SIGN IN

 Funeral home sign-in books can aid a family history story. 

 Prayer cards are often interesting too. I know someone who collects the prayer cards - 

She says the prayers on them on the anniversaries of a deceased person's death.

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

DNA : A GUIDE FOR FAMILY HISTORIANS and A GENEALOGY REQUEST FROM A PERSON WHO BELIEVES THEMSELVES TO BE A CHILD BEGOT IN INCEST

This book is very interesting indeed!  But ah, I have to admit that I found it a difficult read. I had it for weeks before I was overcome with the feeling that, while it was written for the family historian / genealogist, I would have to give it a second go some other time.

While I was reading it, I got a genealogy research request from a person who told me that she thought she might be a child begot in incest.

Science is gaining on understanding the transfer of DNA - which is still a mystery. Now even the DNA of an ancient bogman can be interpreted; we can know he had blue eyes and what color hair, as well as where he was likely born via his diet. But our most obvious traits - what we look like - can vary from what our parents look like.

This book does go into scientific detail explaining how our DNA is conveyed through the generations. But what the woman who thinks her brother may have been her father, and that she was raised by various relatives until she was adopted, would need is LIVING and WILLING relatives whose tests could be compared to hers and it would probably take an expert to read any test results and interpret them for her. It's not presently possible to do that, requiring an adoption search.

What we have right now are PERCENTAGES.

YES, IF YOU HAVE LIVING AND WILLING RELATIVES, you may be able to learn who your biological parents were.  A brother as a father? Possibly.  According to one testing company if your father was your full brother, you may share more like 75% DNA rather than the 50% you share from that sibling. This book does have some helpful charts about percentages of relatedness.

BUT SHE DOES NOT.  She tells me that the man she thought of as her grandfather, the man she thought of as her brother, and her actual brother have all passed away. So are the relatives who she called mom and dad. So there isn't anyone that close to be tested. Well, maybe if there is something they left behind - a locket of hair? - there might be something to test. 

So, let me say this - because it does come up from time to time. When I say I'm a genealogist many people start talking about genetics.

Genealogy is research in which we rely on documents we call "the paper trail." DNA science can sometimes be used to find relatives and therefore ancestors you didn't know about if you get a "match" who is also interested in comparing the paper trail research and/or may know some people or information you do not.

All people involved must have taken DNA tests with the same company. (The book does mention the offerings of various companies and some pluses and minuses.) Some people test and upload results for sharing but some do not. I personally have to honor that, especially because we live in a time in which our privacy is being invaded.

The test results, when it comes to race and ethnicity, are STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. Which is why some people get updates and surprises such as a change in the reading of their ethnicity  from a company or variant results after testing with more than one. As more people add their information to a particular database, science gets better at this prediction. 

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CHANGING LEAVES

 

WHAT IS THE LONGEST RUNNING PUBLISHED PERIODICAL IN THE UNITED STATES?

It's the OLD FARMER'S ALMANAC which many farmers relied upon when it came to weather predictions and planting times. And it was first published in 1793 when George Washington was the First President of the United States.

ALMANAC HISTORY

Excerpt: By definition, an almanac records and predicts astronomical events (the rising and setting of the Sun, for instance), tides, weather, and other phenomena with respect to time. The best known of all of almanacs ever produced is The Old Farmer’s Almanac, North America’s oldest, continuously published periodical.

Excerpt: Today, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is the oldest continuously published periodical in North America, with a circulation of over 2.5 million copies throughout the United States and Canada. People still flock to the Almanac for its 80 percent accurate weather forecasts, which have evolved to incorporate state-of-the-art technology and modern scientific principles, in addition to Thomas’s original formulation.

***

You may enrich your family history writing by looking at old Almanacs...

Some links : CLIMATE NCSU (How the Almanac Predicted Weather)

ONLINE BOOKS AT U OF PENN : Editions of the Old Farmers Almanac

DNA OF ELIZABTH I "THE VIRGIN QUEEN" : NO SHE WAS NOT MALE and YES SHE BECAME VERY ILL

There are a few things I need to remind my readers of when it comes to DNA tests and evidence. DNA has progressed over the years and though these videos seem to be quite intelligently made, there may be other opinions or revisions available.

