Since my ancestors were largely pioneers and immigrants, like many Americans especially in the West, online genealogy resources seem to be both crucial and hard to find. Even agencies in small states can provide resources critical to genealogists even if their collection isn't completely digitized.
My 2nd great-grandparents John and Anna Ringquist immigrated to the United States from Sweden in the 1910s (I've posted John's naturalization record in a prior post). North Dakota's naturalization records from this period aren't digitized online, but there is a searchable index hosted by the North Dakota State University (NDSU) Archives. The records include nationalizations that occurred in North Dakota district courts between 1873 and approximately 1952. One tip I've learned is that it helps to get very creative with spelling - John's declaration of intent to become a citizen ("first papers") was indexed under Ringqvest.
Once the records are located in the index, they can be retrieved in person at the North Dakota State Archives (operated by their historical society), or an archivist will send a copy for a small research fee. In the case of Mr. Ringquist, the archivist used information found on the petition for naturalization ("second papers") to locate and send me the first papers as well.
Another great resource is the North Dakota Biography Index. This index accesses a large collection of compiled who's-who's, town histories, and biographical newspaper clippings. Although the sources are generally derived, they can be a good starting place for locating original records. In this database I found two items of interest: (1) Nnewspaper articles discussing the tragic death of Anna Ringquist, and (2) an index of the town history Oberon, N.D.: Echoes of the Past which appeared to contain biographical sketches of my ancestors the Woolley family and Simon family who lived in North Dakota at the same time as the Ringquists.
For the newspaper articles, I ordered a copy from the NDSU archives. Using the biographical information, I could locate Anna Ringquist's death certificate in the North Dakota Public Death Index. I also went year-by-year to locate John Ringquist's certificate as well.
For the town history, I borrowed the book through my public library Interlibrary Loan system. That is a topic for another blog post.
There are so many other North Dakota archives resources that I haven't explored yet!
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