Citizens and Nationals: Researching Overseas Territories

Episode Overview

Hittin’ the Bricks with Kathleen is the genealogy podcast that features your questions and her answers, focusing on how law, place, and history shape the records we rely on. In this episode, host Kathleen Brandt breaks down what “territory” really means in a genealogical context—and why your ancestor’s rights, status, and documentation can change overnight when laws change.

Using examples from Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Philippines, this episode explains how legal status determines where records are kept, what rights were granted, and why incorrect assumptions often create genealogy brick walls.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• What “territory” means and how it differs from colony status in records
• Why citizenship status affects where and how records were created
• How legal changes alter the paper trail across generations
• Where to find records across federal, territorial, and local systems
• Why assumptions about U.S. affiliation often lead to research errors

Topics Covered

• Colony vs. territory definitions and their impact on record trails
• Puerto Rico citizenship after 1917 and where to research before that date
• Key inhabited U.S. territories for genealogy research
• U.S. citizen vs. U.S. national distinctions
• Record locations: federal archives, territorial archives, naval records, church registers, civil registration
• Guam’s citizenship timeline and unequal territorial treatment
• Military service and draft records vs. proof of citizenship
• Common research mistakes tied to legal assumptions
• Using FamilySearch as a catalog and checklist tool

Episode Discussion & Key Moments

Kathleen explores how the concept of “territory” is often misunderstood in genealogy, leading researchers to expect records and rights that did not exist at the time. She demonstrates how shifts in legal status—especially under U.S. governance—can dramatically alter what records were created, where they are stored, and how individuals were classified.

The episode highlights case examples from Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Philippines to show how citizenship, nationality, and governance differed across regions. Kathleen also explains why military service or draft registration does not automatically prove citizenship, and why careful interpretation of legal context is essential.

A key takeaway is the importance of abandoning assumptions—particularly the belief that being “under the U.S. flag” guarantees uniform rights or record systems. Instead, researchers must follow the legal framework in place at the time their ancestors lived.

Key questions examined include:

• How do changing laws affect the records your ancestors leave behind?
• Where should you look when records are not where you expect?
• What legal distinctions matter most for accurate genealogy research?

Resources & Research Tools Mentioned

• Federal and territorial archives
• Naval and military records
• Church registers and civil registration systems
• FamilySearch catalog as a research checklist

Why This Episod

Transcript

Welcome And Territory Teaser

John 0:00

Ladies and gentlemen from the depths of Flyover Country in the Heartland of America, the Kansas City on the other side of the Mighty Moe. Welcome to Hitting the Bricks with Kathleen, the Do-It-Yourself Genealogy podcast with your questions and her answers. I am John, your humble hubby host, and today we'll be talking about territories. There's a lot of ground to cover, so let's start hitting the bricks. Hey baby.

Kathleen 0:33

I'm not going to encourage this behavior.

John 0:36

After almost 30 years, you do not have to laugh anymore. You can just shake your head derisively. A little bird told me that we were going to be talking about territories.

Kathleen 0:47

Ah, territories? Okay. That that little bird was correct.

John 0:51

Yes. And I and my question is, why why do you want to why do you want to talk about territories?

Colony Vs Territory Explained

Kathleen 0:57

Well, first of all, it's been a real common conversation just in the United States today.

John 1:02

What is the difference between a territory and a colony? Because I really don't know.

Kathleen 1:07

Okay, so that's a good question.

John 1:09

A colony You're gonna tell me one has three syllables and one has four.

Kathleen 1:13

Well, I was gonna give you a little bit more information, Don. Can you handle it?

John 1:17

Yeah, okay. Let me get my pen out. I'm gonna make some notes.

Kathleen 1:20

So a colony is when the land is settled normally by like a distant country.

John 1:26

Okay.

Kathleen 1:26

The people living there lose most of their rights. It's normally settled for the purpose of economic or strategic benefit.

John 1:36

For the colonizer.

Kathleen 1:37

Right. But a territory is totally different. The land is governed by a country, but the people are usually part of it. So they're part of a nation, but they're not necessarily equal to the citizens.

John 1:52

Okay.

Kathleen 1:53

So think of the colonies, even in the United States.

John 1:57

Go live there, farm, build stuff, make us money, and then send it back over.

Kathleen 2:00

But a territory, we go into that country, we claim to help that country, and they become part of the United States, even though they were already normally a country. So there's normally some sort of a legal relationship for protection. Sometimes in a territory, you become a citizen or you can be a naturalized citizen. Now, true enough, with your snarkiness. It is true. Every territory is not the same. So it none of this is equal under the flag. And that is something people need to understand, especially in genealogy.

