Matthew Madigan Naturalization Reflections

There was so much formatting in the last post on Matthew Madigan's naturalization papers that I decided not to comment in order to keep it a little less confusing.

What do we get from these records?

First, I find it interesting that Matthew Madigan declared his intention to become a citizen in 1866 and actually became a citizen in 1876. This strikes me as unusual because I'm pretty sure that generally you had 7 years from filing your declaration of intent to complete the process of petitioning for naturalization; that is, to actually become a citizen. But I don't know if I'm entirely right about that, or, if I am, when those regulations came into effect. Anyway, it took Matthew Madigan 10 years to become a citizen.

Second, who do we think Francis J. Healy is? He lived at 13 Harrison St. in Manhattan - which is on the Lower West Side - and that is literally all we know about him, other than that he knew Matthew.

Third, what is that street written underneath "Luquaar"? I transcribed it as "McQuaid," but that's really just a guess. I can't tell exactly what it says. I wonder if it's possibly the street he lived on in Manhattan before moving to Brooklyn. We know that in 1870, the Madigans were living in Manhattan. In 1880, they were living in Brooklyn on Luqueer St. Could the name of the street that he used to live on been written down first and crossed out in favor of the street he had since moved to? Just a thought.