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Subject: Fwd: [ILMACOUP-L] WW I Draft Registration
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 12:28:08 EDT

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Thought this would of some interest to everyone.

Michelle Bley

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Subject: [ILMACOUP-L] WW I Draft Registration
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Good Morning everyone: I played hooky from work yesterday and spent
the day at the NARA Branch in Atlanta and it jogged my memory to pass
on some information to everyone.

Prior to the US's entry into WW1 (approx. 1917-1918) every male
between the age of 18 and 40 was required to register for the draft.
The information found on the card was provided by the individual
himself. The registration cards vary in information depending on the
individual draft board. But by and large the cards include: The full
name of the person (this means first, full middle name, any additional
middle names and last name); the current address of the man; his age;
his birthdate (some include his place of birth); whether he is a US
citizen or a naturalized citizen (some ask if his father was a
naturalized citizen and his father's race); his race; his occupation;
where he is employed (name of employer); address or location of
employment; name and address of his next of kin; some cards ask if the
man is married or single and how many people he supports. The card is
signed by the draftee. On the back of the card his physical
description is noted: Height is broken down by short, medium, tall
although some cards give the actual height in feet and inches; Build
by slim, medium, stout although some cards list actual weight along
with the build; color of eyes and hair; any deformities or injuries
are listed (such as one arm missing, blind in one eye, etc); the name
and address of the draft board and the date.

When these original cards were transferred to the East Pointe NARA
branch the LDS spent about 3 years microfilming these cards. There are
hundreds and hundreds of boxes and the LDS opened one box at a time
and filmed them - in state order. However, within each state the
cards were filed by draft board, not by county or by draftee. This
makes the searching of the microfilm difficult to say the least.

The good news is that the Friends of the National Archives took each
box after it was filmed (and checked) and sorted all of these
thousands and thousands of cards into - state and then COUNTY order
and then in alphabetical order by surname and put then in new boxes.
The Friends deserve all the kudos we can give them for this monstrous
task.

So ... rather than spending hours and hours searching the LDS
microfilm you can order copies of the original cards from NARA. if you
know the county your ancestor lived in between 1917-1918.

And BTW - Ancestry.com lists WW1 Draft cards in their searchable data
bases, however I know for a fact that there are 22 cards for the
surname WHITE found in McIntosh Co, OK and Ancestry only gave me 4 of
them so don't depend on that site. I was told yesterday that some reps
from Ancestry had visited the archives a couple of weeks ago to talk
about filming the cards, took one look at the hundreds and hundreds of
boxes and simply left.

For copies: Send a letter requesting copy(s) to:
NARA
Southeast Region
1557 St. Joseph Ave
East Point, GA 30344

In your letter be sure to say you want copy(s) of the WWI Draft
application Cards. Include the name of your ancestor and his race, the
state and the county. If you want copies of ALL of the cards with a
given surname, ask them the cost of the copies and send a SASE for
them to let you know the copying cost. In your letter be sure and say
you want a copy of the FRONT and BACK of the card. Be sure to send a
SASE for the return of you copies.

The cost for the copy is 50 cents - 25 cents for the back and 25 cents
for the front. If you only want one copy send a buck and say the
difference is to be given to the Friends of the Archives, because
after all they did all this wonderful hard work for you <VBG>

If you have any other questions about the cards please write to me and
I'll try to help. I've been "delving" into these cards for the past
few years. But PLEASE don't ask me to get the copies for you. It is
difficult for me to take the time off from work to visit the archive
to do my own research <g>.

And feel free to pass this on to any of the lists you are on.



==== ILMACOUP Mailing List ====
If you need a Macoupin County Professional Researcher please check out:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilmacoup/m_pros.htm


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