Puerto Rico And The 1917 Shift

John 2:39

The issue of territories versus colonies versus uh exploitive or imperialistic behaviors. That's not what we're really here to discuss. So I'm gonna let we probably need to move on from that to they exist, right? We can jump over that hurdle. We had a similar conversation when we were researching Revolutionary War and French uh and Indian wars on where you would find the records and the the loyalists who were fighting and went back to Britain, we would not necessarily have those records as opposed to uh the armies that served and stayed. That's correct with this, also. Let me ask this because I know that Puerto Rico is a territory, right?

Kathleen 3:24

Puerto Rico is a territory.

John 3:26

Okay, I was just checking because it was a whole conversation about Puerto Rico recently at some football game.

Kathleen 3:33

So let's stop the Puerto Rico issue. Is that true?

John 3:38

Is that where Bad Bunny was is from?

Kathleen 3:40

That is correct. That is correct. And that's probably what brought these questions up in our in our mailbox. Okay. The people of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens um after 1917. Now, before that again, they were not uh they were not American citizens.

John 3:58

With with membership comes privileges, I guess. The idea is that they can, as a territory, then they are considered U.S. citizens. They were able to vote in national elections and things like that, right?

Kathleen 4:12

They can do everything that a a retro citizen can do.

John 4:16

And the only reason I bring that up is uh voting registrations.

Kathleen 4:20

That's correct.

John 4:21

And things like that. Okay, that's that's where my head was going. If they can vote, then okay, and I don't mean I'm I'm not trying to answer your.

Kathleen 4:28

And their draft records, everything is U.S. law based. Um after after 1917. If the ancestor died before 1917 and was Puerto Rican, their records are somewhere else. And that's what we want to make sure the genealogist understands. They were not U.S. citizens.

John 4:47

They weren't U.S. citizens at that time.

Kathleen 4:49

So the like the recent Puerto Ricans, they we like I said we have their draft cards, we can look at their other records, but if it was before 1917, those records were dependent on church records and Puerto Rico civil records. They're in that particular country's or territories rather at that point.

John 5:10

Who was in charge of Puerto Rico? I'm assuming by the name. It may have been the Spanish.

Kathleen 5:17

The Spanish, the Spanish colony. So they were a colony under the Spanish, so that's where their records are at that point. They were a Spanish colony, and then we acquired and did our legal change with Spain. Okay. Well, we got Puerto Rico beforehand, but in 1917 is when they became U.S. citizens.

Inhabited Territories You’ll Research

John 5:37

Well, okay, so let me ask, what are some of the other territories other than Puerto Rico?

Kathleen 5:42

There are some inhabited territories like Samoa, the American Samoa, Aguam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Now we also have territories that are uninhabited, but those aren't interesting to the genealogists, which we're talking about, and there are these little islands like Baker Island, Howland Island, all of those little islands, but they're uninhabited. And we also have others that we've claimed. I'm not sure where they fall because from a genealogical standpoint, they make no difference for me.

John 6:18

I was gonna say that uh as far as territory goes, an uninhabited territory, you're not you don't need to bother with it.

Kathleen 6:25

Only way you need to bother with it is if your ancestor was part of an agreement or they were negotiating or they are part of the process. And those records are with the also in the government.

John 6:39

Oh if they were petitioning uh exactly. Okay. If it's literally an uninhabited territory, then you can save the brain space. I always am looking to save space. I know real close to running out of storage here.

Kathleen 6:51

You did about five years ago.

unknown 6:52

I know.

John 6:54

I have to keep deleting where I live in order to remember another tidbit of information. But those aren't important for research.

Kathleen 7:01

We have the five inhabited, I mean the five inhabited territories that we're talking about research-wise.

Citizen Vs US National Basics

John 7:06

If someone was from a U.S. territory, were they definitely citizens or nationals?

Kathleen 7:13

No. It could have been a citizen or a nationalist. They're not the same.

John 7:16

Okay, we okay. Wait a minute. They're not the same. Okay, so what what here we go? What's the difference? Oh, I'm never gonna find my way back home.

Kathleen 7:23

Okay, so a nationalist owes the United States allegiance. They owe allegiance to the United States.

John 7:30

All right.

Kathleen 7:30

And it's under the U.S. protection, but it does not have full citizenship rights.

