| Adventures in Genealogy: Military
Records |
I was sitting in Dairy Queen the other night totally absorbed in the first Hot Fudge Sundae of Spring, and discussing the upcoming Tri-Counties Genealogy Workshop with a couple of folks, when we all heard the sound of squealing brakes. Fearing the worst, we jumped up and looked out the windows. Thankfully there was no accident, but it was almost as bad. Cousin Tryel had caught us at DQ again. Don't get me wrong, Cousin Tyrol is not a bad guy, but he aint exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean. Every time he catches us at DQ, we end up either explaining to him that he could save money by bringing his own hamburger meat or, (if we are lucky) trying to straighten out his latest genealogical puzzle. Cousin Tyrel came over and slumped down in the booth across from me and said "Hiram, I know you said I want Military Records, but I just cant figure out why." So let's take a few minutes this week and talk about military records, maybe we can help to get that confused look off of Cousin Tyrel's face. Military Records can be a valuable genealogical tool for several reasons. First they prove (Primary Source) that your ancestor was a member of the military. Stating which unit, which war, his rank and other invaluable genealogical information. Service Records are not available for all the wars we have fought in unfortunately. The most glaring example is Revolutionary war service records, these records were destroyed in 1812 when the British burned Washington, DC. But don't despair there are still Pension records out there for Revolutionary War era soldiers and officers. The military records of soldiers that fought in American wars prior to World War One are stored at the National Archive in Washington, DC. The only exception to that rule of thumb is Confederate Records are stored in the respective states that the soldier was from. World War I records are stored at the Federal Records Center in East Point, GA. The service records of soldiers that fought in World War 2 and all later wars are stored at the Federal Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. There are three main ways to access these records. 1) Send a request to the Record Center for the records of a certain individual. This method entails the outlay of various fees and usually takes six to eight weeks (If you are lucky). 2) Make a trip to the National Archives to view the records available there. You cannot visit the Federal records center in Georgia or Missouri. 3) Making a trip down to your local FHC (Family History Center) to view the Microfilmed records. Now the odds are that your local FHC will not have the exact film or fiche you need, so you will need to get them to order it from Salt Lake City. This is extremely inexpensive and really doesn't take that long. Once the records are in, You will have solid proof (Primary Source) of your ancestors military service. Or in the case of Pension files, a wealth of information that will help to flesh out your ancestor, and build your research.
Conference Announcements: AlaBenton Genealogical Society
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