On April 17, 1917, the United States entered World War I. On 18 May 1917, the Selective Service Act was passed, and a draft registration was instituted. All men, including aliens, between the ages of 21 and 30 had to register for the draft. The only exceptions were men already serving in the military. By 16 June1917, about ten million men were registered.

By 2 September1918, all men between the ages of 18 and 45 (born 13 September 1873 to 12 September 1900) were to be registered. The chances are very high that one of your ancestors is included in this group.

The National Archives microfilmed the 24,000,000 registration cards. The films are arranged alphabetically by state, then alphabetically by county, then alphabetically by draft board, and then roughly alphabetically by surname.

Because of this alphabetical arrangement, you do not need an index to the films. However, there are online indexes for some of the states at Ancestry.com and also at Rootsweb.org. The Genealogical Forum of Oregon has prepared an index to the Oregon registrations. The index is on CD and costs $10.00.

The online indexes reveal the name of Edward Jones Ground, a person I am researching. The citation told me that Edward Jones Ground, born 17 May 1876, filled out his draft registration in Clearwater County, Idaho.

In genealogy, we are told we need to get back to the original record for it most often contains additional information. The film that contains Ground's registration card is at the National Archives in Seattle. (They have the WWI Draft films for Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.) The films can also be obtained at your local Family History Center.

I obtained the film that contained Clearwater County, Idaho. It took just a few minutes before I was looking at the registration card for Edward Ground. He told the Registrar that he was a stockman at the Madden Estate in Waha, Idaho. He had four children: Merl, Billie, Dorothy, and Virginia Ground. They were living in Prosser and Asotin, Washington. He had a medium build, blue eyes, and light brown hair. This was the first time that I had a vision of what he looked like for there are no known photographs of him. What a treasure for the family!

© 2000–2009

Connie Lenzen, CG^SM

CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.