Finding Your U.S.

Military Heroes on

Ancestry

Identifying Your Ancestors Who Served

• Family Stories

• Photographs in Uniform

• Memorabilia

• Cemeteries

• Obituaries

New York Herald (New York, N.Y.), 7 January 1870

Identifying Your Ancestors Who Served• Correspondence and journals

Identifying Your Ancestors Who Served

• Learn as much about the person as you possibly

can. You’ll need details to identify the person in

military records.

Name

Estimated birth date and place

Residence at the time of enlistment/draft

Create a timeline or chronology

Names of extended family

Newspaper AccountsHometown papers often included

updates on local servicemen & women.

From the Appleton Motor

(Appleton, Wisconsin), 04 July 1861

Identifying Your Ancestors Who Served

• Military Histories

1st Regiment, 2d Brigade of Illinois

Mounted Volunteers, Capt. Thos. B. Ross'

Company, 15 May 1832-15 August 1832

From the Record of the services of Illinois soldiers in

the Black Hawk War, 1831-32, and in the Mexican War,

1846-8 on Ancestry.com

Were they eligible?

Click here to save a copy of this chart.

Clues in the Census

The 1840 U.S. Census asked the names and ages of Revolutionary War

pensioners.

In 1890 U.S. Census included a schedule of Civil War veterans and

widows. Kentucky (partial) through Wyoming and the District of Columbia

survived. (available on Ancestry.com)

The 1910 U.S. Census asked whether the person was a survivor of the

Union or Confederate army or navy. (UA=Union Army, UN=Union Navy,

CA=Confederate Army, and CN=Confederate Navy)

The 1930 U.S. Census asked whether a veteran of the U.S. military or

naval forces mobilized for any war or expedition, and specified what

conflict.

Some state censuses also include military details.

1890 Census Veterans Schedules

• Only part of Kentucky

through Wyoming,

Lincoln Post #3 in

Washington, D.C., and

selected U.S. vessels

and navy yards are

available.

1890 Census Veterans Schedules

• Sometimes you find a piece of the story in the record.

Bottom portion of the same page from

1890 Census Veterans Schedules on Ancestry.com

Finding What’s Available on Ancestry

• Card Catalog

• Filter by

•Military

•USA

•Decade of the conflict

•To see what collections are

available for a specific branch of

the service, enter keywords like

Navy, Naval, Army, Air Force or

Marine in the title or keyword

field.

Finding What’s Available on Ancestry

• Military Pages

To search military collections

only, hover over the Search tab

and select Military from the

drop-down menu

Search by conflict here.

Indexes vs. Actual Records

• Index lets you know that this

(in most cases) is step 1.

• Use information in the index

to request the actual record.

Civil War Pension Index: General

Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934

Check the Description

• From the image click

“Return to Record”

• Click the link to “Learn

more…”

• Look for information in

the database description

below the search box

Check the Description

National Archives and Records Administration

Some military records can be requested online via the National Archives website.

National Archives and Records Administration

www.archives.gov/research/order

National Personnel Record Center (NPRC)

“NPRC (MPR) uses many alternate sources in

its efforts to reconstruct basic service

information to respond to requests.”

Privacy restrictions may apply

Highlights from Ancestry U.S. Collections

U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900

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Files can be hundreds of pages long as claimants

try to prove eligibility, service, and

relationships.

Compiled Military Service Record• Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR). Envelope with card abstracts of

muster rolls; payrolls; rank rolls; inspection, provision, and clothing returns;

receipts for pay and bounty; accounts for subsistence, pay, rations, clothing, and

ordnance; abstracts of muster and pay rolls; and correspondence.

See a list of U.S.

service record

collections here.

U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1940

Muster rolls typically include the Marine’s

name, name of the ship or post, rank,

date of enlistment or reenlistment, and

where applicable, discharge, death,

injury, illness, desertion and

apprehension, and court-martial

information.

Antonio Sousa

enlisted his son,

John Philip Sousa to

serve as an

apprentice in the

Marines when he was

only thirteen.

Exploring the Records: Draft Registrations• Draft Registrations on Ancestry for WWI and WWII

“Babe” Ruth, World War II Draft Registration, 1942

World War II Draft Registration, 1942

• Only 1 of 7 drafts publicly

available

• “Old Man’s Draft” - Men born

between 28 April 1877 and 16

February 1897

• Be sure to page forward to

see second page.

• U.S. World War II Army

Enlistment Records, 1938-

1946 also available on

Ancestry, as are WWII Draft

Cards, Young Men, 1940-1947

for Arkansas, Georgia,

Louisiana, and North

Carolina.

Not Available• Alabama • Florida • Georgia • Kentucky • Mississippi • North Carolina • South Carolina • Tennessee

WWII Veteran, Stephen Szucs and family

WWI Civilian Draft Registrations

• More than 24

million men, born

between 1872 and

1900 registered

for the WWI Draft.

Rodolfo Guglielmi (a.k.a., Rudolph Valentino), in the WWI Draft Registrations on Ancestry

U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914

U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938

• On 03 March 1865, legislation was passed to "incorporate a National Military and Naval

Asylum for the relief of the totally disabled officers and men of the volunteer forces of

the United States.“

• Ancestry.com has records for these branches:

Eastern Branch, Togus, ME, est. 1866

Central Branch, Dayton, OH, est. 1867

Northwestern Branch, Wood (near Milwaukee), WI, est. 1867

Southern Branch, Hampton, VA, est. 1870

Western Branch, Leavenworth, KS, est. 1885

Pacific Branch, Sawtelle, CA , est. 1888

Marion Branch, Marion, IN, est. 1888

Roseburg Branch, Roseburg, OR, est. 1894

Danville Branch, Danville, IL, est. 1898

Mountain Branch, Johnson City, TN, est. 1903

Battle Mountain Sanitarium, Hot Springs, SD, est. 1907

Bath Branch, Bath, NY, est. 1929

U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970

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U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970

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U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970

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Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865

Roll 110. Old Capitol Prison,

Washington, D.C. Register of

Prisoners, Compiled by the

Office of the Commissary

General of Prisoners.

U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010

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This index contains birth and death dates for more than 14 million veterans and VA beneficiaries who died between the years 1850 and 2010.

U.S. Navy Cruise Books, 1918-2009

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Cruise books are yearbook-style books put together by volunteers on board ship to commemorate a deployment.

Finding the Stories

• U.S. Civil War Photos, 1860-1865

Thomas Howley served in the 9th New York Heavy Artillery, Company K. This is a

photograph of the 9th New York Heavy Artillery, Company M.

Finding the Stories: American Civil War Soldiers

• Create timeline of

engagements

• Learn about various

military engagements

• Compare to what you

know from muster

rolls, pension, and

other records

From the database of American Civil War Regiments

Learning More

• Ancestry.com Wiki - www.ancestry.com/wiki

Military chapter from The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy

Ancestry.com Wiki –

See Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources for state resources.

For more online military records, visit Fold3.com

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We hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into our collections. Now come and find your military heroes on Ancestry!

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