Elizabeth I was born 7 September 1533 and passed on 24 March 1603. She was the Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death. She never married or had children and is known for using white lead cosmetic to smooth her skin, which had been pitted from having smallpox and might have poisoned her and her red hair. In this video it is suggested she took great care of her appearance and sought to seem ageless in order to appear powerful to her country's enemies.

A DNA Reconstruction Of Queen Elizabeth I Revealed : THE BLACK RECORD YOUTUBE STATION

Posts like this one can be found by clicking on the label YouTube Station Recommend

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THE DNA OF RICHARD III SUGGESTS HIS MOTHER TOLD A LIE ... THE KING KNOWN FOR SCOLIOSIS

... and challenges who should have inherited the throne.  We don't know what his mother experienced or knew or if her husband knew that Richard III was not his biological son. The skeleton was found under a parking lot ... His spinal deformation and his rich seafood diet helped convince the scientists this skeleton belonged to Richard III... So they decided to find useable DNA from bones over 500 years old... The genealogist sought a living descendant or his sister Anne of York and traced her female lineage - seventeen generations. On the paternal side though, living relatives were found and it was a mismatch! But it could have been that Richard III himself was not where the DNA lineage break occurred but went back a generation or so.

Excerpt from the station : a discovery that suggests a massive deception at the heart of the English monarchy.

DNA From King Richard III’s Bones Just Revealed a Secret : THE BLACK RECORD YOUTUBE STATION

Posts like this one can be found by clicking on the label YouTube Station Recommend

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COMING UP : MORE YOUTUBE VIDEO STATIONS WORTH WATCHING ABOUT DNA MYSTERIES AND CONTROVERSIES

I recently found some YouTube stations about the use of DNA to solve the mysteries of some English historical characters that that are truly interesting. 

I have a policy when it comes to YouTube videos for this blog. That is that I choose not to link to videos with embedding if the video starts, ends, or has in the middle advertising. This is because the advertising is annoying and disruptive and can change, so that it can become offensive. In the past I've encountered violent and/or explicit movie and cartoon ads, military weaponry being sold to the public, and other items I do not approve of and must shield my readers from. I'm told it is YouTube who makes the selection and the Station may have no say about what shows up. When I encountered a bible study that was interrupted with ads for personal men's products, I was convinced that's true.

I understand that many YouTube station owners work hard to create their videos and hope that the hits will result in some financial benefit as a result. Fair enough. Because I'm recommending these stations, I do hope the creators will experience more hits! 

Posts like this one can be found by clicking on the label YouTube Station Recommend

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WHAT'S NEW WITH THE "ELLIS ISLAND NEW YORK - STATUE OF LIBERTY ORG - DATABASE SITE ? IT'S NO LONGER JUST ABOUT ELLIS ISLAND! MORE U.S. PORT SHIP MANIFESTS TO BE INCLUDED!

In 2025 the old "Ellis Island" database site (which I stayed up in the middle of the night to access when it first was launched on the Internet - contributing to the site crashing!) underwent some wonderful improvements thanks to major financial input: one hundred million dollar renovation to turn the museum into a state of the art experience which doubled the size of the museum. 

Very basically, it's no longer just an Ellis Island site!  Records from other ports of entry into the United States are going to be added to that database, an ongoing project:  The plans are to include these ports.  Check on progress of the project...

Boston, Massachusetts

Baltimore, Maryland

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

New Orleans, Louisiana

San Francisco, California

San Diego, California

Los Angeles (San Pedro), California

Charleston, South Carolina

Galveston, Texas 

Ports in Florida

 
Hawaii,

 
Alaska, 

Puerto Rico

Maybe more!
 

If you make it to New York City, you can go there with what you may know about your ancestor and a live person can help you use the database. "The Family History Center is located on the first floor of the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration."

STATUE OF LIBERTY ORG - THE "ELLIS ISLAND" SITE

HERITAGE STATUE OF LIBERTY - PASSENGER SEARCH  (Click here to go directly to the passenger search database)

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PLANETARY PHOTO FAMILY TREE

LOVE THIS CONCEPT!

This image is from THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Title : Planetary photographic family record / designed and executed by J.W. Zook, Oak Grove, Ills. ; Lith. of Kellogg & Bulkeley, Hartford, Conn.

Genre : Family trees--1860-1870 Lithographs--1860-1870
Call Number/Physical Location :PGA - Kellogg & Bulkeley--Planetary photographic (D size) [P&P]

100 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT THE NEGRO by LOUIS HENRY GATES JR. : MORE EXCERPTS! LET'S KEEP LEARNING!

