Digitized military documentation released......

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Really neat stuff. http://www.ancestory.com

The U.S. government didn't want to bother digitizing old military documents, so Ancestory.com has done it for them. It's normally a subscription site, but until June 6th (D-Day), they are offering free searches of the military archives. Really neat way to dig through old stuff about friends or family that served in the military.

[JediKooter]

This is pretty awesome. My great grandfather served in WWI along with his brother. It would be pretty interesting if I could find their information. All I have on them from doing searches in the past is their Draft Registration cards.

[sabotai]

I have a great-great-great-(I forget how far back exactly)-grandfather that fought for the union in the Civil War. Do the military records on that site go back that far? (EDIT: Went to the site and apparently they do. Gonna see if I can find him)

[JediKooter]

I do know back in the 70s or early 80s, there was a huge fire that destroyed a lot of military records. So, there may be gaps in the records or no records at all.

[Poli]

Oh boy.

[Dr. Sak]

I do know back in the 70s or early 80s, there was a huge fire that destroyed a lot of military records. So, there may be gaps in the records or no records at all.

Yeah that is why I cannot find my grandfather's records. A guy called me the other day telling me to call the government about it.

[Drake]

I found my maternal grandfather's WWI draft registration card and an image from the 1910 Census mentioning his living arrangements.

I forwarded these images to my mom, and she was so happy to see them that she cried.

Thanks for posting this, Mizzou. You made my mom happy today.

[sabotai]

Found my ancestor's pension record and he's listed as a soldier in their index. If anyone cares, his name was David B. Hurley and he served for Company H of the NJ 1st Infantry and Company K of the NJ 4th Infantry (EDIT: Looks like it was just Company K of the 4th....). It doesn't say it on ancestry.com, but he was a Captain when the war ended. He entered the service on Aug. 19th, 1861 and served until the war ended (Well, not sure if he left the military after the war, but he was at Appomettox Courth House for Lee's Surrender.)

According to what my mother gave me about him, he fought at a lot of major battles. He was captured for several months and was kept at Libby Prison until he escaped in 1862. He fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Appomattox Court House, among many others.

[JediKooter]

Yeah that is why I cannot find my grandfather's records. A guy called me the other day telling me to call the government about it.

That sucks big time. The VA 'might' have records that were kept separately from the DODs records place (at the time of the fire) in Washington DC. I think all the DODs records are kept somewhere in Colorado now.

So, maybe give the VA a try.

[JediKooter]

Found my ancestor's pension record and he's listed as a soldier in their index. If anyone cares, his name was David B. Hurley and he served for Company H of the NJ 1st Infantry and Company K of the NJ 4th Infantry. It doesn't say it on ancestry.com, but he was a Captain when the war ended. He entered the service on Aug. 19th, 1861 and served until the war ended (Well, not sure if he left the military after the war, but he was at Appomettox Courth House for Lee's Surrender.)

According to what my mother gave me about him, he fought at a lot of major battles. He was captured for several months and was kept at Libby Prison until he escaped in 1862. He fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Appomattox Court House, among many others.

That is some awesome family history sabotai! Good find.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Thanks for posting this, Mizzou. You made my mom happy today.

Good to hear. It's some really neat stuff.

[JeeberD]

Ancestry.com is a VERY cool site in general. A couple of months ago my dad and I found a ton of info on my wife's great-grandfather...the first in her family to come over from Czechoslovakia. The really hard part is deciphering the old handwriting...

[sabotai]

One thing I found out is my great-great-great-grandfather was not at Appomettox. His enlistment ended in Aug. 1864, so he was not there for the last year of the war.

Another thing I found out is that my grandfather's uncle was a butcher for the army in WW2. :)