Index 1850-1906” (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/443614). The first film provides an index noted to be “Declarations 1.” It appears as Item 2 on images 258-445 on DGS 7796878 and covers 1850-1906. The entries in this index refer to numbered declarations which are available as “certificates” on the remaining films.

The declarations use a pre-printed form which includes blanks for the date the form was filled out, the alien’s name, birth date and place, arrival date and port, alien’s signature, filing date, and clerk’s signature. In other words, they contain valuable genealogical information.

The key below makes it easy to locate the records referenced in the index. Locate the year and use the corresponding image number (or the one that follows, depending on the number of the declaration of interest) to navigate to the record quickly.

Alien docket declarations index 1850-1906	1728658 Item 2	7796878
Certificates 1850-1859 (no. 268) Img 5, 1850, declarations, 1-40 Img 93, 1851, declarations, 1-29 Img 153, 1852, declarations 1-39 Img 234, 1853, declarations 1-69 Img 377, 1854, declarations 1-91 Img 565, 1855, declarations 1-20 Img 608, 1856, declarations 1-144 Img 901, 1857, declarations 1-50 Img 1006, 1858, declarations 1-46 Img 1101, 1859, declarations, 1-307 [actually 1-268]	1738478	7797062
Certificates 1859 (no. 268) Certificates 1860-1872 (no. 1-124) Img 6, 1859, declarations, 1-307 [actually begins with 269 as continuation of previous film]; 2#178; missing 145, 133, 219, and 202 Img 91, 1860, 1-148 Img 391, 1861, declarations 1-30 Img 454, 1862, declarations 1-15I mg 487, 1863, declarations 1-16 Img 521, 1864, declarations 1-11 Img 546, 1865, declarations 1-15 Img 579, 1866, declarations 1-186 Img 958, 1867, declarations 1-12 Img 985, 1868, declarations, 1-79, 143, 148, 266; missing 80-142, 144-147, 149-265 Img 1158, 1869, declarations 1-17 Img 1196, 1870, declarations 1-124 Img 1449, 1871, declarations 1-76 Img 1605, 1872, declarations 1-137 [actually ends with 124]	1738479	7797063
Certificates 1872 (no. 124-137) Certificates 1873-1878 Img 6, 1872 [continued], declarations 124-237 Img 36, 1873, declarations 1-49 Img 137, 1874, declarations 1-64 Img 269, 1875, declarations 1-232 Img 661, 1876, declarations 1-475 Img 1618, 1877, declarations 1-48 Img 1715, 1878, declarations 1-105	1738480	7797064
Certificates 1879-1884 (no. 1-400) Img 5, 1879, declarations 1-30 Img 68, 1880, declarations 1-251 Img 576, 1881, declarations 1-27 Img 633, 1882, declarations 1-99 Img 838, 1883, declarations, 1-72 Img 989, 1884, declarations, 1-200 Img 1390, 1884, declarations 201-400	1738555	7797065
Certificates 1884 (no. 400-500) Certificates 1885-1888 (no. 1-300) Img 6, 1884, declarations 400-580 Img 371, 1885, declarations 1-54 Img 482, 1886, declarations 1-14 0Img 768, 1887, declarations 1-92 Img 957, 1888, declarations 1-150 Img 1256, 1888, declarations 151-300	371	7797066
Certificates 1888 (no. 300-539) Certificates 1889-1890 Img 7, 1888, declarations 301-539 Img 490, 1889, declarations 1-303 Img 1090, 1890, declarations 1-380	1738557	7797067
Certificates 1891-1894 Img 5, 1891, declarations 1-186 Img 394, 1892, declarations 1-200 Img 795, 1892, declarations 201-413 Img 1225, 1893, declarations 1-120 Img 1472, 1894, declarations 1-212	1738558	7797068
Certificates 1895-1897 Img 5, 1895, declarations 1-162 Img 294, 1896, declarations 1-294 Img 887, “#75-76 1896 missing discovered after filming” Img 891, 1897, declarations, 1-170, “double numbers 55-82, 84-91” Img 1309, 1897, declarations 171-325 Img 1620, 1897, declarations 326-464	1738740	7797163
Certificates 1898-1906 Img 8, 1898, declarations 1-59 1/2 Img 142, 1899, declarations 1-44 Img 232, 1900, declarations 1-40 Img 315, 1901, declarations 1-47 Img 414, 1902, declarations 1-64 Img 545, 1903, declarations 1-96 Img 755, 1904, declarations 1-88 Img 933, 1905, declarations 1-80I mg 1097, 1906, declarations 1-165	1749611	7797164