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Archiver > GALAMAR > 1999-08 > 0935414383


From: "Linda F. Wood" <>
Subject: [GALAMAR-L] [TXHAMILT] World War I Draft Cards
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 08:19:43 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)


This is a message that appeared on another list and was
forwarded to me by Angie Spangenberg in Texas, a fellow
Lamar County researcher.

>from: M. Dean Hunt
>Louisville, KY

"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>

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


- ---------------------------------------
Linda F. Wood
Department of Biology
Samford University
Email:

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