Emigration and Naturalization Records
This collection brings together passenger manifests, immigration evidence, declarations of intention, petitions for citizenship, oaths of allegiance, and related documents connecting the Dorgan family of East Cork with Providence and the wider Rhode Island family story.
The principal records document the two-stage emigration of Patrick J. Dorgan and his family in 1896 and 1897, followed by Patrick’s completion of the United States naturalization process.
How to Use This Collection
Passenger manifests may record names, ages, occupations, last residences, departure ports, ships, destinations, ticket information, and traveling companions.
Naturalization papers may preserve birth information, immigration details, residences, occupations, spouses, children, witnesses, signatures, and citizenship dates.
Details sometimes conflict across records. Contemporary passenger manifests should be compared with later naturalization papers, census returns, city directories, civil records, cemetery evidence, and family documents rather than silently reconciled.
From East Cork to the United States
Patrick J. Dorgan and Mary Catherine Hartnett married in Cloyne on 26 November 1886 and established their family in East Cork.
Patrick emigrated first in October 1896. Mary Catherine remained temporarily in Ireland with their children and followed him in June 1897.
Together, the passenger records document a family migration that occurred in two stages rather than as one household journey.
1896 Passenger Manifest — Patrick J. Dorgan
Patrick Dorgan appears on the passenger manifest as a 40-year-old laborer traveling from Ireland to Providence, Rhode Island.
Known Record
Name: Patrick Dorgan
Record type: Passenger manifest
Departure date: 21 October 1896
Arrival date: 28 October 1896
Departure port: Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland
Arrival place: Ellis Island, New York
Ship: RMS Teutonic
Recorded age: 40
Occupation: Laborer
Last residence: Ballylanders
Destination: Providence, Rhode Island
The recorded age and Ballylanders residence differ from information preserved in some of Patrick’s other records. Those differences should remain visible and should be compared with his marriage, land, census, naturalization, death, and cemetery evidence.
1897 Passenger Manifest — Mary Catherine Dorgan and Children
Mary Catherine Hartnett Dorgan followed Patrick the next year with five children.
Known Record
Name: Mary Catherine Dorgan
Record type: Passenger manifest
Departure date: 2 June 1897
Arrival date: 9 June 1897
Departure port: Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland
Arrival place: Ellis Island, New York
Ship: RMS Teutonic
Recorded age: 28
Occupation: Housekeeper
Last residence: Midleton, County Cork
Destination: Providence, Rhode Island
The five children traveling with Mary Catherine were:
Anne Theresa Dorgan
Michael Joseph Dorgan
Patrick Francis Dorgan
David Andrew Dorgan
William Dorgan
The manifest documents the second stage of the family’s movement from East Cork to the United States.
Understanding the Two-Stage Migration
The 1896 and 1897 passenger records should be studied together.
Patrick traveled first, apparently preparing for the family’s later settlement in Rhode Island. Mary Catherine then undertook the transatlantic journey with the children approximately eight months later.
By the time of the 1901 Census of Ireland, Patrick, Mary Catherine, and their surviving children were living in the United States.
The records connect the Carrigkilter land story, the family’s East Cork origins, their departure through Queenstown, their arrival at Ellis Island, and their later household in Providence.
Patrick J. Dorgan’s Naturalization Records
Patrick’s naturalization papers document his legal path from Irish immigrant to United States citizen after decades of residence in Rhode Island.
The surviving record group includes:
1928 Declaration of Intention
1933 Petition for Citizenship
1933 Oath of Allegiance
These papers should be compared with the passenger manifests because some of the immigration and birth information provided during the naturalization process conflicts with the earlier evidence.
1928 Declaration of Intention
Patrick filed his Declaration of Intention in the United States District Court for Rhode Island on 9 April 1928.
Recorded Information
Name: Patrick Dorgan
Age: 65
Occupation: Laborer
Residence: 61 Bergen Street, Providence
Wife: Mary
Recorded birthplace: County Cork, Ireland
Recorded birth date: 17 March 1863
The declaration records Patrick’s formal intention to become a citizen of the United States.
1933 Petition for Citizenship
Patrick filed his Petition for Citizenship in the United States District Court at Providence in 1933.
Recorded Information
Name: Patrick Dorgan
Residence: 170 Richland Street, Cranston
Occupation: Stationary fireman
Wife: Mary
Children listed: Six
Naturalization witnesses: John H. Maguire and John H. O’Brien
The petition documents Patrick’s residence, occupation, family, immigration statements, and formal application for citizenship.
1933 Oath of Allegiance
Patrick signed his Oath of Allegiance on 25 September 1933.
The oath records the final legal step in his naturalization and preserves Patrick’s signature.
Naturalization certificate number: 3710408
Research Caution
Patrick’s naturalization papers contain information that conflicts with the contemporary passenger manifest.
The 1896 manifest records Patrick traveling from Queenstown aboard the Teutonic and arriving at Ellis Island on 28 October 1896. It records him as a 40-year-old laborer from Ballylanders.
The later naturalization papers instead state that Patrick arrived in New York in October 1897 aboard the Majestic. They also give his birth date as 17 March 1863.
These discrepancies should be preserved as recorded. The passenger manifest was created at the time of Patrick’s voyage, while the conflicting naturalization information was supplied more than thirty years later.
Neither record should be altered to force agreement. Both should be compared with Patrick’s Irish marriage and land records, United States censuses, city directories, death record, obituary, and cemetery evidence.
Related Hartnett and O’Brien Immigration Records
Additional immigration and naturalization evidence survives for Ellen Theresa Hartnett and her husband, John Henry O’Brien.
Ellen departed Queenstown aboard the Lucania in September 1901 and arrived in New York on 14 September. The manifest records her as a single servant from Cloyne traveling to Providence and identifies her as a returning resident. Her original immigration date remains unresolved.
John Henry O’Brien’s naturalization petition records that he departed Queenstown in June 1907 and arrived in Boston aboard the Republic. Because John did not arrive until 1907, he could not have been Patrick J. Dorgan’s Providence host in 1896.
Their full immigration, marriage, census, naturalization, and cemetery evidence is preserved on their dedicated family page.
Evidence and Preservation Note
Original record images remain the primary documentary evidence.
Differences in names, ages, residences, dates, ships, and immigration years should be preserved rather than silently corrected. Restored or enhanced images are viewing aids and do not replace the complete original records.
The passenger manifests, naturalization papers, census returns, directories, parish registers, civil records, death records, and cemetery evidence should be evaluated together.