Research for your Ancestors Military Genealogy by Branch of Service
Military files can be helpful in discovering genealogy information for your ancestors
that can be added to your
family tree. The majority of us have had several of our family members enlist
due to drafts for WWI or WWII. Both drafts have provided invaluable data such as:
where and when they were born; current residence; where they worked; their spouses
and children names; physical attributes; and more.
Ancestors that served in the military have left files of genealogy related data
with the branch of service that they served in. These records can be obtained by
filing out the proper application with the necessary information. Most files for
veterans’ of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Cost guard, Marine Corps, and Navy are available
through the National Archives, with the earliest records dating from the Revolutionary
War.
Some military
service records have been destroyed by the 1973 fire that may hinder your
genealogy research. If you can’t obtain the files you are looking for through the
national archives, there are other research methods that you can use to find genealogy
information about your ancestors.
Finding genealogy archives should be conducted in a
organized research process. This will help you to find what you are looking
for.
Military Genealogy Information for The Navy
|
FACILITY |
ADDRESS |
WEBSITE & COMMENTS |
|
Archives II |
Archives II Ref. Branch
Textual Ref. Division NWDT
806 Adelphi Rd.
College Park, MD 20740-6001 |
(301) 713-7250
Vessel movement cards, armed guard
reports, WWII convoy reports (U.S. to England) |
|
Nimitz Library |
U. S. Naval Academy
121 Blake Rd. Annapolis, MD. 21402-5000
|
|
|
Naval Historical Center |
Washington Navy Yard
805 Kidder Breese Street SE
Washington, DC 20374-5060 |
(202) 433-4132 (Main)
-3224 (Ops. Info.)
-3643 (Ship History I logs)
|
|
Navy Dept. Library |
Dudley Knox Center for Naval history
Washington Navy Yard, Bldg. 44
Washington, DC 20374-5060 |
open to the public 200,000 volumes
some volumes available through interlibrary loan; special collections, annual navy
officer
registers, navy directories, cruise
books, Lloyd's registers |
|
Pentagon Library |
Pentagon Library
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301 |
General reference,
ask for Branch of Service (703) 697-4301 |
|
Library of Congress |
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20540 |
(202) 707-5000 |
|
U. S. Naval Institute |
U. S. Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD. 21402 |
(301) 261-2700
Biographies of Annapolis graduates
Not compiled for absolutely every graduate, but most. |
|
Lloyd's Register |
NYC Public Library,
14th St. Branch
New York, NY
|
Register of all military naval vessels,
not to be confused with their commercial vessels register |
|
NY Maritime Register |
Available at Mystic Seaport,
Mystic, CT |
this is a newspaper about the maritime industry available on microfilm; published
up until the end of WWII |
|
DANFS |
|
you will need to know either the hull number of the ship or her name and type of
ship to locate the ship's history. This wi ll give you the SHIP'S history,
but not the personnel's history. |
|
Military Personnel Records Center |
1 Archives Drive
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100
moving to Hazelwood, MO fall of 2012 |
(314) 801-0800
Navy records from 1885; Coast Guard from 1898; Marine Corps from 1905; Army from
1917; and Air Force from 1947 |
|
