Delaware, Pennsylvania Naturalization

[dawnsh]

Ebenezer Longhurst born England in 1849 imigrated around 1891. His wife and children arrived together January 1892 but he wasn't with them on the passenger lists.

By the 1900 census he had his papers. I looked at the Delaware County Archives site and found an entry for him in 1896.

I looked through over 1000 un-indexed images on FamilySearch but couldn't find him, they are not in name or date order which isn't helpful.

Any top tips for finding his papers or when he arrived in Pennsylvania?

[*Sandra*]

Sorry I did not see any naturalization for Ebenezer. As you said the 1900 census show he had been in the USA for 8 years and was naturalized. The first thing he would have needed to do was complete a Declaration of Intention to start the naturalization process. The residency requirement was usually 5 years, so maybe 1897 would be around the date for naturalization if he immigrated 1892 ?

The 1910 census quoted immigration 1891. He was on the 1891 UK census which was taken
5 th April 1891 so perhaps immigration could be between April 1891 and January 1892

Mentioning this one because Ebenezer did have a brother Edwin who also appeared in the USA,

There was a US City Directory entry 1892 (this probably related to the year previous 1891) Philadelphia  - Ebenezer Longhurst (baker), also an Edwin Longhurst (artist) both living at  h 1710   N 27 th Street - also an entry for a Edwin Longhurst (foreman)  h 1611 N  18th.

Nice to see photographs of him on ancestry

Sandra

[dawnsh]

I found his naturalization here

http://archives.co.delaware.pa.us/Archives/Naturalization1795Search.aspx

I emailed the Archives asking for assistance as I can't visit in person and they don't take credit card payments.

I also saw the 1892 directory entry, either he got to to Pennsylvania shortly after the 1891 England census or the directory was printed later in 1892 for him to have set himself up as a baker and get his entry in.

[*Sandra*]

Delighted you managed to find the entry.

Passenger list (1892) for Sarah and children gave Philadelphia as the destination.

Sandra

[dawnsh]

The Archives got back to me and offered a transcription of what they hold.

Fingers crossed I may get that after the weekend.

[Lisa in California]

I didn’t see an immigration record for Edwin either.  Odd that the immigration for the brothers cannot easily be found. 🤔

[dawnsh]

I would like to find out more about the brothers and when they got the the USA to add to what I know about the rest of their family back in England, which is quite large.

[Lisa in California]

It wouldn’t be unusual for Ebenezer’s immigration record to be faint/illegible, explaining why we haven’t found it yet, but if the brothers did not sail on the same ship it would be difficult to believe that both of their records would be too illegible to read.

I tried numerous variations of Longhurst (only on the Ancestry website) and have yet to find their arrivals.

Regarding arriving in 1891/1892, is it possible that his wife supplied the census information and gave her year as his arrival date?  However, that doesn’t explain why I cannot find him prior to 1891. Is there any chance that the 1891 UK census erroneously recorded him living there?

…Passenger list (1892) for Sarah and children gave Philadelphia as the destination.

Sandra

Could Sarah and the children be headed to Edwin’s home? Perhaps Ebenezer had not yet sailed to America?

So many questions. 🤨

[dawnsh]

Maybe some of them will be answered when the archives get back to me, fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later.

they say "Fortunately we do have an 1896 Declaration of Intent and a 1901 Petition of Naturalization for an Ebenezer Longhurst from England"

Once I have that, maybe an image will be easier to find on FamilySearch.