Faith Thank you for this information. Do they also have this available for WWII? Diane ----- Original Message ----- From: Faith Hutchings <faith@verdenet.com> To: <HALLMAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 1:24 PM Subject: WWI Draft Cards > 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 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> > > >