Mr. Hay to Mr. Jackson.
Washington, October 3, 1900.
Sir: Your No. 1405 of the 17th ultimo has been received.
You therein inquire whether passports should be issued to two persons, a sister and a brother, one over 21 years of age and the other still a minor, who were born in Canada of parents who were British subjects, but whose mother, after the death of their father and during their minority, married an American citizen and brought them to the United States to reside.
Under our law the two persons referred to are citizens of the United States.
By her second marriage the mother acquired American citizenship, by virtue of the provisions of section 1994 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which reads as follows: “Any woman who is now or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the United States, and who might herself be lawfully naturalized, shall be deemed a citizen.”
R. S. 2172 declares that “the children of persons who have been duly naturalized under any law of the United States * * * being under the age of 21 years at the time of the naturalization of their parents, shall, if dwelling in the United States, be considered as citizens thereof.”
Any possible question whether by the marriage of the mother she became duly naturalized is set at rest by the decision of the United States circuit court in the case of the United States v. Kellar (13 Fed. Rep., 84), in which the court held that the mother, an alien, by her marriage to a naturalized citizen of the United States became “duly naturalized.” The court (Mr. Justice Harlan) said:
The marriage of the defendant’s mother with a naturalized citizen was made by the statute an equivalent in respect of citizenship to formal naturalization under the acts of Congress. Thenceforward she was to be regarded as having been duly naturalized under the laws of the country, and her infant son, then dwelling in this country, was therefore to be considered not an alien but as a citizen.
As stated in my instruction No. 603, of October 15, 1898, in the case of Jacob Lenzen, the words of the statute “dwelling in the United States” are held to mean either at the time of the father’s naturalization or afterwards during the child’s minority.
In the opinion of the Department the persons referred to in your dispatch are entitled to passports as citizens of the United States.
I am, etc.,