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Nearly every generation of Americans has known war. From the early colonists, to
the men and women currently serving in America's armed forces, most of us can
claim at least one relative or ancestor who has served our country in the
military. 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
Military records often provide an abundance of genealogical material about our
ancestors. Once you have determined that an individual served in the military,
there are a variety of military records which can help to document their
service, and provide useful information about your military ancestors such as
birthplace, age at enlistment, occupation, and names of immediate family
members. 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 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.
- 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.
Next Page > How to Request
Military Records
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