Whether you have a legacy of military persons in your family tree or are unaware that an
ancestor participated in a conflict, exploring US Military records may be worthwhile.
The great thing about having ancestors who served in the military is the records they
leave behind for genealogists to discover!
Howdy, welcome to Family History Fanatics. If you are new here, my name is Devon Noel
Lee, and I love helping people find meaning and connections through their family trees.
It’s not always easy or quick, but it’s always worth the effort.
Today, let’s talk about the effort of finding military records.
While not every service record is available online, the documents you find may reveal
when an ancestor served, where, and with whom. You may discover physical descriptions, names
of additional family members, and the stories from their service and injuries.
So how will you find all the discoveries waiting to be explored?
First, consider whether Your Ancestors were Old Enough to serve.
When you do not know if your ancestor served in a military conflict, this chart will give
you an idea of the typical age for those who served in the military.
First, we have the Revolutionary War. Your first question is to determine if your
ancestor, likely male in this case, was alive between 1776 and 1783.
If the answer is yes, were they between the ages of 16 and 60?
While there are cases of older or younger participants, we are trying to cast the most
likely net first. Another way to look at this data is if your
ancestor was born between 1716 - 1767 and lived in the American Colonies, check to see
if they were alive until 1783. If they are, it’s time to consider if they
served in the Continental Army. Now consider how many persons served in the
official military. For this war, the total is about 230,000 men.
The population of the American Colonies was about 2 and ½ million persons.
You can review a longer list of military conflicts in which the US participated on my blog. The
link will be in the description box. Perhaps you’re noticing that different conflicts
have a smaller or larger likelihood of your ancestor participating.
The chances of your male ancestor serving in the Patriot army were about 18%.
By contrast, the possibility of them participating in the Mexican - American War is much smaller.
The US population had grown to 23,000,000, with 3 million being slaves.
And as you can see, the number of men who served in the military during that conflict
was 112,000. If you assume about half of the population
was male, 1.1% of the total male population participated in this conflict.
While you should consider if your ancestor served in the Mexican - American War, the
chances they did are much smaller. When you have identified an ancestor old enough
to serve, follow these steps to search military records.
If you’re unsuccessful, keep in mind the percentages I just mentioned.
Before diving into military records, you must know a few details about your potential veteran.
These details include Full name - including aliases, nicknames,
and spelling variations Birth year and place
Where did your ancestor live before and during the conflict
And the name of the possible military conflict.
Next, search your home, family members' home, and relatives' memories about your ancestors.
What records, photographs, letters, artifacts, or stories document the service of your ancestors?
For instance, my Grandpa Lew had photos of him in his military uniform, a military cross,
several military bracelets, and his discharge papers in his home confirming his participation
in the war.
Next, consult genealogical records: Som Gravestones may have engravings or signage
identic ting service. Some cemeteries are resting places for veterans
such as Arlignton National Records to name one.
Census Records are helpful. Since 1910 (except 1920), census records have asked about their
veteran status. The 1890 Veteran's schedule also documented service persons and their
widows. Even though the major portion of the 1890s
census was destroyed, the Veteran's Schedule did survive.
Obituaries, lifestyle features, causality lists, enlistment rosters, and letters to
the editor may reveal military participation. So always search newspapers.
Other genealogical resources may also identify military participation. Let me know which
ones I've overlooked in the comment section of this video.
I’m a big believer in leveraging technology to do some research for me.
Therefore, build your family trees on Findmypast, FamilySearch, Ancestry, and MyHeritage and
let their algorithms recommend record hints for you.
Notice how Ancestry recommended a pension record for the Civil War participation for
Jacob Newton. In a previous video, Ancestry's hints directed
me to Canadian military records I hadn't thought to consider yet.
Granted those military records were Canadian but, the principles of hints holds true for
many U.S military records.
New record collections are regularly added to the big four genealogy websites, so let
their hinting tools point you in the right direction (or a new direction you hadn’t
previously considered).