More Excerpts! :

Chapter 22 : Did black people own slaves? If so, why?

Excerpt page 60 : One of the most vexing paradoxes in African-American history Is that free black people in the county bought and sold other black people starting at least in 1654 and continued to do so through the Civil War ..... Historians have been arguing for some time over whether free blacks purchased family members as slaves in order to protect them - motivated by benevolence and philanthropy.... or whether they purchased other black people primarily to exploit their free labor for profit, just as white slave owners did. ....

In 1830 about 13% (319,599) of the black population was free. Of these free Negroes, 3,776 owned 12,907 slaves, out of a total of 2,009,043 slaves owned in the United States...

(Citing Historian Thomas J. Pressly....) About 1 percent of these black slave owners in 1830 owned between 20 and 84 slaves; 172 (about 4 percent) owned between 10 and 19 slaves; and 3, 550 (about 94 percent) each owned between 1 an 9 slaves. Crucially 42 percent owned just 1 slave.

Chapter 40 "Before Emancipation, didn't most free blacks live in the northern half of America?

Excerpt page 140: (Referencing a book published in 1974 called "Slaves without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South: by Ira Berlin)

In 1860, that raging year of Lincoln's reelection and southern secession, a total of 488,070 free blacks lived in the United States, about 10 percent of the Black population  Of those 226, 152 lived in the North and 2651,918 in the South.  (But Delaware and Maryland are considered the south)

A few months before the Confederacy was born, there were 35,766 more free black people living in the slave-owning South than the North. And they stayed there during the Civil War.

***

NOTE : Manumissions are formal acts of emancipation by slave owners.

I'm always interested in learning more niche-specific history and these stats certainly challenged my understanding that far fewer blacks had the status of freemen so early.

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100 AMAZING FACTS ABOUT THE NEGRO by LOUIS HENRY GATES JR. : ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY BOOK REVIEW and EXCERPTS!

This book is based on a formerly published book as retold through the research of Henry Louis Gates Jr., the famous Black historian and genealogist. There are a hundred profiles of famous Negro people and unfortunately for the original author and Gates, very very few were female.

What I find most valuable in the book is the information that may sway us to facing reality while researching family. I take an interest in ALL U.S. research (i.e. American History and Genealogy) and that, of course, includes the ancestry of present day Americans who consider themselves Black or think or know they have some Black ancestry. I'm also interested in busting myths because untruths often mean a lot of frustration and wasted time.

Some interesting excerpts:

Chapter 2 : How many Africans were taken to the United States during the entire history of the slave trade?

Excerpt page 9 :  The most comprehensive analysis of shipping records over the course of the slave trade is the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.  While the editors are careful to say that all their figures are estimates, they are the proverbial gold standard in the study of the slave trade.  According to the database, between 1525 and 1866, 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World.  Some 10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage, disembarking in North America, the Caribbean, and South American.

How many of these 10.7 million Africans were shipped directly to North American? Only about 388,000 ...

Chapter 13: Where was the first black town in what is now the United States?

Excerpt page 10 : In the late 1600's, Spanish Florida exercised a powerful draw on the collective imagination of slaves to the north in Carolina.  It was their first Promised Land. At east since 1687, if slaves made it down to Florida and professed believe in "the True Faith " - Roman Catholicism - they were declared to be free.  News of this haven spread through the slave grapevine.

 

Sometime between March and November 1738, Spanish settlers in Florida formed a town named Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, two miles to the north of St. Augustine...  (It got to be called Fort Mose.)

Chapter 16 : Where was the first underground railroad?  (Spanish American history here!)

Excerpt page 44 : After 1830 slaves in the southern states fled north to gain their freedom. (After previously fleeing south.)

Excerpt cage 45 : .... in 1693, the Spanish King, Charles II, attempting to systematically undermine the economy of the Carolinas, decreed that Florida would be a religious sanctuary for fugitive slaves seeking "the true faith."....(men and women slaves included).

Chapter 19 "How much African ancestry does the average African American have?  (autosomal DNA tests)

Excerpt pages 52-53 : ... According to 23and Me.com the average African American is 73.2 percent sub-Saharan African 24 percent European, and only 0.8 percent Native American.

