WATTS Researchers: In searching... COLORADO VETERANS� GRAVE REGISTRATIONS 1862-1949 http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/gss/archives/grave_dir/cograv.html Compiler: Gerald E. Sherard, 429 South Moore St, Lakewood, CO 90226-2629 (1997) ... I found a number of WATTS veterans. Below are their names, some personal data and a summary of the database: The Colorado Graves Registration was a project to locate and register the graves of all U.S. veterans buried in CO. It includes many out-of-state deceased veterans who were sent to Fitzsimons Army Hospital or came to CO to regain their health. The project had its beginning when the American Legion embarked on a program to see that the graves of every deceased veteran resting in the United States were included in the Decoration or Memorial Day service. In May 1933 the National Grave Registration Plan was adopted by the American Legion. In 1935 the task got underway, depending almost entirely on voluntary assistance. In 1938 a project proposal was written to make the project a state-wide project for the Works Project Administration under the sponsorship of the Military Department of the State of Colorado with the cooperation of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Funds were provided by the Works Project Administration and special appropriation by the Colorado State Legislature. Permanent files were transcribed with each record being placed on a registration card. Information was gathered county by county from all sources possible. In conjunction with investigation of burial plots and cemetery records, the research included many public records, newspaper files, city and county records, assessors books, church records, morticians records, records of service and patriotic organizations, contact with friends and relatives of the deceased veterans and county histories when available. Service connections were checked with the Official Roster of Colorado Soldiers who served in the Civil War, local records of the Grand Army of the Republic and rosters of the the other states in the Union. For more in-depth information on the formation and completion of the Colorado Grave Registration, consult The Manual of Instructions, written in 1940 under the sponsorship of the Military Department of the State of Colorado. Copies of the manual are available at the Colorado State Archives or the Jefferson County Library at 20th and Miller Streets, (R.929.3), Lakewood, CO 80215. Information requested on each grave registration card includes the following: Name; County buried in; City or town nearest; Cemetery; Type of grave marker; Type of standard on grave; Information on marker; Date of burial; Grave location: Block, Lot, Grave, Section, Date cemetery data was recorded; Home address; Date, place, and cause of death; Date and place of birth; Name and address of nearest relative; Date of enlistment and discharge; Rank; Branch of service: Army, Navy, or Marine; Company outfit or ship; War record: Civil War, World War I, World War II, etc.; Sources of information; (Additional information on reverse side of card). The original cards are currently filed in twenty volumes of books at the Colorado State Archives. Because cause of death is included in the Grave Registration, the records are not open for public inspection. However staff members can extract all the information except for the cause of death. Permission to look at specific records can be obtained in writing from the Colorado Adjutant General�s office, 6845 S. Revere Parkway, Englewood, CO 80112, phone (303) 397-3000. The cards are also on six rolls of microfilm by county which are catalogued in the order given below. The total number of registrations are given in parenthesis following the county listed below: [The paragraph below appeared at the top of each alphabetized page] Colorado Veterans' Grave Registrations Listed below are veterans who are buried in Colorado and for whom a grave registration card exists at the Colorado State Archives. Given below is the veteran's name, county in which the veteran is buried, cemetery, veteran's birth date and birth place (date of death, d.xxxxxxxxx, if no birth date was given). State abbreviations were used for the birth place. [I extracted the following entries for WATTS, and variations, veterans] Watt, Joseph A, San Miguel, Norwood, 25OCT1895 CO Watt, William A, Otero, Fairview, 26JUN1834 OH Watts, Glenn W, Jefferson, Crown Hill, 15JAN1900 IN Watts, James Franklin, Logan, Riverside, 1836 Watts, Thomas Jefferson, Pitkin, Aspen Grove, d. 2JUN1891 Watts, William J, Otero, Mountain View, 2JAN1847 PA A note on WWW researching ancestors (especially for those unfamiliar with the Internet): When I searched the Web for > Colorado Veterans' Grave Registrations < with Yahoo!, Lycos' A2Z, Excite Guide, GoTo.com, PlanetSearch, Thunderstone, What U Seek, Magellan, Lycos, WebCrawler, InfoSeek, Excite & AltaVista Search Engines, only Excite found the specific URL above. And, when I conducted a test combined search for > Watts AND Glenn AND Colorado AND Veteran < none of the search engines had a single "hit" for the URL above. I mention this so those unfamiliar with the Internet will better understand that substantial digitized resources *will not* be found by customary search engines. While databases as this one are available on the WWW, many are difficult to find. So, if you locate such databases that may benefit others, please share your discoveries wherever possible. Good luck with your WATTS ancestral searches. Regards, Steve