Application Documents for Naturalization

This is a request for a certificate of naturalization that was made by a Chinese settler named Agustin Cisneros. According to the handwritten request form (which begins on page six), Agustin had already been granted his carta de domicilio, or permanent residence card, five years prior to this request. The document also reveals that Agustin was married to a woman named Lorenza Pastor, had four children with his wife, had been baptized, and worked as a cook. The document proceeding the official request for naturalization is the death certificate of Lorenza Pastor, which was signed on September 14, 1871. The next document is the marriage certificate that belonged to Agustin and Lorenza that was signed on June 18, 1870. The consecutive documents in this selection consist of supporting materials and documents that were used in his application for naturalization. Interviews with two of Agustin's past owners were conducted to gather evidence of Agustin's good conduct, work ethic, and intentions, and the transcribed interviews were included in the application. The landlords who were interviewed were Francisco Angela and Ramon Cueto. A cedula and the carta de domicilio that belonged to Agustin were presented in the packet, but caused some controversy because they contained the name Ricardo Cisneros as opposed to Agustin Cisneros. He was interviewed by officials so that they could understand why the documents had a different name other than his own, and to verify that he was not stealing some other person's documents to support his case. Agustin informed them that before he was baptized with the name Agustin Cisneros, he was called Ricardo by every person that he ever knew since arriving in Cuba. His request was subsequently accepted, and his carta de naturalizacion, or naturalization certificate, was signed on January 5, 1872.