For African American males, still another astonishing fact ha been revealed about their paternal ancestry - their father's father's father's line through their Y-DNA: a whopping 35 percent of all African- American men descend from a white male ancestor who fathered a mulatto child sometime in the slavery era,...

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Lets go to the FORT MOSE HISTORICAL SITE!

https://www.floridastateparks.org/learn/history-fort-mose

 

BOOK LOVE

 

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 9/11 TERROR ATTACKS ON THE WORLD TRADE CENTER IN NEW YORK CITY

THE FIGHTER PILOT SENT TO RAN INTO UNITED 93  Survivors' 9/11 stories

  

From the ITV News YouTube Station : Janice Brooks worked on the 84th floor of the South Tower. She was in the building when the second plane hit. Heather ‘Lucky’ Penney was a fighter pilot. She was sent on a suicide mission to intercept Flight 93, which was heading towards Washington DC. George Campbell worked in the New York City Fire Department. He was a first responder on 9/11. With thanks to Janice Brooks, Heather Penney and George Campbell. Produced by Josh Brooks, edited by Adam Blair, shot by Tamuka Walker and Tony Day.

*** ********* ***

My memory of this day:  I liked to listen to KFI in the morning at the time and Bill Handel (who is still on the air at age 75.)  Bill has/d a sense of humor that could be dry and sarcastic. He could even be rude and crude at times (but not as extreme as Howard Stern) such as the time he gave a blow by blow account of a man being executed in the electric chair. So when I heard him broadcasting about a plane hitting into the World Trade Center I wasn't sure I should believe him. Maybe it was just too much to believe.  

From https://www.iheart.com/podcast/85-the-bill-handel-show-25012129/episode/handels-9112001-broadcast-343691985?viewTranscription=true

Excerpt:

Speaker 6 A plane crash into a New York landmark. I'm Ken Gallagher.
Smoke is pouring from the upper floors of the north
building of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
And then we have reports now that a second plane
has struck the other tower. We'll have confirmation on those
details just as soon as we can.

Speaker 1
It's fairly obvious now, Ken, that a second plane has,
in fact, struck the tower.

Speaker 4
You can see that now. We now have both buildings
on fire.

Speaker 1
And it's hard to say at this point, but that
cannot be an accident. And I think it's safe to
say that we've got a situation going on where we've
got a terrorist attack upon the World Trade Center. They're
looking at a lot of damage and probably a lot
of people being killed. Both airplanes are being reported as
hijacked by the FBI. If this is the case, we've got an extraordinary,
extraordinary criminal act going on.

Speaker 4
This is out of a movie. The airplane was aimed
for and was.

Speaker 1
Timed to do the maximum amount of damage and to
hurt and kill and maim the most number of people. ...

*** ********* ***

I turned on the television and the second plane had hit and I knew it was. Of all people I called first, it was my apartment building manager. He didn't believe me. But within the hour a group of us tenants were standing outside in the parking lot together talking. We definitely thought our country was being attacked and suspected War would be declared. 

(I believe war should always be called war and declared officially as is supposed to happen with the approval of Congress  https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/declarations-of-war.htm )

Excerpt: The Constitution grants Congress the sole power to declare war. Congress has declared war on 11 occasions, including its first declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812. Congress approved its last formal declaration of war during World War II. Since that time it has agreed to resolutions authorizing the use of military force and continues to shape U.S. military policy through appropriations and oversight.

We listened to Tony Blair, the Prime Minster of Great Britain's speech which was eloquent and forthright. I recall wishing our politicians could be like him.  (According to Google AI, "Speaking from Downing Street just hours after the attacks, Blair expressed total solidarity with the United States, famously declaring that Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the American people."  I definitely thought he was pledging to the American people that if we went to war we could count on Great Britain to fight with us.

I was one of many who felt depressed and frightened. 

Today I also think of all the people in this world who find themselves living with military violence in their country - in their town - and how traumatic that is - how it will effect the generations. It seems our exposure to violence has increased tremendously, even when watching a YouTube video that is interruptive and presents some drama, even an ad for a video game that I would rather not see...

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LABOR DAY

 

This picture is attributed to Linnaea Mallette. 

I wish I knew the origin of it.

Notice that child laborers are included.

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY : SOCIAL WELFARE HISTORY PROJECT : CHILD LABOR

Excerpt: Child Labor Defined: Historically, “child labor” is defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. However, not all work done by children should be classified as child labor. Children or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something positive. This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays.

