He's not American. Is he Kenyan, English or Irish?

How can one man be eligible for citizenship in four countries? Birthright, permanent residence, having a grandparent born in another country, or changes in governmental jurisdiction over the place you were born can all qualify you for citizenship. But proving that you qualify and applying can sometimes be a long and confusing process.

My husband is an English citizen with a UK passport and permanent US Resident Alien status. I am American, and our children were all born in the US and are also American citizens. Because children of British citizens are eligible to apply for a British passport, one of our sons asked me to help him complete a UK passport application. A US citizen may obtain a foreign passport without putting his American citizenship into jeopardy. It is not against US law to do so, as long as taking on the foreign citizenship does not require you to renounce the United States in any way (and it rarely does). A UK passport will allow him to travel and work freely anywhere in the European Community (EC) without first having to obtain a visa. This will be a great asset to him when he wants to visit his English relatives for a long period, or even work abroad.

In Ireland, Italy and elsewhere, obtaining a foreign passport is a two-pronged process. First you must prove your right to citizenship in the foreign country (and register the birth), then you apply for the passport. In the case of the United Kingdom, however, it can all be rolled into one step. There are usually a few ways in which you can qualify for citizenship. Most of the foreign passports I have obtained for clients are done by proving that they had a grandparent born in the foreign land. As long as that grandparent was not naturalized in America before the applicant's father was born, the applicant is qualified "by descent."

When our eldest son was born, I tried to have his birth registered in England. If I had been successful he could have just applied for the passport today as any English citizen would. Although my husband is English, he wasn't born in England: he was born in Kenya! At the time of his birth in 1960, Kenya was a Protectorate of the UK, which is why he was granted UK citizenship. All children born in Kenya at that time are eligible for UK citizenship themselves, but not all are able to pass eligibility down to their children.  The only way he could pass down his UK citizenship status to our children was if he were a UK citizen "otherwise than by descent," and that pretty much means either a natural-born citizen or someone allowed to qualify as such because of some special exceptions written into the law. The UK did not accept the application to register our son's birth because my husband was not born on UK soil, and thus they concluded he was a citizen "by descent."

But we got lucky and qualified under one of the exceptions. My father-in-law was sent to Kenya by the UK government to work in schools there, so my husband's birth is treated as though he were born in the UK, therefore he actually can pass down his citizenship status. When I originally tried to register our son's birth, I had not known this, but we now have a letter issued by the UK government which states that at the time of my husband's birth his father was in Kenya working for the UK government, so all I need to do is send that letter plus the original birth certificate.

The next obstacle is that I don't have an original birth certificate: all I have is a photocopy. I wanted to see how difficult it is to obtain a Kenyan birth certificate so I went to the central website for civil registration in Kenya. It looked promising –– under the proper district I got a name and email address (info@births.go.ke) and sent a request off to them. Sadly, my email was returned as "unsendable" a few days later. I  also checked the catalog of the Family History Library in SLC, and not surprisingly, they had no civil registration or church records for Kenya. 

Yet I knew that the British have been diligent about registering overseas births for many years, and on the Kenyan Consulate's website I found a very clear explanation of how the whole process works. I was then able to order two copies of his birth certificate (Certificate of Overseas Birth) from the UK General Records Office (GRO). I'm fairly sure they will not look at all like the photocopy of the one issued in Kenya. Once those arrive I can attach them to the forms, send photos, son's birth certificate, my birth certificate, our marriage certificate, and a big fat check to the British Embassy in Washington DC, and he should be good to go!

The funny thing is, my husband is English, but could have applied to become a Kenyan since he was born there. He could become an American too, and may yet. And in addition, since he has a grandparent (three out of four, actually) born in Ireland, he could also apply for Irish citizenship! So he could have four passports if he wanted! He's a simple kind of guy, though, and I suspect he'll stick with just the one.

Back to School in 1867

The smell of schoolbooks and new shoes is in the air and that can only mean "Back to School!" I imagine there was just as much September excitement 150 years ago as there is today. My great-grandfather, Israel Merritt Barnes Jr., or II (there would eventually be four IMBs), was born in 1861 and I am lucky enough to be the caretaker of some of his school papers.

Little Israel attended school in Boston and his doting parents saved some of his papers. One card, dated only Saturday, 1867, and addressed to Issi Barns, is from a Boston Primary School: “A card of approbation awarded to Issi Barns for Industry, Good Conduct, and Punctuality, during the past week,” and signed by A. J. Baker. Israel would have been 6 years old in September of that year––a first grader. I'm glad to see that even that long ago teachers recognized that approval is a wonderful motivator.

Another card reads; “Reward Card, Maxim: Patience is a remedy for every affliction,” and on the reverse the teacher has written, “To Issie Barnes, A persevering boy, May 22nd, 1869. C. A. Robbins.” All I can say to that is "Awwwww!" 

A series of weekly reports show Israel's grades at the Chauncy-Hall School, a boys school founded in 1828, which eventually merged with two other schools and is still in existence. It was originally located on what is now the site of Macy's in Boston's Downtown Crossing. The school's website says that it "trained the children of wealthy Bostonians for careers in business, and later prepared students to attend Harvard, MIT and other prestigious colleges. Chauncy Hall was known for its many innovations in education, including using literature for reading lessons..."


His 1872 report cards reflect a well behaved young man who attended regularly and scored above average in most classes, usually receiving a 5.5-6.0 on a scale of 7, which was given “only for extraordinary merit.” A grade of 4 was “merely passable.” Some of the subjects he was graded on when he was still ten years old: Reading, Spelling, Writing, Grammar, Geography, History, French, Latin, Arithmetic, Natural History, Defining, Declamation, Deportment, and Attendance. Four reports from 1873, spanning the entire year, show more variation. What a difference a year makes in the life of a child. He received many more 7’s: in arithmetic, defining, geometry, and algebra; but also one 3 in deportment, about which the teacher noted on the back, “If no other low mark is incurred this shall be excluded.” I wonder what he was up to? This sort of report is all-too familiar to this mother of three boys. "I didn't do anything!"

In 1875 he participated in Chauncy Hall’s 47th Annual Exhibition at the Boston Music Hall. Better students were asked to participate in a show of readings, declamations and singing, and Israel Jr. was chosen to read “Man as a Processionist.” It is hard to imagine the children enjoying this exhibition, as among other things, they were required to sit through both the triumphal march and the finale from Wagner’s opera, Lohengrin. I'm sure they at least learned patience, if not a love of opera. I found a timeline of the school which tells us that it was one of the first to provide "apparatus for physical exercise." In addition, around the start of the Civil War they organized school companies for martial drill and parade. Israel was not yet a student.

Israel completed his schooling by graduating from Boston English High School in 1877, a few months shy of his sixteenth birthday. Wikipedia says that it was founded in 1821, the first public high school in America, to provide an education for working class boys, giving them training in business, mechanics, and trades. At that time the school was located right next door to Boston Latin High School, which, on the other hand, prepared boys for college, the ministry and other scholarly pursuits. The two schools have a healthy rivalry, and their boys have competed in football against one another every Thanksgiving since 1887! Israel was a big fellow, but I don't know if he played football for them.

It is comforting to me at this time of year to think about all of the students returning to school, just as their parents and grandparents did. One thing I'm sure of is that if I could travel in time, the kids would seem the most familiar aspect of anything I could find. Human nature hasn't changed much. I bet half of the mothers cried, half did a happy dance when their little scholars went off in September, just as they do now!