K.M. SALMON

TRUNK

MILITARY GENEALOGY:

UNCOVERING YOUR SAILOR’S STORY

Megan

ChurchwellCurator, Puget Sound

Navy Museum

WELCOME!

WELCOME!

For a list of helpful links I’l l be

mentioning, see

https://www.pugetsoundnavymuse

um.org/speakers-bureau/

Please use the comment box! I’l l

do my best to respond to any

questions that come up during this

presentation. If I don’t get to yours,

I ’ l l respond later.

This presentation will be recorded,

available later on our Facebook

page.

AGENDA

All branches of U.S. military (with a focus on Navy)

All periods, from colonial to modern

What records are available & where they can be found

• Military personnel files

• Records specific to specific wars/time periods

• Going beyond personnel: unit records, deck logs, muster

rolls, and other National Archives sources

• Non-federal sources for military records

Start by determining which ancestor(s) served

Your research path depends on military branch and era

Request multiple records, if available

Military records provide more than just info on service

Most military records are held by the National Archives (NARA)

WHERE TO START

REQUESTING MILITARY PERSONNEL FILES

For service that ENDED during or after World War I, except if Navy (then 1885 or later)

Who can submit the request?

62 years since end of service? (1958)

What information do you need about the servicemember?

Where do you send the request?

What can you expect the response to look like?

ABOUT THE SF-180

NATF 86

For pre-World War I personnel records (known as Compiled Military Service Records)

ARMY only (not Navy, Marines)

MUST know veteran's name, state, war or service dates, and whether volunteer or regular Army.

You do not need to be next -of-kin

Request can also be submitted online, at https://eservices.archives.gov/

For pre-Civil War era: Assembled after-

the-fact from Muster rolls, pay

vouchers, other records

Records include: rank, unit, date

mustered in and mustered out, basic

biographical information, medical

information, and military information

COMPILED MILITARY

SERVICE RECORDS

For 1885 or later, fi le the SF 180

For pre-1885, there is no Navy equivalent to the Army Compiled

Service Record. Record sources include:

Lists of of ficers and enlisted sailors in Lewis R. Hamersly's General

Register of the United States Navy and Marine Corps or Edward W.

Callahan's List of Officers of the Navy of the United States

Yearly publication Registers of the Commissioned Officers of the

United States Navy and Marine Corps

National Archives Microfilm Publication M330, Abstracts of Service

Records of Naval Off icers 1798-1893

Naval Academy Academic and Conduct Records of Cadets, 1881 –

1908

RG 24, entry 204, Records Relating to Enlisted Men Who Served in

the Navy 1842–1941. Arranged alphabetically by sailor's name and

contain collected correspondence .

PRE-1885 NAVY & MARINE CORPS

1973 NPRC FireDestroyed 18 million personnel files:

• ARMY Personnel discharged November 1, 1912

to January 1, 1960 (80% loss)

• AIR FORCE Personnel discharged September

25, 1947 to January 1, 1964 (with names

alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) (75%

loss)

• NAVY and MARINE CORPS records unaffected.

• "B" (Burned) and "R" (Reconstructed) files

• Reconstructed using VA claims, state records,

pay vouchers, medical records, etc.

• Worth requesting even if you think your relative’s

files were affected

Not a lot of personnel records kept in the first place

What did exist has fallen victims to major fires in 1800 and

1814 and other natural disasters over time

Some compiled service records and muster rolls do still exist

Held by the National Archives. See finding aids in helpful links

COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY RECORDS

Questions about military service were included in 1840 and

1890 census

1890 still exists, despite loss of most of that year’s census

Primarily veterans of War of 1812 (1840) and Civil War (1890)

1840 has been compiled and published as "A Census of

Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services " and is

available in libraries and online

1890 is available for some states, primarily in the second half

of the alphabet. The records give name, rank, company,

regiment or vessel, dates of enlistment and discharge, length

of service, residence, disability, and remarks. Available on

microfilm from NARA.

CENSUS: MILITARY VETERANS SCHEDULES

Pension applications and records of pension payments for

veterans, their widows, and heirs

Service between 1775 and 1916

Often contain supporting documents: narratives of service,

marriage certificates, birth records, death certificates, family

letters, depositions of witnesses, affidavits, discharge papers

Order from NARA online (see link in handout) or by mail using

NATF Form 85

PENSION FILES

Service between 1775 and 1855

Award of land in exchange for wartime service

Only a few soldiers actually lived on their bounty land; most

sold their warrants

Most Revolutionary War & War of 1812 bounty records have

been combined with pension files

Order from NARA online (see link in handout) or by mail using

NATF Form 85

BOUNTY LAND WARRANTS

Civil War Soldiers & Sailors Database:

All Union and Confederate Army soldiers (6 million +)

18,000 African American Sailors who served in Navy

Regiment Histories

Prisoner lists

Medal of Honor awardees

Battles

Cemeteries

See link in handout!

