Hi . . . I got this from another list and thought I would pass it on: > > > 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> > And feel free to pass this on to any of the lists you are on. > > Lori Shirley bernardf@intrstar.net