>Forwarded From Another List: >M. Dean Hunt >Louisville, KY > > 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 >deserveall 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 your 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> >