How to Find U.S. Military Records for Your Ancestors
Have you come across some ancestors that served in the military? Maybe your ancestor lived during a war, but you have yet to find any military records for them. In this post, I will be discussing how to get started searching for military records.
Get started with military records
There are a couple things that you need to determine before doing any research. Which ancestor are you searching for and during what war did your ancestor live. For example, one of my direct-line ancestors lived during the Civil War between 1861-1865.
Next, you need to find out where your ancestor lived during that war. My ancestor lived in New York during the Civil War. You can find this most often by searching census records. However, other records will provide your ancestor’s residence.
Then you need to find your ancestor’s military branch of service and his regiment. This can be found on headstones, obituaries, newspaper accounts, pension indexes, etc. Ancestry.com is a great source for this!
It’s also a good idea to learn about that specific war’s history. You can do this easily by searching Google. Family Search Wiki has great articles about each war and research tips for each one. For example, here are some Wiki tips about the Civil War.
Military Records Websites
What websites will help you find your ancestor?
Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org, in my opinion, are leaders in all genealogy records. They have extensive catalogs on military records and have links to other websites that carry those records. Family Search has Wiki articles on each war and how to research them as well.
Fold3.com is website designed specifically for all military records. It does have a subscription, but you can possibly get it for free through your local library or historical society. This site works closely with the NARA and has many military records now available online here. They also offer free days throughout the year that you can search specific records for a certain amount of days.
The NARA, or archives.gov, is the National Archives and Records Administration located in Washington, D.C. They also have vast amounts of military documents including pension files. I have found pension files for both my Revolutionary War ancestor and my Civil War ancestor. They have many pension indexes online, which list the ancestor’s name, military branch, regiment, dates served, etc. The pension files give more details about the military events that they served in and many family testimonials about their service. Many family members had to testify that the ancestor served in that war in order to get their pension funds. This site is free, but if you need to make copies of the military records, then you’ll need to pay for that.
Conclusion
Military records are some of the most fascinating and detailed records. They give the genealogist a specific look into the lives of ancestors and how they handled wartime situations. We can honor our military ancestors by keeping their memories alive for future generations. It’s one thing to hear about WWII, but it’s another when you know that your ancestor served in WWII.
In the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!
Tiffany
P.S. Go check out my website and sign up for my free list of all my favorite American and Scandinavian websites! Do it now!
P.P.S. If you want to learn more about how to find your Swedish military ancestor then click the link below. More Scandinavian military records blog posts to come.
