"Finding Your U.S. Military Heroes on Ancestry" helps you navigate the millions of military records on Ancestry to find your veteran ancestor.

1. Finding Your U.S.
Military Heroes on
Ancestry

2. Identifying Your Ancestors Who Served
• Family Stories
• Photographs in Uniform
• Memorabilia
• Cemeteries
• Obituaries
New York Herald (New York, N.Y.), 7 January 1870

3. Identifying Your Ancestors Who Served
• Correspondence and journals

4. 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

5. Newspaper Accounts
Hometown papers often included
updates on local servicemen & women.
From the Appleton Motor
(Appleton, Wisconsin), 04 July 1861

6. 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

7. Were they eligible?
Click here to save a copy of
this chart.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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

15. Check the Description

16. National Archives and Records Administration
Some military records
can be requested
online via the National
Archives website.

17. National Archives and Records Administration
www.archives.gov/research/order

18. 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

19. Highlights from Ancestry U.S. Collections

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. Exploring the Records: Draft Registrations
• Draft Registrations on Ancestry for WWI and WWII
“Babe” Ruth, World War II Draft Registration, 1942

24. 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

25. 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

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

27. 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

28. U.S., Sons of
the American
Revolution
Membership
Applications,
1889-1970
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29. U.S., Sons of
the American
Revolution
Membership
Applications,
1889-1970
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30. U.S., Sons of
the American
Revolution
Membership
Applications,
1889-1970
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31. 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.

32. 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.

33. U.S. Navy Cruise Books, 1918-2009
33
Cruise books are yearbook-style books
put together by volunteers on board
ship to commemorate a deployment.

34. 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.

35. 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

36. Learning More
• Ancestry.com Wiki - www.ancestry.com/wiki
Military chapter from The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy

37. Ancestry.com Wiki –
See Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources for state resources.

38. For more
online
military
records,
visit
Fold3.com
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39. We hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into our
collections. Now come and find your military
heroes on Ancestry!
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