Expatriation

The Expatriation Act of March 2, 1907 set out ways a citizen could lose citizenship, such as naturalizing in another country. It also gave every married woman her husband's nationality, so an American-born woman who married an alien became an alien herself.

That is why a woman born in the U.S. may later appear in records as an alien, or have to repatriate. The Cable Act of 1922 ended loss by marriage for most women, though marriage to a man racially barred from naturalizing still cost citizenship until 1931.