“I practice immigration law, and I also collect quite a bit of our family’s history. One of the most treasured keepsakes in my office is a framed copy of my great-grandfather’s application for U.S. citizenship, which he filed in 1911. In addition to having an original seal and being completed in his handwriting, the one-page application still has the perforation on the left edge of the paper where it was torn from the book in which it was printed. Contrary to the myriad of statements than an applicant needs to make nowadays, the only declarations he had to make were that he wasn’t an anarchist or a polygamist! On a side note, we also have papers (not in my office) stating that his application was denied – his parents naturalized when he was a minor, so he was already a U.S. citizen without knowing it.” –Kenneth A. Hoogstra