BLACK COWBOYS - MORE THAN A MYTH : EXHIBIT AT THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER in LONG BEACH CALIFORNIA

 A few photos from my recent visit to 

THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER 

LONG BEACH (LOS ANGELES) CALIFORNIA

A small beautiful museum always worth a visit,

 I was really impressed with this exhibit.

 Sharon Diggs - Jackson - Curator partnered with the Autry Museum of the American West, sponsored by Josephine S. Gumbinger Foundation and the Port of Long Beach.

Should you wish to venture out to see this exhibit, The Cultural Center is inside a building called Expo Center, which is the scene of art exhibits and events in the Bixby area of Long Beach.  In walking distance or a short drive there are many eateries - coffee - ice cream - Mexican - German - beer and wine. There are also some very nice boutique type shops. You really can make an afternoon of it.

https://aacclb.org/

Photos taken by permission of the African American Cultural Center

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GOODBYE TO THE SUMMER

 

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS : PLOWSHARES DIGITAL ON-LINE ARCHIVE FOR PEACE STUDIES : FREE SPEECH - FREEDOM OF RELIGION - CIVIL RIGHTS - INTERFAITH - AMISH - MENNONITE - CHURCH OF THE BRETHERN

Freedom of Religion, Free Speech - Our basic rights as Americans? 

This post concludes the subject of CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS at this time here at ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY.

I learned that three colleges in Indiana have collaborated in a project that appears on the PLOWSHARES DIGITAL ARCHIVE FOR PEACE STUDIES. The colleges are Earlham College, Goshen College, and Manchester University

PALNI PLOWSHARES DIGITAL ARCHIVE

Excerpts: 

The Plowshares Digital Archive for Peace Studies provides primary documents - including minutes, diaries, correspondence, pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals - ranging in date from the 1700s to the present. The archive chronicles the social justice efforts of the students and faculty of these colleges as well as the members of their affiliated historic peace-churches - Quakers, Mennonites and the Church of the Brethren. This partnership, often supported by the Lilly Endowment, focuses on preserving and documenting the history of peace studies, social justice, and the peacemaking traditions of the historic peace churches: Quakers, Mennonites, and the Church of the Brethren.

Now, let's go over the subject a bit:

A person who registers for the United States Selective Service (Military Draft) may never be called to serve. Currently men/males but not women/females must register.

The time to state that one is a CO is when called to serve.

In the past there have been options including military service that is non-combative and working in non-military Public Service Camps.

The United States will by the end of 2026 have a vast database that includes all the 18-25 year old men/males possible to find.  There will be stiff penalties for not registering.

If you are a CO, look to the past, and then to the present.  At this moment, I don't know all the details when it comes to opting out of military service for the United States of America.

It is my opinion that patriotism has room for diverse opinions.

NARA is the first step to finding MILITARY SERVICE RECORDS including Draft Registrations, for ancestors and Next-of-Kin.

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WHITE FENCE

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS : COLLEGES THAT HAVE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS : FREE SPEECH and PEACE : VIETNAM : ARCHIVES THAT HOLD RECORDS BESIDES NARA

The following Colleges have Special Collections that pertain to the Conscientious Objectors and frankly, so may the college that your CO ancestor was attending when called upon to serve in the United States military. Their involvement in Protests regarding the war, in particular the Vietnam War, may also be reported in NEWSPAPERS!

UNIVERSITY OF OREGAN - EUGENE - SPECIAL COLLECTIONS   This college has records of the Civilian Public Service Camp No 56. (Local, non military camp) and other materials about the camps in the Pacific Northwest.

WHAT OF THE FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT, which was tied into Protests and those who wished to Conscientiously Object to military service?

I'll bet you know which college is most famous for this during the Vietnam War!

UC BERKELEY FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT  The Bancroft Library at Berkeley has the FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT DIGITAL ARCHVE and includes anti-war and draft resistance movements.

