Gregoire: Octave's First Declaration of Intent

 To begin the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, Octave completed a "Declaration of Intention," signing it in the presence of the Clerk of the Southern District Court in New York City.  Laure would not have submitted this form for herself.  Until 1922, women became citizens through their husband's citizenship.

Octave Gregoire's Declaration of
Intent, dated Jul.21, 1908, from 
ancestry.com.

The document shows that his address was "150 - 6- 21st St., New York City."  This is near to Gramercy Park, but I don't think it's part of it.  It gets a bit confusing because some of the Gramercy Park addresses are actually on the numbered streets surrounding the park.  So I need to do some more research on the area of New York.

Octave has listed his occupation as "Engineer."  His arrival date shows as Oct.7, not Oct. 8.  We  go with the customs form on that date, which was the eighth.  As you go through the documents for the ancestors, you  find that the dates vary often, as well as spellings for names of places and people.  Memory, hearing, spelling ability all affected how this information was recorded.