Thank you Anthony Joseph, you have a way with words that really works for me.
I'm with you in this project; it's what I've always known I would have to do, but until now I never even knew how to ask the right questions, let alone find the right tools and equipment for the journey.
My case is somewhat unique in that I was "born or naturalized" in the "United States" at the age of 25, and I bought land for cash and without a mortgage. So I may have two deeds on my hands which are awaiting my acceptance.
I already was in possession of a "green card" and an SS# at the time the offer for naturalization was extended to me.
What sticks out in my memory is when my mother, who was in charge of the process, told me in bewilderment that my German BC was not good enough for becoming a "US citizen" and that it would have to be "translated and put into a special format", at considerable cost, in order for the process to go through.
I said that I could probably live without that, but she said that she would pay for it and do it for me, if I wanted it.
I eventually took her up on the offer, not knowing the ultimate consequences of either accepting or declining.
The whole process struck me as being extremely convoluted and suspect at the time, because the progression of paperwork which I was asked to sign did not strike me as being the kind of paperwork which merely documents my presence as a human being.
Quite to the contrary; it seemed to be the kind of paperwork I would expect the Catholic Church to issue to a family who donates their female offspring to a closed convent.
I've never seen "my" US BC, which was purchased by my mother at such cost.
The process of "naturalization" started with lots of paperwork which was mailed to me, progressed to some personal interviews with INS officers, then more paperwork, and ultimately a "swearing-in ceremony" at a USDC in the city where I lived at the time, at the end of which I was issued a new SS card but with the same number as before, and a US passport application. I already had a STATE DL at the time, having had one since age 17.
I never came into possession of that BC though, and my mother tells me she cannot find it anymore.
Seems like the time has come for me to study up on deeds, and their acceptance and perhaps execution.
Execution sounds violent to me, but perhaps it is a necessary violence?