Soon after the State Constitution was adopted in 1776, the Assembly provided that
foreigners could become naturalized by going before the Governor and Council, the General
Court or any of its judges or any county court and taking the prescribed oath (Chapter 6,
Acts of July 1779).

Upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the regulation of naturalization procedures
became a responsibility of the National Government. However, Congress found it convenient
to employ the local courts as its agents in handling such matters and by an Act of 1790
bestowed the power of naturalization upon any common law court of record. In Maryland,
naturalization proceedings were for the most part handled by the circuit courts and, after 1851,
by any of the Baltimore City Courts. They were usually recorded among the minutes of the
courts, although, in some instances, special records were kept.

In 1906, naturalization procedures were reorganized by federal law and placed under the
Division of Naturalization of the Department of Commerce and Labor. In the counties, the
circuit courts continued to act as agents for the federal government, although in recent years
there has been a tendency to concentrate this activity in the larger counties. In Baltimore
City jurisdiction over naturalization was assigned exclusively to the Court of Common Pleas
and the records previously created by the other city courts turned over to it. Since about 1930,
naturalization has come under the control of the Federal District Court of Baltimore City and
it is expected that the records now in the custody of the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas
will eventually be claimed by the District Court.

The records created under the Act of 1906 were kept in special books, as follows:

DECLARATION OF INTENTION (RECORD OF DECLARATION OF INTEN-
TION)

Record of aliens who have declared their intention of becoming citizens of the
United States.

PETITION AND RECORD (PETITIONS FOR CITIZENSHIP, PETITION FOR
NATURALIZATION)

Full record of proceedings in the naturalization of aliens.

CERTIFICATES OF NATURALIZATION

Stubs of certificates issued to aliens who have been naturalized.

CORPORATION RECORDS (CORPORATIONS, RECORD OF INCORPORATIONS,
CHARTERS)

Record of charters, amendments and other papers relating to the incorporation of re-
ligious, social and business organizations. The earliest general incorporation procedures
applied to religious organizations only (Chapter 111, Acts of 1802). From time to time similar
procedures were established for other types of organizations. In most counties, the early
incorporations were entered in the Land Records or Chattel Records, but by 1870 practically
all counties had separate corporation records.

MARRIAGE LICENSES (MARRIAGE RECORDS, RECORD OF MARRIAGE LICENSES)

Originally, a record of marriage licenses issued by the clerk of the county court under
the provisions of Chapter 12 of the Acts of February 1777. The information given includes
the date the license was issued, the names of the male and female and occasionally the name

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