To focus a bit more : GUIDE TO BANCROFT LIBRARY KEY COLLECTIONS

Partial Excerpt: 

University of California, Office of the President records, 1885-1975 (partially unprocessed)

CU-5

► Subjects: Women, subversive activities, racial problems, Loyalty Oath, Communism, unions, labor relations, un-American activities, academic freedom, affirmative action, student demonstrations, sex discrimination

Records of the Office of the Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley, 1952-2000
CU-149

► Subjects: Student revolts, Free Speech Movement, Third World Liberation Front, Vietnam War, People's Park, Loyalty Oath, SLATE, strikes, academic freedom

University of California, Academic Senate, Berkeley Division records, 1869-present
CU-9

► Subjects: academic freedom, affirmative action, campus political activity

Records of the Office of Student Activities, approximately 1917-1990 (partially unprocessed and restricted collection)

CU-14
Subjects: Discrimination, Third World Liberation Front, Free Speech Movement, People's Park, Vietnam War, minority groups

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CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS : QUAKER AND MEMMONITE CHURCH RECORDS : ARCHIVES THAT HOLD RECORDS BESIDES NARA : CIVILIAN PUBLIC SERVICE CAMPS

Please note that it always possible that other religious archives may hold documents regarding your CO ancestor than these two.  A priest, minister, or other church authority may have been asked to give a reference or otherwise support the CO's petition. I would begin by finding out where the person was living (which could be on the draft registration) and what church they were a member of at the time and the appropriate archive for that location.

Also, if you have difficulty finding what you want on a website, give a phone call to the library or archive or persons on the contact information for the site.

HAVERFORD COLLEGE LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS : QUAKER CO's  This collection's focus is the Quakers, the peace efforts of the church as a whole and the personal papers of individuals. Haverford College is in Haverford, Delaware County, Pennsylvania

MENNONITE CHURCH USA ARCHIVES : Amish, Mennonite  Located in North Newton, Harvey County, Kansas, this is a major archive for records of the Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren, CO's. It includes CIVILIAN PUBLIC SERVICE (CPS) records.  

IMPORTANT TO KNOW : Previously I mentioned that some CO's SERVED IN THE MILITARY in NON-COMBAT ROLES and that could include work camps.  

HOWEVER THERE WAS SUCH A THING AS WORKING FOR THE CIVILIAN PUBLIC SERVICE INSTEAD, meaning that person was never in the military and thus did not serve in the military.  THIS SITE HAS A LINK TO TESTIMONIALS AND INFORMATION ON THE CAMPS AND WORK THERE FOR MEN AND VOLUNTEER WOMEN!

Excerpt: Civilian Public Service (CPS) was a program developed at the onset of WWII which provided those whose conscience forbade them to kill, the opportunity to do work of national importance under civilian direction rather than go to war. Nearly 12,000 men made this choice, and many women voluntarily joined the cause. They fought forest fires, worked in mental institutions, planted trees, did dairy testing and served as subjects for medical experiments in more than 150 camps scattered throughout the United States.

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CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS : SWATHMORE COLLEGE PEACE COLLECTION : ARCHIVES THAT HOLD RECORDS BESIDES NARA : THIS ONE INCLUDES WORLD WAR I and VIETNAM

I promise I haven't been holding out on you. I want you to understand the usual process for obtaining U.S. Military Records, and even if you KNOW your ancestor was a CO, you should obtain what you can from NARA (or a database that has these records, Fold3 having the reputation for being the best). But now I'm going to post about some archives that hold collections of special interest.

The first one is : SWATHMORE PEACE COLLECTION This collection includes video and recordings. Swarthmore College Peace Collection (SCPC) contains the official records of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO), National Committee on Conscientious Objectors, and numerous individual papers from World War I to the Vietnam War. It also holds records for the Alliance for Conscientious Objectors and the Metropolitan Board for Conscientious Objectors.

This collection is considered extensive.

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TYPE IT UP!

 I learned to type on a non-electric typewriter 

and I was no good at it.  

Even my first electric typewriter was frustrating for me. 

I was always making errors that needed to be corrected.  

Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS : WORLD WAR II SELECTIVE SERVICE FILES CAN INCLUDE DETAILS OF THE OBJECTION

The military records for those who registered and served, or did not, are open to the GENERAL PUBLIC through the National Archives of the United States (NARA) since it has been more than 62 years since World War II.  The records are not all digitalized or in databases and so we often must ask an archivist for help.

