HAS anyone had experience looking at the world war 1 draft registration cards for family info? Do yoou know where one can look at these records? One of the items that might be of great interest is a line thatt reads Father's exact place of birth (including town in old country, if immigrant. Has anyone found this line filled in and useful to them in do8ng research of their families? Bill -- q q ###

WILLIAM M. LEITNER wrote: > > HAS anyone had experience looking at the world war 1 draft registration > cards for family info? > Yeah. > Do yoou know where one can look at these records? > I look at mine at the FHC on LDS microfilm. (g) You can also see many of them at the nearest NARA branch, or order the relevant microfilm from NARA. The originals are at the NARA branch in Atlanta/College Park, GA. > One of the items that might be of great interest is a line thatt reads > Father's exact place of birth (including town in old country, if immigrant. > > Has anyone found this line filled in and useful to them in do8ng research > of their families? > Filled in properly, you mean? (g) Not often. Reason #1 it isn't going to be joyously useful -- the cards were filled out by CLERKS who were writing down answers to questions. Kiev could turn into Keith or Keeve or Ceeph without too much imagination. :( Lessee -- I have copies of 12 cards out of NYC; apparently only the 1917 registration card has that question on it. Only two cards are from 1917: and they say: Poyastphumir, Boraviour, Austria. A 2nd says Minsk, Russia. [Good luck finding that first one! I thought the B word was Bavaria until I started typing.] Of the rest, for the "of what country are you a citizen or subject?" question, you get things like -- Russia, or Russian Poland or Austria. Sorry. :( Cheryl

As others have pointed out these cards have been microfilmed and are available through LDS FHCs. The originals are in the Atlanta regional branch of the National Archives. I found looking at the original cards both interesting and helpful. Somewhat different formats were used at different times, so what is entered varies. You might find a physical description of your ancestor that includes something you didn't know (e.g., black hair for a man you only knew as bald), a listing of his family (including children that were born and died between census years), the address where he was living (good starting point for looking for other relatives), cards for others with the same surname in the same town, and so on. As with all sources, looking at your particular ancestor's card might have a big payoff or none. You won't know until you look. Bob Warren "WILLIAM M. LEITNER" wrote: > HAS anyone had experience looking at the world war 1 draft registration > cards for family info? > > Do yoou know where one can look at these records? > > One of the items that might be of great interest is a line thatt reads > Father's exact place of birth (including town in old country, if immigrant. > > Has anyone found this line filled in and useful to them in do8ng research > of their families? > > Bill > -- > q > q > ###