The United States Congress
passed the Selective Service Act of 18 May 1917 which
required states to
set up local draft boards, one for each 30,000 people.
Under this first
act, men between the ages of 21 and 31 had to register. A
second act
passed in June 1918, and it's supplement in August of that
year, included
men who had turned 21 after the first act had passed. The
third act,
passed on 12 Sept 1918, included all men between 18 and 21
and those who
were 31 to 45. While these acts mean that these ages were
the target ages,
in practice researchers find that others outside these age
ranges are
often included in the registration cards. Altogether, these
cards contain
information on over 24 million men.
All
immigrants, not yet naturalized citizens, were required to register but were not subject to
induction into the American military. Those already in the
military did not register. Recent Italian emigrants wrote their last
names first, resulting in some cards being filed under first names.
Cards of Hispanics may be filed under their mother's maiden name
surname if the registrant gave both parents' surnames. Also, men who
resided in British territories sometimes listed themselves simply as
British citizens without noting their origin in Canada, Australia,
Ireland, Jamaica, etc. Illiterate men were unable to spell their
names and birth location, so researchers should be quite flexible in
searching for the spelling of names of illiterate men.
This
civilian registration was not an induction into the military. Actually,
only a small percentage of these men were ever called
for military service.
These cards are available on microfilm at the National
Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.;
Source:
Ancestry.com. World War I
Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-18
[database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2002. National Archives
and Records Administration. World War I Selective Service System
Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. M1509, 20,243 rolls.
Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
|
Back to Kleberg County Main Page
