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From: MICHAEL MARTINEZ <>
Subject: [WW1] World War One Navy Question
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 17:12:13 -0700 (PDT)

Hi and thank you for having me. I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to military research so please pardon anything that might look silly.


I've just recently located a record of my step-grandfather's father's death aboard the USS Brooklyn in 1917. His rank was "oiler" according to the record I found on ancestry.com but I don't really know what that means.


What I'm trying to find out is how to access any further military records about this man. For the longest time we didn't know his real name because my step-grandfather either didn't know his father's real name or forgot it as he got older and made up one for him that he thought he remembered. Its also possible that his parents were separated well prior to 1917 .... at which time my step grandfather was only 13 years of age.


He and his sister (whom I knew nothing about) are listed as William Alexander Goff's next of kin instead of a wife or other relation. It is strange to me that minor children would be listed as next of kin by the military.


Any help in taking a direction with this research is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Kathy

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• [WW1] World War One Navy Question by MICHAEL MARTINEZ <>