Gee, golly, ain't that the future thing to do. Get a response by email. If we have all this at our fingertips, why are so many organizations so far behind? I want to know. YES! for the Nara email response. But hard to believe the federal govt would save a stamp and paper..........<g> Good luck, Bill, on your trail. gloria At 07:35 PM 12/1/99 -0500, you wrote: >Gloria Frazier wrote: >> >> Hey, wait a minute. > >[text outlining process for ordering form used to request draft >registration snipped] > >> Did you just order the form by email or were you able to order the >> card itself by email? And, if you ordered the card copy by email, >> did you use that email address in the above instruction???????? We >> need more info on your ease in getting the copy. Thanks. > >On 10/28/99 I e-mailed NARA Southeast, <archives@atlanta.nara.gov>. I >said I was writing "to request either the appropriate form or the >search itself, whichever I may have at this time". And I gave the >info: name (including a range of possible surnames), D.O.B., and town >of residence during the draft period. > >On 11/16/99 I got an e-mail response from a very helpful Ms. Suzanne >Dewberry, Archivist (bless her heart), writing from that same e-mail >address. She told me she'd located the draft card and to please remit >a check or money order in the amount of $10 made out to the National >Archives Trust Fund and send it to NARA--Southeast Region, 1557 St. >Joseph Avenue, East Point GA 30344. Upon receipt, she would send the >copy by return mail. I did, and she did. I have been most favorably >impressed with the staff at NARA Southeast, specifically Ms. Dewberry >and also a gentleman named Roger who has been working the desk and >helping people during my three visits there. They seem not to fit the >stereotypical bureaucrat mold. In fact, it's my experience that they >treat researchers as valued customers. Very refreshing, and it >prompted me to write and file a favorable comment and leave a donation >during my last visit. > >> Oh, Bill, I know when Soc Security came along and many didn't have >> a birth cert then WWII and still no birth cert, and they HAD to >> have one. If they wanted to change the spelling of/or just their >> name, that was the time and many did. The Bible record might say >> Mom gave a child the name Edward and on his birth cert he is Milton >> George. They were also advised if they wanted to shorten or >> Americanize their names that making a delayed birth cert was the >> time to do it. Just a thot on Gusky. This might have been a form of >> the case with him going into WWI. > >My grandfather died in 1934, prior to SS registration, so no help >there. I've come to believe the original Lithuanian name was >Gajauskas, but he used a Polish variation, Gayousky, in the early days >for his marriage license and the baptism of his children. Then he >used Guskey on his draft registration in 1918, and it somehow got >cranked around to Gusky. I speculate he stayed away from the original >name to throw the Russians off the trail, because he left parents and >a sister in Lithuania in 1900, and feared retribution for fleeing >conscription. All speculation at this point, but I have hope of >learning more from four or five Lithuanian language circa 1928 - 1934 >letters from his sister which I hope to receive next week. > >Thanks for your comments, Gloria. I believe you're right that he'd >emigrated without a birth cert (probably to avoid leaving a trail), >and I guess that made it easier to change his name and even his age to >fit the circumstances. > >Cheers. > >-- >Bill Gusky >DeLand, Florida >"Too soon oldt, und too late schmart!" > >