This message came through another list. Hope the information helps someone.
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.
Linda