NARA RECORDS OF THE SELECTIVE SERVICE - OBJECTORS

This is the link to the page with very much information.  To focus, this excerpt:

147.2.2 Records of the Selective Service System, 1940-47 (This is a record group)

Textual Records: Central correspondence, 1940-47. Correspondence concerning protests over various aspects of the draft, 1940-44. Correspondence relating to men released from active duty, 1941; and to appointments in the Selective Service system, 1940-47. Microfilm copies of the lotteries held in 1940, 1941, and 1942 to determine registrant classification order, 1940-42 (11 rolls). Issuances of national headquarters, state directors, and local boards, 1940-47. Microfilm copy of Methods For Preservation of Selective Service Records, vols. 1-5, 1944-45 (2 rolls). Case files on conscientious objectors, 1940-47, with indexes (including 4 rolls of microfilm). Microfilm copy of case files, including "cover sheets" on conscientious objectors who served in work camps, 1941-45 (282 rolls), with index (2 rolls). Locator cards for conscientious objectors sent to camps, 1941-47 (including 9 rolls of microfilm). Microfilm copy of case files on registrants appealing to the President, 1941-47 (226 rolls), with index (12 rolls of microfilm). Microfilm copy of the docket book of the Presidential Appeal Board, 1941-47 (5 rolls). Microfilm copy of records of the President's Amnesty Board, 1941-47 (4 rolls). Retained sample of appeal and local board records, 1940- 47, for Utah Appeal Board and for local boards in the Bronx, NY; Franklin City, MA; Holmes County, MS; and Pima County, AZ.

Note that "Local boards" comment.  It is always possible that a Local Board presided in the case of your ancestor.

Camps are were some COs performed service state-side in supportive, non-combat roles. They were called Civilian Public Service Camps.

My suggestion is to first get the draft registration, then find out if the person WAS drafted and if they served. If they were successful in their Objection, you will likely need to give the archivist all the information you have from those earlier documents.

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CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS : NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES : ARCHIVES THAT HOLD THE RECORDS : WORLD WAR II OBJECTORS ACCESS

Are you a child or spouse of a veteran? A "Next-of-Kin" is defined this way: Veterans and Next-of-Kin of deceased veterans have the same access rights to the record. The next-of-kin is defined as any of the following: the un-remarried widow or widower, son, daughter, father, mother, brother, or sister of the deceased veteran. Next-of-kin must provide proof of the death of the veteran, such as a copy of the death certificate, a letter from the funeral home, or a published obituary...

The GENERAL PUBLIC must respect a 62 year privacy law on military records. 

(U.S. involvement in Vietnam spanned from the early 1950's to 1973,escalating significantly from advisors to combat troops in July 1965. The Selective Service military draft was used to induct over 1.8 million men. A birth-date lottery began in December 1969. (The 62 years is for the DISCHARGE DATE so if the person was discharged in 1965 the records should be public next year.)

THE DETAILS FOR OBTAINING A MILITARY RECORD ARE HERE : NARA PERSONNEL RECORDS OF THE U.S. MILITARY  This is a start.  I have never personally found a World War II Draft Registration in which a CO was noted, but I hear some do.

According to NARA the primary place to find CO information for your ancestor is:

The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in Saint Louis, Missouri, which holds the official military personnel files (OMPF's) for those who served including the conscientious objectors who did serve but in non-combatant roles.

NARA NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER

The collection you will likely be directed to or have an archivist at NARA look into for you is called: Record Group 147, which includes documentation on Conscientious Objectors (COs). 

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"CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR" ? WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THE SELECTIVE SERVICE DRAFT - UNITED STATES - AND ARE NOT ONE TO FIGHT?

I believe one can be patriotic but not agree with whatever the prevailing doings of the President or the House or the Senate or any politician that has influence on the citizens lives. I've done the genealogy for a family that had members on both sides of the Civil War.  I can just imagine the arguments at those dining tables.  So it has been, so it is - not everyone is for a War or on the same side of a question.

Conscientious Objectors are not officially "Conscientious Objectors" unless they state that WHEN THEY ARE ACTUALLY CALLED TO SERVE.  One registers and maybe there will be a draft, maybe there won't be, and maybe that person won't be called upon. Therefore, if you seek an ancestor's draft registration, their CO status will not be on those forms, which are often simple forms. A "CO" must prove they have a deep seated conviction, belonging to a religious organization that is anti-war is the primary way to prove this, such as being a member of the Jehovah Witnesses, and it can mean that the person must still serve, but not in "combat." (Other military records may have the information you seek.)

