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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MEMORIAL DAY

In 1890 every state in the United States (then in the Union) adopted MEMORIAL DAY to honor those who lost their lives in the service of the United States Military.  Since then service members may have their service noted on their tombstone or have markers placed by local veterans' groups.

Here is the link to the VA where a description of headstones, markers, and medallions, is given. National Cemetery Administration Headstones, Markers, and Medallions

Read about the no-cost benefits for veterans.

PHOTOS FROM WILMINGTON CEMETERY - SECOND OLDEST IN LOS ANGELES - LIST OF VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR

I don't believe in photographing gravestones that belong to people I'm not related to, but I did take a couple photos of MEMORIALS in this cemetery.  As stated on the previous post, there are a number of burials of military associated soldiers from multiple conflicts.

Wilmington Cemetery is said to have over 9000 burials but then most must be in unmarked graves. This list of CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS is interesting. I wonder if these are persons who died in the Civil War or who were veterans who had served and if they were all local men.  I also wonder if they ever lived at the Drum Barracks about a mile away.

I claim copyright on these photos but if you're using them for your personal Genealogy book that you're distributing to your family it's OK to use them i.e. noncommercial use.

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CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS (CCC's) RESOURCES

Click on the label CCC's or Civilian Conservation Corps to bring up other informative posts on this subject from the past here at Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

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Three million young men, from families in poverty due to the Great Depression, joined the CCC;s from 1933 to 1942. Some of these men also then enlisted to serve in World War II. 

Here are links to good resources to start your exploration.

The National Archives of the United States. I know that the search in their expansive catalogue is intimidating and difficult for most people but they did recently announced it had been reworked. My suggestion is that you open an account with them and then use the Ask the Archivist opportunity to get to where you want to be with these records.  

NARA archives - RESEARCH GUIDE CCC's

National Archives U.S.A Catalogue - CCC's

The next link is to a blog and website that someone put up on the internet years ago that was a true labor of love. I want to honor that person for all the information they have provided to us.  It features so much information including state by state guides that is useful. Topics such as soil conservation and segregation have their own pages.  Many THANKS to that person...

https://cccresources.blogspot.com/search/label/Accidents - see the sidebar to go to the topic you are interested in.

C 2023 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy

FLAG DAY U.S.A.

 

This is the day to honor the emblem of the United States of America, the Flag, to fly it and learn to fold it.  Speaking of, it's been a while but in the past I've gotten some great information I needed from the genealogy database called Fold3.  The name Fold3 came from the folding of the flag into a three pointed triangle.  The site came upon the scene with military records.

CIVIL WAR HISTORY in CALIFORNIA : DRUM BARRACKS IN WILMINGTON and THE BANNING MUSEUM

1862 : Civil War action in California?  Well, not exactly.  In Wilmington California, which is not far from Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles, there exists a historical site called The Drum Barracks where there was a military presence. If you're a Civil War buff or had ancestors in that conflict, this could be interesting. This historical site has reopened for tours with a reservation and proof of Covid vaccine.

DRUM BARRACKS ORG - WILMINGTON CALIFORNIA

At this site you'll get a good report on why there soldiers and officers on the Union site.  Basically California had become a state  a little more than a decade earlier but only 25% of the population voted for the Union side.  Texans captured Southern Arizona (half the territory) for the Confederacy.  Also a man named Phineas Banning, who was instrumental in the early foundation of a port which would expand greatly in the future, was a Unionist. So he and his peers wanted to keep the state for the Union. Thousands of soldiers were stationed in the area prepared to fight to keep the Confederates out of California and possibly battle in other territories such as Arizona.

If you're coming from a distance, you'll probably want to tour the Banning House at the same time as they are close to each other.

THE BANNING MUSEUM Link includes Virtual tour

Long before Covid shut downs I did manage to tour this house.  The visitor's center has the genealogy of the family on the wall.  The house dates to 1864 and has 19 rooms open to the public.  There is also a barn and other dwellings in the park that are part of the estate.

VETERANS DAY - NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY RECORDS SEARCH

 

ARCHIVES GOV MILITARY RECORDS SEARCH BY BRANCH

You can also search by MILITARY CONFLICT such as Civil War or Viet Nam.

I see one soldier is asking for photographs of himself.

SOUL SURVIVOR book ABOUT REINCARNATION - GENEALOGY TYPE RESEARCH USED TO VERIFY

This book intrigued me, not just because it's about one of the most convincing stories

of reincarnation in modern times, but because Bruce Leininger, the father of James, the child who remembered he was a World War II pilot who burned up and crashed in his plane in Japan, used research methods that any genealogist or family historian can relate to!
The devout Christian father had issues with the very idea of reincarnation, but slowly he became convinced as he decided to apply research methods to the many small comments that his son, beginning at about age 2, made.  Little James knew planes and plane parts, but he also named some of the men he was associated with back in the day as well as the name of the body his soul inhabited in the last.  And so Bruce attempted to get military records (but ran into the problem of not being a family member), contacted men who remembered the pilot, met with them (claiming he was only writing a book, though as we see he eventually did), and discovered that these old veterans were not as dismissive as he feared.  The story is interesting and convincing and Leininger and his wife (James' mom) Andrea, along with Ken Gross, manage to build their story so that you too will feel no stone was left unturned!
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THANKSGIVING GATHERINGS and THE 1940 CENSUS - WILL THE FAMILY STORIES EVER BE BACKED BY DOCUMENTATION?

This year the 1940 census has given us so much to look forward to, so much to research and add to our family history writing and genealogy research. 

Thanksgiving gatherings are a good time to talk about the family history and to add stories to your research.

I like to add family stories, testimonials, oral histories, to any book on a family that I write, mindful that it's documentation that makes the project a genealogy project rather than a story project and that some of the stories may not hold up to the research. 

The biggest protestations I've encountered while research genealogy come from those who grew up believing something or other about their family that the research doesn't prove, but when writing about these discrepancies it's the wording you use to explain the controversy.  For instance I was once researching a branch of a large Southern family and they had held a family reunion a few years previous.  One of their earnest and sincere members sent me a copy of the genealogy that had been distributed to the members.  I followed this research back and found that it stuck right where I was but this family researcher didn't bother to write "The following is speculation."  I had to.

The information you may have found in the 1940 census is a good starting point for discussion, especially if you bring along some copies to look at after everyone has eaten and the left overs have been put away and the dishes washed!  Family members who lived during the Great Depression or World War II may hitch onto information about who was supporting the family, who joined the CCC's (Civilian Conservation Corps), and so on.

Record whatever anyone has to say. 

Though I've found that some stories people tell are inaccurate, I've also gotten some informational leads that lead me to the accuracies.