WWI ancestors

 A 1973 National Archives fire destroyed most service records for our WWI ancestors, but other records still exist to help you document their transformative wartime experiences.

1. Draft Registration CardsMore than 24 million men (including immigrants who hadn't naturalized) registered for the draft in 1917 and 1918, although not all of them served. These are widely available on genealogy websites like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.

2. State Adjutant General RostersMost states issued a roster of soldiers in World War I. Both Joe and Norbert are listed in The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the World War, 1917-18, on Ancestry.com as Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917-1918. 



3. WWI Transport Service RecordsFold3 just published this collection of passenger lists of military transport ships. Norbert was listed with Supply Co. 336, leaving New York City Oct 27, 1918, and arriving in Liverpool Nov. 8. I had to scroll through the records to find a page with a date and ports.



He was on another ship Nov. 11, but I can't find a page noting where it took him. His last transport took him home: The USS Orizaba departed Brest, France, July 29, 1919, and arrived at Newport News, Va., Aug. 6.

4. Discharge Papers
Most discharged service members registered with their local courthouses on return to their communities. I can't find my WWI servicemen among the veteran discharges in FamilySearch's records for Hamilton County, Ohio, so here's the record for another man:

 

5. Veterans SurveysMany communities asked local veterans to complete surveys about their service in the World War. My cousin three times removed Louis E. Thoss filled out this one for the Kentucky Council of Defense (it's now part of the Kenton County Public Library's genealogy database).



The US Army Military History Institute also has a collection of WWI veterans questionnaires completed in the late 1970s, along with photos, letters, memoirs and other materials.

6. Military Headstone ApplicationWhen Joe died in 1941, his sister applied for a military headstone based on his WWI service. These are on National Archives microfilm, and digitized on Ancestry.com.



You'll find more ways to research your World War I ancestors in these articles:

• Top 10 websites for WWI research, in the July/August 2014 Family Tree Magazine digital issue (this includes those who fought for Great Britain and Canada)

• World War I online military records in the March/April 2017 Family Tree Magazine digital issue (focuses on US involvement)
  
  
• Tracing World War I Women downloadable genealogy guide 

Ancestry
 | FamilySearch | Fold3 | Military records | World War One Genealogy

Wednesday, April 05, 2017 2:54:20 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    

Georgia, Confederate Pension Applications, 1879-1960

About Georgia, Confederate Pension Applications, 1879-1960

Historical Background:
Because the Confederacy was dissolved after the war, no central governmental agency provided pensions for service or disability of Confederate soldiers. Some of the former Confederate states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia authorized pensions to veterans and their widows. Each state had its own regulations which applicants had to meet. In each case, however, the pension could be paid only if the applicant continued to reside within the borders of the state. If he or she moved elsewhere, the applicant had to qualify under the regulations of the new jurisdiction (Chapter 9: Research in Military Records, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy by Johni Cerny, Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, and David Thackery; edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1997).
In Georgia, the first law for providing pensions for Confederate soldiers was passed in 1879. Therefore, that’s when the pension application files begin. Later, pensions were granted to the widows of the Confederate soldiers as well.
About this Database:
This database contains pension application files of Confederate soldiers and widows applying from Georgia. Information contained in the database includes:

• Name of applicant (soldier or widow)


• Approximate application year


• Application type (Indigent Soldier, Indigent Widow, Indigent Colored, Widow, Soldier, or Colored)

Additional information about the widow and/or soldier can be found in the actual pension application. The application usually consists of a few pages, including a cover sheet. The other pages included may vary depending on the year of application. For example, under the application act of 1910, the soldiers were asked to fill out a questionnaire providing information such as address of residence, number of continuous years as a resident of the state, name of company and regiment enlisted, and other information relating to his military service. Additional forms may include certificates, affidavits, witnesses, correspondences, and documents of military service.
The images of the original files are arranged by county of application, and then by surname of pensioner.

1864 Census for Re-Organizing the Georgia Militia

About 1864 Census for Re-Organizing the Georgia Militia

This database contains a transcription of a statewide census taken in Georgia to identify white males ages 16–60 who were liable for militia duty.

Historical Background
The 1864 Census for Re-organizing the Georgia Militia is a statewide census of all white males between the ages of 16 and 60 who were not at the time in the service of the Confederate States of America. Based on a law passed by the Georgia Legislature in December 1863 to provide for the protection of women, children, and invalids living at home, it is a list of some 42,000 men—many of them exempt from service—who were able to serve in local militia companies and perform such home front duties as might be required of them.
Sometime between 1920 and 1940 the Georgia Pension and Record Department typed up copies of these lists. Names on the typed lists, unlike most of the originals, are in alphabetical order. These typed lists were the basis for the book indexed in this database, which was compiled by Nancy Cornell.
The author compared the typed lists to microfilms of the original records and has added some pertinent information and corrected some misspellings. No lists were found for the following counties: Burke, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Dooly, Emanuel, Irwin, Johnson, Pulaski, and Wilcox.
What You Can Find in the Records
Enrollment lists were drawn up by county and then by militia districts within the county. The lists recorded the following details:

• name
• age
• occupation
• place of birth
• reason (if any) for exemption from service

Much of the information in this description comes from the publisher.