John 7:36

Wow. Okay. And an example of that might be America Samoa. Okay.

Kathleen 7:40

And we would find them even fighting in our wars, and but they still are not citizens. Another set of U.S. nationals, John, that people will think about, uh, the Philippines. The Philippines.

John 7:52

But are they a territorial?

Kathleen 7:54

No, it's not. They're they are U.S. nationals.

John 7:58

Okay.

Kathleen 7:59

And they have territorial records. So the Philippines are U.S. nationals. They can go into military service. Most of the early records, though, are all the records pretty much are with the Philippines and the civil and church records, but they can join the U.S. military.

John 8:16

So we know if the difference between a citizen and a national now. Okay, so Kathleen, uh, why wouldn't somebody in a U.S. territory, and I think I know the answer to this now, why wouldn't somebody in a US territory show up in the same records as someone in Missouri or Kansas or New York? And and and is it because maybe it wasn't a territory at the time?

Kathleen 8:40

That is exactly correct. They had no right to being an American citizen. So their records are gonna be in their own colonies.

John 8:49

So these dates, again, your history becomes important because if you're looking, like you said before, if it's before 1917, you're not gonna find them.

Kathleen 8:59

Right. And in the Philippines, it's the same thing. They were a U.S. territory between 1898 and like 1946, right? They would be they were the Philippines were. Then later they became independent as of July of 1946. Right. But there's all these different stages, and that's the problem with uh researching your immigrant is which country were they part of a territory at the time frame you're immigrating? Were they part of a colony? Because those records are totally separate. And in Puerto Rico, also, John, Puerto Rico before 1898, they were part of the Spanish colonial records, they're not part of the U.S. citizenship records.

John 9:40

Right. Yeah. And they don't just transfer those over and go, okay, now these are your people.

Kathleen 9:45

They don't. However, luckily for us in Puerto Rico, there's some great records in New York.

Where The Records Actually Live

John 9:50

Oh, cool. So speaking of those great records, okay, so where am I looking for people who were in territories in other places? Where am I finding those records?

Kathleen 10:00

So it depends on which country, because like I said, just because they're under the flag or they're part of the flag, they're all treated differently. So, for example, since Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens after 1917, they're in all of the regular American records. They're in the U.S. draft cards, at the National Archives, and they're also in Puerto Rico's civil and church records. And if you were in, let's say, America, Samoa, uh, these were U.S. nationals, but they were not citizens. So their information is mostly in territorial records, naval type records, because they did serve in the Navy, um, the Samoans, especially on the West Coast. And I can compare that even to Guam. So Guam didn't become citizens until 1952.

John 10:50

Okay.

Kathleen 10:50

Um, so they're they have very limited draft records, but we can see their information in Catholic church stuff, uh, local archives. And Guam was weird because the U.S. kind of acquired Guam in 1898, but they didn't become citizens till 1950. In between, they're nationals. They're U.S. national.

John 11:18

They fall into really the Mariana Islands. That is correct. As far as territories go, do they have equal rights compared from territory to territory, or were there discrepancies between the way Puerto Rican territory is treated and let's say the way Guam was treated?

Kathleen 11:35

Now you're thinking like a good U.S. citizen, John. There are no equal rights anywhere.

John 11:43

If there's not an inequity, then it's just not made in America. Not made in America.

Kathleen 11:49

No, you're thinking like an American historian at this point.

John 11:54

These are the rules, everybody they apply to everybody equally. No, no, no. You're a territory, you get this. You're a territory, you get this. Okay.

Kathleen 12:02

If you're a U.S. citizen, you do have the rights of a U.S. citizen. And I'm saying that even loosely because of what we see today.

John 12:12

Within the ability of being enforced, you have all right. We're stepping let's just step away from that for a minute because we're getting way too far away.

Kathleen 12:23

And it is it is interesting because you know, some of these people are U.S. citizens because they were born in America. If that rule changes, what happens? I don't know. But right now those records are with the U.S. citizen records.

Guam Timelines And Unequal Rights

John 12:38

If my ancestor was from a territory and served in the military, would they have the same draft card? Did they get paid the same? I have a feeling I know the answer to this, like a citizen would have.

Kathleen 12:52

Did not make them a citizen just because they served in the military. So they they would have gotten paid, they would have a some form of a draft card, and I can normally find them like I just recently did a Samoan one, and we were able to find them to the point, John. It was very interesting because that's where I learned about the Samoan tatting. And that's actually on their draft card. What their tattoo is.

