How to Trace Your US Military Ancestors

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Discovering the Veterans in your Family Tree Nearly every generation of Americans has known war. Even if you have never heard of military veterans in your family tree, try a bit of research and you might be surprised! Determine if your ancestor served in the military The first step in searching for the military records of an ancestor is to determine when and where the soldier served, as well as their military branch, rank and/or unit.

Clues to an ancestor's military service may be found in the following records: " Family stories " Photographs " Census records " Newspaper clippings " Journals, diaries & correspondence " Death records & obituaries " Local histories " Grave markers Look for military records The primary types of military records include: " Military service records - Enlisted men who served in the regular Army throughout our country's history, as well as discharged and deceased veterans of all services during the 20th century, can be researched through military service records. These records are primarily available through the National Archives and the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). Unfortunately, a disastrous fire at the NPRC on July 12, 1973, about 80 percent of the records of veterans discharged ... more. less.

from the Army between November, 1912 and January, 1960, and about 75 percent for individuals discharged from the Air Force between September, 1947 and January, 1964, alphabetically through Hubbard, James E. These destroyed records were one of a kind and had not been duplicated or microfilmed prior to the fire. " Compiled military service records - Most of the records of the American Army and Navy in the custody of the War Department were destroyed by fire in 1800 and 1814. In an effort to reconstruct these lost records, a project was begun in 1894 to collect military documents from a variety of sources. The Compiled Military Service Record, as these collected records have come to be called, is an envelope (sometimes referred to as a 'jacket') containing abstracts of an individual's service records including such items as muster rolls, rank rolls, hospital records, prison records, enlistment and discharge documents, and payrolls. These compiled military service records are primarily available for veterans of the American Revolution, War of 1812, and the Civil War. " Pension records or veteran's claims - the National Archives has pension applications and records of pension payments for veterans, their widows, and other heirs. The pension records are based on service in the armed forces of the United States between 1775 and 1916. Application files often contain supporting documents such as discharge papers, affidavits, depositions of witnesses, narratives of events during service, marriage certificates, birth records, death certificates, pages from family bibles, and other supporting papers. Pension files usually provide the most genealogical information for researchers. Family History Center Class 3 Finding your Veterans -- June 2007 Page 1 of 4 " Draft registration records - More than twenty-four million men born between 1873 and 1900 registered in one of three World War I drafts. These draft registrations cards may contain such information as name, birth date and place, occupation, dependents, nearest relative, physical description, and country of allegiance of an alien. The original WWI draft registration cards are at the National Archives, Southeast Region, in East Point, Georgia, and you will need to know the full name of the person and his city, county, and state of residence at the time of registration to access these records. Microfilm copies of these records are also available through Family History Centers, and many are available online through Ancestry.com. " Bounty land records - A land bounty is a grant of land from a government as a reward to citizens for the risks and hardships they endured in the service of their country, usually in a military related capacity. At the national level, these bounty land claims are based on wartime service between 1775 and March 3, 1855. If your ancestor served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, early Indian Wars, or the Mexican War, a search of bounty land warrant application files may be worthwhile. Documents found in these records are similar to those in pension files. Abbreviations that might be in records or on grave stones: Military Unit & Branch of Service: AC or USA - Army Corps; United States Army CAV - Cavalry CSA - Confederate States of America INF - Infantry MC - Medical Corps MAR or USMC - Marines; United States Marine Corps MIL - Militia NAVY or USN - Navy; United States Navy REG - Regiment TR - Troop USAF - United States Air Force VOL or USV - Volunteers; United States Volunteers VRC - Veteran Reserve Military Groups & Veterans Organizations: DAR - Daughters of the American Revolution GAR - Grand Army of the Republic SAR - Sons of the American Revolution SCV - Sons of Confederate Veterans SSAWV - Sons of Spanish American War Veterans UDC - United Daughters of the Confederacy USD 1812 - Daughters of the War of 1812 USWV - United Spanish War Veterans VFW - Veterans of Foreign Wars Family History Center Class 3 Finding your Veterans -- June 2007 Page 2 of 4 Family History Center References: Fiche # 6046771 (5 fiche) A General index to a census of pensioners for Revolutionary or military service, 1840. Census of pensioners for Revolutionary or military services: with their names, ages, and places of residence, as returned by the marshals of the several judicial districts, under the act for taking the sixth census in 1840 Fiche # 6046995 (36 fiche) The Pension roll of 1835 Contents: v. 1. New England states -- v. 2. Middle Atlantic states -- v. 3. Southern states -- v. 4. Middle Western states. SD State Archives: To find what is available at the Archives, go to SDLN.NET, then search the South Dakota Archives " State Census records have military service information " Compiled service records of soldiers who served in the American Army during the Revolutionary war / [National Archives and Records Service] -- E 255 .U5 C73 " Revolutionary war pension and bounty-land warrant application files / National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. -- E 255 .U5 R44 " Veterans Census: 1885 and 1890 - on microfilm and available through interlibrary loan Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs in the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building, 425 East Capitol, has the Bonus Records. These were bonuses given to every South Dakotan who was overseas in war-time, searchable by name. C ensus Records and the Military The U.S. federal censuses are a particularly rich source of information, as shown in the following examples: 1840 - Included the names and ages of military pensioners. 1890 - Collected a special census of Union veterans and widows. 1900 - Detailed separate military schedules and indexes for all military personnel. 1910 - Recorded survivors of Civil War service, including Confederate and Union forces. 1920 - Separately enumerated all overseas military and naval forces, and many domestic bases. Some bases are listed under state and county records. 1930 3 Recorded veterans of the U.S. military or naval forces mobilized for any war or expedition. Family History Center Class 3 Finding your Veterans -- June 2007 Page 3 of 4 Military data on the Internet: FamilySearch Books and Microfilms www.FamilySearch.org>Library> Keyword Search (search for particular war e.g., Spanish American Place Search (search for state where veteran lived) FamilySearch also has a PDF booklet, U.S. Military Research Outline and helps under Research Guidance >U.S. Military Records Ancestry has Pension Index 1861-1934 and the 1890 Veterans Schedule from the census; also historical newspapers-some databases are free 3 access all databases free at a public library www.ancestry.com Ancestry Card Catalog www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/alldblist.aspx Links to sites with online World War I indexes: www.militaryindexes.com/worldwarone/index.html United Stated Army Military Institute http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/ U.S. Army Center of Military History - has some online history books http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/ NARA's Military Service Records - what records are available http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/military/ The National Archives and Records Administration - NARA searchable databases http://aad.archives.gov/aad/index.jsp NARA Records research tools www.archives.gov/research/tools/checklist.html http://olivetreegenealogy.com/mil/usa/span_amer.shtml http://genealogy.about.com/cs/militarywars/ www.searchforancestors.com/ Family History Center Class 3 Finding your Veterans -- June 2007 Page 4 of 4

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