Report on Iowa Genealogical Society Annual Meeting                 in Des Moines, October 9 & 10. 

WORLD WAR I

DRAFT REGISTRATION CARDS

 By Marti Rasmussen

You may question whether it is worth the effort to access these World War I Draft Registration Cards.  Now that Ancestry.com and others have made them accessible, it is a wonderful resource for all family historians.  Juliana Smith, on her October  13,  2009 blog at Ancestry.com explains that 24 million men were ultimately drafted into the military during World War I.  These Draft Registration Cards contain information on males “living in the U.S” born from Sept. 11, 1872 to Sept. 12, 1900 who were not already in the military service with the information being taken at three different dates.  First Registration was June 5, 1917.  The Second Registration occurred June 5 1918 with a supplemental registration again on August 24, 1918.  The Third Registration for unregistered and unenlisted men was September 12, 1918. 

Tim N. Pinnick, keynote speaker at the Iowa Genealogical Society Annual Conference October 9 and 10, 2009, gave us more information regarding the questions used in this registration process and how the three registrations differed in number and type of questions.  Pinnick has used these World War I Draft Registration Cards extensively in his family history research in tracking coalminers both in his family and in communities to which they and others migrated as they found jobs at different mines throughout the U.S.  Pinnick has been a popular speaker at many genealogical and historical conferences including presentations at the National Genealogical Society in 2006 and at the Federation of Genealogical Societies meetings in 2007,2008 and 2009. 

 Juliana Smith suggests first making a list of males born between September 11, 1871 and September 12, 1900, who were alive on the dates of these registrations using your genealogy program such as Family Tree Maker.  These records, she points out, an also be searched by name, state, city, county, draft board and as a last choice, alphabetically.  The National Archives and Family History Library do have microfilm maps of draft board boundaries in selected cities.  That is definitely a very last choice. 

 Pinnick gave us a list of 20 types of information that can be taken from these draft cards.  I have used them mostly to find out if my subjects were possibly in the military during that time.  I will go back again to obtain some of these other bits of information.  These cards typically will tell you the person’s full name, his employer at the time of registration, date of birth, possible co-workers if you combine several cards from the same employer, parent’s name if still alive, and any physical disabilities including a physical description of the person.

 That is just for starters.  Pinnick points out that these cards can take the place of a death certificate if you can’t find the person in the 1920 Census or could indicate a migration to a new residence.  You can find out a father’s place of birth or trace a family migration by narrowing date and place of birth of a person and relatives and learn more about the family’s educational background if a college is mentioned as where the person was registered.  This was true for one second cousin of mine, who had ill health, but according to my mother, took a college degree via mail.  He was listed as a student at the University of Missouri, with an occupation of English teacher, but was living at home with his mother and brother in Springfield, Missouri.  Sort of fits my mother’s description of his college life.

 All of us have female relatives difficult to place because of marriage, but these Draft Registration records may lead you to discover her as the mother or other relative of the individual registering.  Several cards may also help you rediscover family relationships based on several cards and learn of an earlier unknown spouse. 

 So you can see that there is much to be gained from a little time making up your list of males born 1872-1900 and tracing siblings, cousins and other male relatives in this data base.  You can find these records online at Ancestry.com and our Iowa Genealogical Society has microfilms of the Iowa and Indiana Records.    You can access microfilms from Family History Centers, and get a new start on your family history research.