John 13:20

Oh, they were identifying uh tattoos?

Kathleen 13:22

Yes, yeah, because normally they say, uh, give me a description, and that description might include, oh, you have a gar over your right eye or a mark here. In the Samoan draft cards, they actually have their entire tattoos are for what it says because it also reflects their their family line.

John 13:44

And that would be really, really interesting. Somebody I would imagine researching an ancestor, that would be really gratifying to get that. Now, my granddad, did I ever tell you about his tattoo on his leg? No. My grandpa was in the Navy and he had an anchor tattoo on his forearm just like Popeye, and he kind of looked a little like Popeye, but he had a a woman in a bathing suit that went from the middle of his calf on the outside of his leg to the middle of his thigh, like she was diving into a pool, and he would kick his leg and show you how she did a jackknife on that little tidbit. This is the question that often means the most to me because this is typically where I come in with the biggest mistake. What would be the biggest mistake genealogies will make with territorial ancestors and research?

Kathleen 14:42

The biggest mistake with territorial research is that people make a lot of assumptions. They assume they're in America, therefore they are citizens, or they might see them on a draft record, so they think that they're citizens, or they assume that their ancestor, because there's been four or five generations that that first one was a citizen, but no, they probably got their citizenship for being born in America after that. But that means their records aren't where they expect them to be.

John 15:12

So you could find you could have a brick wall where your family disappears, even though you're sure that you're generations worth of American citizens. But then all of a sudden you can't find any of the records.

Military Records Tattoos And Big Mistakes

Kathleen 15:24

Right. They might have fought in World War I, but they might not have been a citizen. So as you're going back, you have to say, wait, let me check who what world did that country become eligible that we were all citizens? Or did they ever actually naturalize? Or were we part of a colony of the records in the colony, the Spanish colonies, because it was before 1917, or just because America acquired this land in 1892 did not make them a citizen. So we're looking in the wrong place for the information. So this is the only thing I want to leave our listeners with.

John 16:02

Yes, yes.

Kathleen 16:03

That not everyone under the American flag was treated the same under the law.

John 16:08

And if you think that's sounds like you're speaking in the past tense, and I don't think that that's necessary.

Kathleen 16:15

At this point, John, I am researching your genius.

John 16:20

Okay, researching mode, right?

Kathleen 16:22

So not everyone under the American flag was treated the same under the law. And if you don't remember that, you're gonna miss a lot of record sets.

John 16:32

Were there circumstances where the records followed, like records in Puerto Rico that are now no longer kept there, but moved? They're under like the U.S. National Archives now?

Kathleen 16:43

There's some some of them are copied, as I said, especially at Puerto Rico. There's a lot of really good, interesting records in New York that I expected in Puerto Rico.

John 16:53

Oh, really fascinating.

Kathleen 16:54

And I would say start also again with family search.org because it helps you tell it tells you where these records might be and where it's a checklist really. Did you check here, did you check here? Is the way it should read to any genealogists.

John 17:11

And so if you know if you if you're following ancestor or family member from Guam, then you should really be thinking in terms of let me research these territories, make sure I understand when when things happened so that you're not wasting your time looking in, it's gotta be somewhere in New York and Ellis Island when it never would be.

Kathleen 17:32

Exactly. You sound just like a good professional genealogist.

John 17:38

It's a complete accident.

Final Takeaway And How To Write

Kathleen 17:40

Before we do any genealogy research on an ancestor who has moved to one county or one state, we need to know about the geographic area. When did that county become a county? I mean, we've done podcasts on that because again, you might be researching in the wrong county. It's the same for colonies, it's the same for territories. We have to understand the states, the state rules, how this geographic area was formed. So, you know, you have colony records, you have transitional territorial records, you have federal system records, which is our U.S. government records, and we also have civil registrations and parishes and church records. Some of those might be in Spanish, and it all affects whether or not they have a passport or voting rights or military eligibility. So there's so much in this one podcast. We probably could have another one. Territorial research is about three things, John. Okay. It's about legal status, it's about applicable laws, and where were the records actually kept?

John 18:54

Well, congratulations. You've made it to the end of another episode. Thanks so much for staying. Thanks to Chewy Chewbacca Brent for his unwavering lack of interest in anything we're doing. The theme song for Hittin't the Bricks was written and performed by Tony Fisknuckle and the Diamonds. Watch for their next appearance at an igneous Kimberlight Rock near you. Do you have a genealogical question for Kathleen? Drop us a line at hitting the bricks at gmail.com and let us know.