Hi to 'the list' - I have just received (on loan) some microfilm with some interesting research possibilities that I thought I would share with you all: At the beginning of WWI the U.S. government initiated the Selective Service Draft Board and required ALL men of a certain age to register for the draft - whether or not they were actually ever called to serve. There were, during a three-year period of about 1917-1918-1919, OVER TWENTY-THREE MILLION men who went to their newly established local draft board and filled out the required Registration Card. These TWENTY-THREE MILLION cards have all been microfilmed, by county, and are now available on loan for viewing at the National Archives Regional Branches or on loan through the Family History Libraries of the Mormon Church/LDS/Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. I just received - on loan - the two reels (out of over 4,000 reels!) that are for SAN SABA COUNTY. On these reels are the photocopies of the actual Registration Cards, front and back, for EVERY San Saba man who registered for the draft - literally hundreds and hundreds of them! ---Who had to register? Well, loosely speaking, any man born between ABOUT 1875 and 1900 was required to register sometime during 1917-1918-1919. This means all these men were between about 18 years of age and 42 or so at the time of registration. It didn't matter WHERE they were born - they had to register in the city/county they were living in at the time the draft was initiated. These Draft Registration Cards usually list most but not all of the following pieces of information: Name Date of Birth Place of Birth (County/State) Race Citizenship status Occupation Employers Name Place of Employment or Business Nearest Relative Physical description, including height, build, eye and hair color Any reasons for exemption OK, so ---- all that being said, here is my offer: I will gladly look up on these microfilms any name you want, and I will make and mail out photocopies of any draft registration cards I find. There are a couple of provisions that I ask you to please be mindful of: A) Your 'guy' MUST have been born (anywhere) between 1875-1900. Otherwise, I am spending time looking for someone who DIDN'T have to register. B) Your 'guy' MUST be KNOWN to have been living in SAN SABA COUNTY in 1917-1918-1919. Since I am doing this on a volunteer basis, please don't ask me to look up someone that you've lost and "hope maybe to find in San Saba" during that time. C) Please do NOT hit the reply button to request a look-up ---- otherwise everyone on this list (hundreds of peoplel) will be reading your message - which I'm sure you want to send to me PERSONALLY! Please send the first/last name you want looked up directly to me: karenc5071@aol.com. I only get to keep these microfilms for another 2-3 weeks, so this "offer" is only good NOW. If you read this message in the archives after mid-September 2001, please don't ask me for a look up because the microfilm will be long gone! If you e-mail me a name/names to look up, please include your MAILING address in your message. My plan is to send everything I find within two weeks. IF I DON'T FIND YOUR GUY LISTED I will e-mail you and tell you so. If I DO find him, you won't hear from me at all.....you'll just receive a copy in the mail within 2-3 weeks. I'm saying this because I have a suspicion I will get a LOT of requests and I am trying to cut my follow-up e-mails to a minimum! Once I am finished with all the look ups, I'll post yet another e-mail to the list explaining to all of you just how YOU can get these microfilms - since you can look up the Registration Cards from ANY county in the U.S.A. So, there y'all have it ... Hope this will end up helping some of you! Karen Gauny Crisalli