Now, not every military collection online is indexed or fed into the hinting algorithm.
As such, we can’t rely solely on recording hinting for military records.
The next strategy is to dive into the Collection Catalogs or Card Catalogs on the big four
websites. In this case, I’ll use the Card Catalog
on Ancestry. Filter to Location
Filter to Military Records Look at the newest collections available and
the other listings. The entries could give you some idea of the offerings on Ancestry.
Now filter the collection using keywords, record types, or time filters
Here’s example #1. Try the keyword “Colonial” in the keyword
field. Then filter by New Jersey.
I have to click “Show More” Scroll down to New Jersey.
And then I have my list. There are currently 7 collections that meet
those criteria.
Let’s clear all and try another example. No keywords this time.
But we’re going to filter by New Jersey. So USA.
Show more. New Jersey
Military
And then if we click on the 1600s, there are only eight collections.
If we cut that off
and do the 1700s, there are 78.
Let's do one last example. Again, no keywords.
And we'll filter by Michigan to USA
“Show more” Michigan
Filter by record Type Military- once again
And there are 242 collections. But if we filter by the pension rules or pension
records, there are only 24.
Now notice, some of the entries have a title of US, while others have Michigan in them.
These variations are one reason I like filtering by location.
Similar to how we searched for “Colonial” in the keyword box, we can also add that term
to the title box. And then filter in the fashion we did before.
But what other keywords or titles could we use?
Military unit name Battle/ Conflict
Town Pension
Japanese Internment And others that you see on screen.
If I haven't thought of one that you've found successful, let me know about that in the
comment section. We all benefit as we share ideas and suggestions,
and successes in the comments. So please take advantage of that section.
Also, if you like the training in this video, be sure to click the like button and share
this video with others. And if you haven't already, hit the Subscribe
button and the bell so you will be notified when we release a new video.
Not every military record will be easy to find, and many will be offline. Your next
step for do-it-yourself searching is to consult military-specific research guides. There are
several available for you. First, I highly and often recommend using
the FamilySearch Wiki. You’ll find a link to a tutorial on how to use the Wiki in the
description box. On the FamilySearch Wiki home page, key in
the name of a war or conflict. Once on the conflict Wiki page, you’ll see research
strategies, online and offline sources, and other notes - such as record loss.
There are several other guides I want to call your attention to. All links and information
will be in the blog post in the description box.
The National Archives website has research guides segmented by each branch of service.
Select a branch, such as the Marine Corps, and you’ll be guided to various topics and
then to relevant research guides. Many of the collections will be offline, but
at least you know what to look for if you plan a visit to the archives.
Major genealogy archives and libraries have guides to military research, such as this
one at the New York Public Library. And this one from American Ancestors, which
is the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Many state archives have guides to Researching
Military Records, such as this one from Colorado. What's great about these sources is they can
talk to you about record collections specific in that state.
Of course, books and eBooks are available. Three highly recommended books include U.S
Military Records: A Guide to Federal and State Sources, How to Locate Anyone who is or has
been in the Military, and the free eBook from Family Tree Magazine - How to Find Military
Records. Even with our best efforts, finding military
records require travel that we can not do or expenses we lack. What then?
Then it’s time to hire a professional to look up records and seek out items we haven’t
considered before. While this may cost several hundred to a thousand
dollars, the time and energy you say chase the wrong records might be worth the rates.
My colleagues at Legacy Family Tree and Trace can offer you these services. You can also
reach out to the Association of Professional Genealogists to see who is experienced and
active in military research.
Now that you know the basics of U.S. military research let me know what other questions
you have or successes you've had. Tell me all of that in the comments section,
and maybe we'll do a follow-up video based on your feedback.
On your way out, like this video and leave a comment, and subscribe.
Now watch this video to continue your research knowledge journey.
obituaries, lifestyle features, casualty list, ...