OTD: Marital Expatriates Can More Easily Regain US Citizenship

In my father's family tree, when Vilna-born merchant Samuel Markell (1885-1971) married Boston-born Marion Goldstein (1885-1961) in Revere, Massachusetts in 1911, the new bride took her husband's surname--and also his nationality. He was "Russian" and she became "Russian" at the moment of their wedding.

This was due to the US law known as the Expatriation Act of 1907, which tied a woman's citizenship to that of her husband. By marrying an alien, Marion Goldstein Markell was transformed into a marital expatriate for three decades. Samuel became a US citizen in 1923 but that didn't change his wife's status.

Changes under the Cable Act 

After World War I, and an outcry from US women who gained the right to vote starting in 1920, Congress passed the Cable Act of 1922 to restore citizenship eligibility to women who were marital expatriates. However, the women had to actually apply for naturalization as though they had not been American-born. Many did not. By 1936, US law streamlined the process of allowing marital expatriates to become US citizens. 

Changes on July 2, 1940

Finally, on this day in 1940, a new law amended the 1936 rules. Now women who were marital expatriates could more easily "repatriate" and regain their citizenship, no matter their marital status. They still had to take an oath of allegiance.

And that's why, in June of 1941, Marion Goldstein Markell filed the paperwork to regain her US citizenship. In September of that year, she took the oath of allegiance. Thirty years after losing her US citizenship, she was again legally an American citizen. 

Sarah Mahler Smith, Marital Expatriate

When my great aunt Sarah Sadie Mahler (1889-1974) got married in the Big Apple on April 16, 1912, she lost her US citizenship because her immigrant husband Samuel Smith (1889-1979) was not yet a naturalized US citizen.

Samuel (original name: Simon Solomowitz) was born in the city of Botosani, Romania, and came to New York City with his parents and siblings when he was a little boy. 

After they married in Manhattan, Sam and Sarah moved to Fort Edward, NY so he could work in the paper mills. By 1920, the Smith family was back in New York City, where Sam began working as a chauffeur. As shown in the 1925 New York Census excerpt at top, Sam became a US citizen in 1924 in New York City.

Sarah's citizenship status, however, was not affected by Sam's naturalization, because of the Cable Act of 1922, which separated the citizenship status of spouses. She was a "marital expatriate" - and decided, during World War II, to take steps to regain her US citizenship.

As shown here, Sarah filed Form NH-415, applying to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. She was once again a citizen after taking the oath on February 11, 1944. Sarah was outlived by all five of her children and her husband. Today I'm thinking of her on the anniversary of her marriage in April of 1912 (not 1911, as mistakenly shown on the oath document above). 

When Rose Gained, Lost, and Regained US Citizenship

 

Rose Fishman Poticha (1896-1967) married into a distant branch of my father's family. I was researching her because I wondered whether her family lived near my father's ancestors before all came to America early in the 20th century.

Looking at the timeline of her life, I discovered she was caught up in that unfortunate period when women who married non-US citizens lost their own US citizenship.

Background: the Expatriation Act of 1907

On March 2, 1907, Congress passed the Expatriation Act, which stated that "any American woman who marries a foreigner shall take the nationality of her husband." 

This applied only to women...in fact, men didn't lose their US citizenship if they married a woman who was not a US citizen. (For a more detailed explanation, see the pdf here.)

Note that this act didn't cover just US-born women. Also women who were naturalized US citizens automatically became non-citizens when they married a foreigner. And that's where Rose's story comes into play.

Naturalized under her father's naturalization

Rose Fishman was born in Radomyshl, at the time part of Russia (now part of Ukraine). Her parents, Sam and Bertha Fishman, brought the family to America early in the 20th century. 

Sam Fishman quickly initiated the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, and he was naturalized in February of 1914. Under the citizenship rules of that time, his daughter Rose became a U.S. citizen as well.

Rose loses her citizenship by marrying a non-citizen

Two years later, Rose married Russian-born Harry Poticha, on February 6, 1916, in St. Louis, Missouri. Under the Expatriation Act, Rose lost her US citizenship because her husband was not a US citizen. 

Years later, Harry Poticha did become a naturalized US citizen. But meanwhile, Rose's citizenship situation was addressed by yet another act of Congress.

Background: The Cable Act

Women gained the right to vote in America starting in 1920, and perhaps that contributed to the pressure to change the messy citizenship situation created by the Expatriation Act of 1907.

Representative John Cable introduced the Cable Act of 1922, which was also called (appropriately enough) the Married Women's Independent Nationality Act. 

Under the Cable Act, women retained their US citizenship if they married a foreign-born man who was eligible for US citizenship, even if not yet a citizen and even if he ultimately didn't naturalize. Women's nationality was somewhat, as the act's title indicates, independent of their spouses' nationality. 

I'm oversimplifying the explanation and terms of this act, but you get the idea. IMHO, I doubt every woman affected by the Expatriation Act was aware she'd lost her US citizenship, just as I suspect these women weren't always sure how to regain their US citizenship. 

Rose regains her citizenship

Decades after Rose lost her US citizenship by marrying Harry Poticha, she petitioned to become a US citizen on her own.

As this image shows, she regained US citizenship on November 16, 1942, 26 years after losing it due to her marriage to someone not a US citizen.

Not unique in my family tree

Rose's situation was NOT unique in my family tree. I had a number of US-born female ancestors who lost their US citizenship when they married men who were not US citizens. But Rose is the only one I've noticed who was first naturalized, then lost her US citizenship by marrying a foreign-born man, then applied for naturalization on her own.

"Timeline" is this week's #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow.