Some of us are old enough to remember ancestors or other relatives who were young men during the “Big War.” Others may have been too young to have known these individuals. In either case, if you are seeking information on them, the World War I draft registration cards may be a big help. Clayton Library now has available 76 rolls of draft registration cards for Texas and 69 rolls for Louisiana.
On May 18, 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, authorizing the President to increase the size of the military. The Selective Service System (SSS) was a decentralized one under which the Provost Marshal General formulated policy and transmitted it to the governors of the states and territories. Management and administration of system was a state and local government responsibility.
The SSS consisted of 52 state or territorial offices, 155 district boards, 1,319 medical advisory boards, and 4,648 local boards. The later were set up for counties, but large cities were handled as political subdivisions separate from the county. If a city or county had a population over 30,000, additional boards were created on the basis of one per 30,000 population. The boards were responsible for registering men and classifying them. Consideration was given to the need for critical skills in certain industries and agriculture and for special family situations. The boards also handled appeals, determined the physical fitness of the registrants, and determined the order in which the selected individuals were called. The boards even put the men on trains to the appropriate military base when that was necessary.
There were three separate registrations. The first took place June 2, 1917, for men between the ages of 21 and 31. The second was June 5, 1918, for those men who had turned 21 during the previous year. On September 12, 1918, an expanded registration was performed for men between the ages of 18 and 45. This final registration is the one that is most likely to have picked up your ancestor, because it encompassed a much wider age range. Those men who had registered before, however, were not required to register again. It is important to know that some individuals joined the military before registering and thus would not have been on the list.
The cards for the three registrations are slightly different and are described at the beginning of each roll of film. They are called red, blue, and black cards or red-ink, blue-ink, and black-ink cards. But don’t worry about this, because all the cards are filmed in black and white. The cards for the three registrations differ somewhat in their information content. There was also some variation in the cards from one district to another. There are actually two cards for each registrant: The registrant filled out a “Registration Card,” and the registrar filled out a “Registrar’s Report.” All of the registration cards ask for the registrant’s full name, address, age in years, date and place of birth, race, citizenship, occupation, marital status, and signature. Some ask for the registrant’s father’s date and place of birth, number and kind of dependents, prior military service, and grounds for exemption. The registrar’s report gives a physical description of the man, including body type (tall, medium, or short; slender, medium, or stout) and color of hair and eyes. It also asks if he is missing limbs or eyes or has any other physical disability. There are also places on the card for comments, the registrar’s signature, and the date of registration.
The filmed cards are arranged alphabetically by local board in each county or city within the particular state or territory. In the case of large cities, look for the city alphabetically. For example, San Antonio is listed separately and not included in Bexar County. Men in rural counties are relatively easy to find because there is usually only one alphabetized listing for the entire county. In cities with multiple local boards, each alphabetized list will have to be scanned.
Clayton currently owns only the films of the registration cards for Louisiana and Texas. These can be found in film file 60, drawers 3-5. Alphabetization of the names is not perfect, so make sure you scan entries above and below the one you are seeking. If that name is at the end of the roll of film, you should also check the beginning of the next roll.
In some parishes in Louisiana, correspondence sent to the local board was also filmed. This usually concerned prior enlistment or address changes or was to inform the board that the person would be somewhere other than his permanent address should the board need to contact him. The correspondence can be found at the end of the list of registrants in the parish. In those instances where the film contains images of correspondence, the Clayton Library staff has added the notation “Correspondence” following the parish name on the top of the microfilm box. If your person was in one of the parishes whose draft registration microfilm contains this notation, be sure to check the end of the roll to see if he wrote a letter to his board.