Finding Clues on the World War I Draft Registration

Army, US return of Washington DC soldiers.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Have you had difficulty finding a male ancestor born between 1872 and 1899? The only available census during that time period would be the 1880 Census. If your ancestor was born after the 1880 enumeration, there is no census to document them because of the destruction of the 1890 Census (only a fragment survives). One significant record outside of the 1900 Census would be the World War I Draft Registration Card which captures basic information about 24 million male registrants. Check United States, World War One Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 for your ancestor, and use the clues you find to discover more.

"It is important to note that not all of the men who registered for the draft actually served in the military, and not all men who served in the military registered for the draft," according to United States World War I Draft Records. Basic details included on each draft card includes:

• full name
• date
• place of birth
• race
• citizenship
• occupation
• personal description
• signature

George Anderson Tucker of Union County, South Carolina was born in 1882. He was not listed on a census until 1900, however, it was very difficult to find him in 1900 because he was recorded under his mother's surname which was not Tucker. It was much easier to find his WWI Draft Registration Card. He registered on September 18, 1918. Locating him in this year made it easier to find him on the 1900 Census two years later.

The information on the draft card for George includes:

Full name - This is one of the only historical documents that bears his full name: George Anderson Tucker. On other records you may find an ancestor's record only lists his first two initials making it a challenge to search successfully.

Date - The date that your ancestor registered for the draft may have been different because there were three different registrations. George registered on September 18, 1918. If your ancestor had brothers around the same age even if they lived in different places, check to see if they registered also. George's brother registered for the same day that he did.

Place of birth - The registrant was asked if they were native born, alien or specifically if they were naturalized. So you have an additional resource for determining the status of an immigrant ancestor who registered. George was native born.

Race - The questions about race are slightly different on the September 18, 1918 form (see Draft Card Forms A-C listed under Nearest relative and their relationship below). George is listed as Negro.

Citizenship - If your ancestor was not a citizen, he would have named the nation where he was a citizen.

Occupation - Formerly enslaved ancestors would have had fewer documents revealing their occupations prior to 1900. The World War I Draft Registration might have been the first record where ancestors born after 1880 listed an occupation. George's occupation was not recorded prior to 1918. He was a farmer which verifies oral history accounts.

Nearest relative and their relationship. This is a question asked on Draft Card C. The questions on the draft cards were a little different depending on the date your ancestor registered. (See Draft Card A and Draft Card B). Because Draft Card C was issued on September 18, 1918, George was required to provide the name and relationship along with the address of his closest living relative: Daisy Cheak Tucker, wife; RFD1 Buffalo, Union, South Carolina.

This is the only instance his wife's surname is spelled Cheak and not Cheek. While you do not anticipate learning about a female ancestor on the WWI Draft, sisters, wives and mothers are often the ones listed as the nearest relative.

Personal description - If you have no photograph of you ancestor, the draft registration gives you a couple details about him. The physical description for George is: medium height, medium build, brown eyes, black hair.

Signature - Many ancestors could not read or write. There is no "X" in this section on George's draft card, so that mean George probably signed his own name.

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Analyzing information on a death certificate

You need to evaluate the details that you find on a death certificate because even original records can have incorrect information. Not all the information provided on a death certificate occurred at the time the record was generated making the possibility for errors even greater. So how do you go about analyzing the data? Some tips to do this are included below.

"A piece of information is primary when it is recorded by a knowledgeable eyewitness or participant in that event, or by an official whose duties require him or her to make an accurate record of the event when it occurs." See"Skillbuilding: Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Records."

Take a look at the death certificate for George Anderson Tucker. The following details would be primary information:

Place of death: Columbia, South Carolina

Name: George A. Tucker

Sex: Male

Color: Colored

Marital status: Married

Wife: Daisy Tucker

Occupation: Farmer

Informant: E. W. Vance

Burial: Union County, SC, 12/13/1932

Undertaker: Manigault Funeral Home

Date of Death: 12/11/32

Cause of death: Pulmonary Tuberculosis

In this case, the informant, E. W. Vance, is the son-in-law of George. The more closely related the informant is to the decedent, the more reliable the information, although, you should make an effort to find other resources to verify the information given. Unfortunately, like many death certificates, the name of the cemetery has not been provided. That can be a huge disappointment if the funeral home is no longer in business. When this happens, consult your family to ask about known burial sites in the area. Consult newspaper obituaries and take a trip to the church cemetery. In this case, the burials sites for George's wife and children were researched. Most were found to be buried in Maple Ridge Baptist Church Cemetery where the family attended church in Union County. Later, descendants who still attend the church confirmed that George was buried there also.

Often an historical record contains both primary and secondary information. Some of the information given by the informant would be classified as secondary because he was not present when events such as when George's birth took place. For example, the full name of George's father was not given, and the informant did not give the maiden name for his mother.