THE NUMBERS OF MEN/MALES WHO REGISTER ARE DEFINIING THEMSELVES AS "CO." HAS SOARED, some say 1000%. 

WOMEN/FEMALES STILL ARE NOT REQUIRED TO REGISTER.

I'm linking to a recommended website: If you or your loved-one wants to know "what happens next" if the United States continues or furthers its current participations and/or actions using the military, and people are once again actually drafted, this is what you want to read:

 GI RIGHTS HOTLINE MILITARY CONSCIENCIOUS OBJECTORS Wow!  Lots of information here!

(See the next post to find out where to get the military records for CO's

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NEW AUTOMATIC "SELECTIVE SERVICE" DRAFT REGISTRATION : OLD DRAFT REGISTRATIONS ARE VALUABLE GENEALOGY LINKS

CNBC New Draft Laws Starting Dec 2026

Oh, this change brings up so much history -

Not registering in the first place was one of the ways that some chose to evade being involved in war. Unpopular wars, wars not defined as wars or not officially declared, religious membership and non-violent lifestyles, and yes, the question of women's participation, all come to mind. There was no official involuntary service in the Revolutionary War because there was not yet a government of the United States and militia were voluntary and as for the Civil War, that's controversial too.

LETS LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF REGISTERING FOR THE MILITARY DRAFT (rather than voluntarily signing up for participation) IN THE UNITED STATES.

THERE WAS NO "SELECTIVE SERVICE" - DRAFT UNTIL WORLD WAR I

The SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT WAS passed on May 18, 1917, authorized the federal government of the United States of America to draft men for military service after voluntary enlistments for World War I proved insufficient, ultimately registering millions of American men between the ages of 18 and 45 in three waves.

REGISTRATION DID NOT and DOES NOT MEAN THE PERSON WILL BE DRAFTED TO SERVE.

The reason the Civil War enrollment is controversial is that this seems to apply to those to serve the Union, which won the war. An excerpt regarding the Civil War: No organized selection process. Those selected could pay cash in lieu of service, or hire substitutes. Induction was accomplished by district enrollment boards.

SELECTIVE SERVICE TIME LINE US GOV

I consider the most valuable of these draft registrations for most Americans researching at this point, is the World War I draft registration.  Many "industrial age" immigrants who arrived in the late 1800's and early 1900's registered for this draft, WHICH DID NOT REQUIRE A MAN BE A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES. Often the man registering will state the date they entered the United States and where they were born, revealing the name of the town where you can look for church records.

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SUNNY DAY

 

FIRE CRACKERS!?

 

250th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - UNITED STATES HISTORY

The United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026, marking the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence.

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

James Barton Longacre (11 Aug 1794)

Etching and stipple and line engraving on paper.

Public Domain

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A GOOD STORY

 

HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS ON LINE - CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY LONG BEACH : ALWAYS CHECK COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY COLLECTIONS

Many colleges and universities have collections that are useful for genealogy research and family history writing.  Some still have microfiche and microfilm!  

It's always a good idea to check your local colleges and universities where you may be able to use what they have without having a library card, so long do so within the library. Others have cards for alumni or offer rights and responsibilities to the paying public.

But you may be surprised to find that the collections may not just be local.  And you can call or visit to find out how to access as a guest. Besides holding many newspapers in microfilm, there's also digitalized collections,

Here is an example, from the California State University at Long Beach.

CSULIB - LIBRARY GUIDE - HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS ON LINE

Sampling:

California Digital Newspaper Collection 1846-1922
A collection of free full text searchable historic newspapers, including these:
California Star 1847-1848
Daily Alta California 1849-1891
Imperial Valley News 1901-1911
Los Angeles Herald 1873-1910
Los Angeles Star 1851-1854
Marin Journal (San Rafael) 1861-1920
Pacific Rural Press (SF) 1871-1922
Sacramento Daily Union 1851-1898
San Francisco Call 1890-1913
Sausalito News 1885-1922

More sampling:
Chung Sai Yat Po (San Francisco)  coming from UC - example of collaboration between Cal States and UC's.
Chinese language newspaper, 1900-1904

Daily Forty-Niner Online Archive, 1949 to Date
Online archive of the campus newspaper from 1994-2006.

El Clamor Publico
A early Los Angeles Spanish language newspaper, with some English articles, published from 1855 - 1859.

Daily 49er (Current issues). Student CSULB Newspaper.

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