CIVIL WAR

Men 18-45 (born Sept 11 1872

– Sept 12, 1900)

24 million cards

Not all of these men went on to

serve in the war; others served

in the war but did not fil l out a

draft card before enlisting.

Held by National Archives, also

widely available online

WORLD WAR I: DRAFT REGISTRATION

CARDS

Main Source: Enlistment Records

All who enlisted, in any branch, 1938-1946

Available via NARA AAD (see link in handout)

Name, residence, date of enlistment, rank, branch, race and

citizenship, education, civilian occupation

WORLD WAR II

POST WORLD WAR II

- Most are not yet publicly available (privacy laws)

- Personnel records become public 62 years after

discharge

- Currently records of some Korean War veterans

are available, not Vietnam War era yet

- Some records from recent wars (such as casualty

lists and burial records) are public

- Non-archival records can be requested by the

veteran themselves

- Most often seeking the DD-214 (Discharge

Certificate)

- For next of kin (or the veteran themselves),

file the request online through eVetRecs (see

handout)

Ranks

Ratings

Acronyms

Army MOS (occupational specialty) = Navy Rate = Job Title

DECIPHERING

PERSONNEL RECORDS

• Enlistment place and date

• Duty stations and assignments

• Training, qualifications, performance

• Awards and medals

• Disciplinary actions

• Administrative remarks and

correspondence

• Separation/discharge/retirement

paperwork (DD214 or equivalent)

• Service number

• Campaign participation

GOING BEYOND PERSONNEL RECORDS

U.S. Navy ships and shore stations must keep a daily log

National Archives has Navy deck logs for 1801-1983. Found in NARA RG 24 (Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel)

For access, contact:

National Archives at College Park

Textual Reference archives2reference@nara.gov

Some have been digitized and are online

(see link in handout)

Post-1983 deck logs are kept by the

Naval History & Heritage Command (NHHC)

DECK LOGS

MUSTER

ROLLSMUSTER ROLLS

Organized by Record Group (RG)

Military medical records – field hospital reports, medical journals of ships and shore stations; reports of diseases and deaths

Veterans' headstone applications

Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File - Deceased veterans -- name, birth and death dates, military branch, enlistment and release dates

Federal Civil ian Records (for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and other federal employees)

To view records: can go in-person, pay a researcher to go there for you, or send in a written request

For digitized records, see Access to Archival Databases (AAD) -https://aad.archives.gov/aad/

OTHER RECORDS AT NARA

Most federal military records are held either at:

National Archives Building in Washington DC (Revolutionary War to 1912)

National Military Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis (WWI -

present)

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AT SEATTLE

There is also a National Archives

Branch in Seattle (Sand Point). It has:

Local records (for Puget Sound Navy

Yard, Coast Guard, and other local

military sites – WA, OR, ID, AK)

Microfilm of commonly accessed

records including census, pension

and bounty land warrant

applications

War diaries

Manuscripts

Biographies

Photographs (primarily of ships)

Cruise books

Manages DANFS

(histories of Navy ships)

Other branches have similar services,

such as U.S. Army Center of

Military History

NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COMMAND

Washington State Archives has records created by the state (not

federal) government, including:

Records from state veterans’ homes, including Retsil in Port Orchard

National Guard records, particularly from WWI & WWII

Applications submitted by the state’s veterans of both world wars for

a state bonus.

WASHINGTON STATE ARCHIVES

Local American Legion, VFW, and other veterans' groups

your ancestor may have belonged to.

In World War I, many counties created “honor rolls”

(usually a plaque or a published book) with names, and

sometimes brief biographies or photos, of local veterans.

Check with the county clerk! At end of World War II, every

servicemember got a copy of their discharge paper. The

Army recommended they file a copy with local county

clerk, so it would be available if his personal copy got

lost. Some counties gave tax breaks or other benefits to

those who filed it . For many veterans whose records were

lost in the 1970s fire, this is the only record remaining.

LOCAL RESOURCES

LDS Family History Library (including Family History Center in

Bremerton). FamilySearch.org is their (free) online search.

NARA has digitization agreements with Fold3 and

Ancestry.com, which are paid sites

Fold3 and Ancestry.com have many searchable resources --

such as correspondence between naval officers -- that

otherwise you may not know even exist.

The records that Ancestry.com has digitized for NARA are

accessible for free at all NARA Research Rooms, including in

Seattle.

Many public libraries provide access to Ancestry.com!

NON-GOVERNMENT RESOURCES

Do you have photos of your

ancestor in uniform? Or pieces of

the uniform itself?

Dog tags have serial number,

name, blood type, and sometimes

other info

Uniform style, medals, and patches

can tell you about their service

“READING” UNIFORMS

1. National Archives Seattle –

“Brick Wall” genealogy

events

2. Your local l ibrary! Many

have genealogy centers

3. National Archives History

Hub

4. Contact me!

(Curator.PSNM@Navy.mil or

through Facebook!)

FOR FURTHER HELP