In a message dated 7/25/2004 3:16:18 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: I just found out that my Grandfather filled out the first Draft Registration Card in the Town of Dewitt , two questions, would he had to fill out the second card in 1718 , and where could I find this hand written card as the copy from Ancestry.com was very hard to read. I have transcribed it down to everything but 2 lines. Here's an article that may be of interest to listers re: WW1 Draft Registrations: The article appeared in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter - Plus Edition Date: 1/18/2004 U.S. World War I Draft Registrations The following was written by Jean Nudd, Archivist at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Northeast Region in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. As it was written by a government employee in conjunction with her employment, you may freely copy this and republish as you wish. However, I strongly suggest that you credit Jean Nudd as the author. . . .During World War I, there were three registrations. The first was on June 5, 1917, and registered men between the ages of 21 and 31. The second was on June 5, 1918, and registered men who had turned 21 since June 5, 1917 (A supplemental registration on Aug. 24, 1918, registered those becoming 21 since June 5, 1918.). The third registration was held on September 12, 1918 and registered men 18 through 45. So, all men born between 1872 and September 1900 who were not in active military service by June 1917 filled out draft registration cards, whether they were native born, naturalized, or alien. There were five World War I draft classifications, but they were not the straight-forward arrangement that we all remember from later wars, such as 1A or 4F. Every registrant was considered belonging to Class 1 until his status giving him the right of deferred classification was fully established. So, all registrants were in Class 1 unless they were granted a deferment. The remaining classes, 2-5, were known as the deferred classes, but that did not mean they could not be drafted. The report states, "After exhausting class 1, men would be called from the first registration from Class 2, 3, and 4, with practically accurate knowledge that they were being called in direct order of their availability and in inverse order of their need for the social and economic life of the country." Class 5 was the only class not subject to induction. Each draft board used a set of standard "principles" to place men in the deferred classes, including dependency, sundry specific vocations, necessary agricultural and industrial workers, or moral disqualification. Alien citizens, termed alienage by the SSS, were placed in class 5. Enemy aliens were also classified 5s. The rest of registered "noncombatant" and "neutral" aliens were dispersed across Class 1 and other deferred classes. Dependency deferment was based on family support needs, if someone else was able to support family members, and if the man had children or how recently he had married. Sundry specified vocations were generally federal and state officers (class 5), ministers (class 5), pilots (class 5), mariners (class 4), county or municipal officers (class 3), firemen and policemen (class 3), customhouse clerks (class 3), or mailmen (class 3). Necessary agricultural and industrial workers were classified in all classes "according to the degree of their skill and the relative necessity and importance of such an individual to a particular enterprise. In class 2 was placed a registrant found by his district board to be a necessary skilled farm laborer in a necessary agricultural enterprise or a necessary skilled industrial laborer in a necessary industrial enterprise. In class 3... found to be a necessary assistant, associate or hired manager of a necessary enterprise; ...also a registrant found to be a necessary highly specialized technical or mechanical expert of a necessary industrial enterprise. Class 4... found to be a necessary sole managing, controlling, or directing head.". . . Diane Wilson Flynn