Secondary information is supplied by someone who was not at the event and may include errors caused by memory loss or influenced by other parties who may have a bias or be under emotional stress. See"Skillbuilding: Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Records."

You may have relied heavily on clues on a death certificate to determine the names of your ancestor's parent's and birthplace. Be careful accepting this information on a death certificate as factual without any other documentation. If the names or birthplaces given are incorrect, you may find yourself on a wild goose chase.

It was necessary to refer to other records to determine the full names of George's parents. Fortunately some of the children of George were alive to confirm these findings when the research was first being conducted. Records that can verify secondary information such as parent's names on a death certificate include:

• birth records
• marriage records
• death records
• military records
• probate/wills

Before you etch any details you discover on records in the annals of history, be sure to provide your analysis of the accuracy of the information and other forms of proof.

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Genealogy: My quest to find the living, Part 1

An extended family: Eastpoint, Florida (Photo credit: State Library and Archives of Florida)

I really enjoyed creating this resource because it brought back so many fond memories of discovering extended family. The resources and methods described here have helped me to learn more about my ancestors (photos and stories) through many extended family members that I have discovered. This will probably take up more than one post.

One of the purposes for me in researching extended family was to discover what they could tell me about my ancestors so that I could preserve history in books for my future posterity.  I have been able to publish several books, but I still have along way to go. 

I was very fortunate as a child to have heard the conversations between family members about the past.  I would wait for the discussion to break, and then I would interject my own questions that I anxiously wanted to have answered.  I did this without pen or paper.  My interest was so great, I would often look forward to the times the family would get together so I could learn more.  I hope every young person has the opportunity to hear family stories from parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. 

While young, I began asking questions of my grandmother when we were alone.  I wanted to know about her parents and grandparents. I questioned her about what life was like growing up on the farm.  I asked her about slavery and if she knew any stories of slaves in our family.  She told me that her grandmother was sold from her mother as a slave as a very young child.  She also told me that a grandmother was freed from slavery when she was a child.  

I did not think of asking the name of her grandmother back then.  I know now that it was either Martha Sims Talley or Elenia Coleman Chick.  My grandmother, Otis, would have known both of her grandparents well.  I have documented both of them on the census back to 1870 and on other historical records.

Otis Edna Tucker was very much a lady.  She carried herself as a lady throughout her life.  I  never saw her in anything but a dress. She was very careful to teach me what it meant to be "trifling" as she would say.  I have become like her in a huge way.  She grew up in a time where it did not take much for African Americans to be treated with disrespect.  She knew it was important not to give anyone a reason to disrespect her.  

She was the oldest, and helped out a great deal on the farm.  She even taught in a one room school house where some of her siblings where her students.  Her dad introduced her to Emory Wallace Vance, and little did he know they would later elope.

I have traced the Tuckers and the Chicks clear back beyond the 1700's.  Both of my great grandparents descend from slave owners.  Our records are intertwined within the records of the former owners and their children.  

It was through a family reunion during later years that a print of the photograph of the father of George Anderson Tucker which hung in their home was shared.  A photo of Martha, George's mother, hung alongside it, but it was destroyed in a house fire.

When I began researching, I traced my ancestors back as far as I could.  I wanted to learn more, and as I looked at all the names of their descendants I had recorded on extraction forms in my search, I wondered if there was anyone alive that could tell me more.

I decided to search each census forward to identify extended family that could still be living.  I branched out on several collateral lines. In the next article, I will share some of those census discoveries and how I learned about more members of each family group. 

Related articles

• Meeting extended family.

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20. Amanuensis Monday: Sweet Aunt Cat

Catherine T. Harrison (1917-1999)

This is an oral history interview with Catherine T. Harrison, my great aunt, on February 12, 1996. Aunt Cat is the daughter of George Anderson Tucker and Daisy Chick Tucker. This is the first interview I had ever done. I was encouraged through a class I was taking at Chicago State University on African American genealogy by Tony Burroughs, a famous genealogist who recently appeared on the PBS Series African Ancestors' Lives.


Aunt Cat was very supportive and kept in touch always with family members. She was truly a family historian. From the information that she shared, I was able to eventually find the census records from 1870 to 1930 for the Chick-Tucker and Sims-Talley families.

 

Question: Where did you go to school?

Catherine Tucker Harrison: 


" I went to school back in Buffalo, South Carolina...a grammar school...at a little school that was about a mile from our home. I went to rural school. I was there from the first grade through the seventh grade. I was pretty alert, so my older sister, who is your grandmother, ...she was married then and living in Columbia, South Carolina, and so she took me to Columbia, South Carolina, and I started school in the eighth grade there at Booker T. Washington High School.


I finished high school there in 1937. Then after I finished high school, there was a college in the same town, Benedict College, and I enrolled in Benedict College. I spent four years there, and I graduated from Benedict College with magna cum laude. Then after that, I taught at various places in South Carolina."




Read more at Suite101: Interviewing Extracts Rich African American heritage

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