28 Things You Can Find in Military Records to Help Find Your Ancestors

Military records are yet another very useful set of records that will help you in finding more about your ancestors. There are a ton of records that are available for free online, and there are some very robust collections (such as Fold3 and Ancestry) that have sizable online military collections as well.

Typically, military records online fall into 5 different categories: Military service records, Selective Service records, Bounty land warrant applications, Pension records, and Special records.

Military Service Records

• Full name
• Birth date and location
• Residence
• Occupation
• Location of enlistment
• Date enlisted and mustered out
• Contact information of next of kin
• Rank
• Medical and military information
• Unit assignations while in the military

· Selective Service Records

• Full name
• Residence
• Age
• Occupation
• Employer
• Marital status
• Birthplace
• Contact information
• Physical description

Bounty Land Warrant Applications

• Includes similar information as in service records as well as other information, such as number of warrants, date of issuance, and number of acres. Only used between 1775 and 1855.

Pension Records:

• Birth, Marriage, and Death information (dates and locations)
• Demographic information
• Information about the spouse and children
• Rank and Unit
• Pension balance

Special Records:

• Information if the person was a prisoner of war, wounded or killed in action, or MIA
• 1910-1940 Census Records include questions about military service
• Veteran’s cemeteries’ burial lists

Download the Quicksheet PDF

Below is a link to a QuickSheet that contains a list of 28 things that you can find from these records. To obtain the one-page Quicksheet pdf for easy reference of what information to look for, you can view or download it by clicking on the button below.

For all the previously published Quick Reference Guides, click on QuickSheets. 

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