Free Military Records
- Leslie Ryan
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Do you have family that served or is serving in the military? In May we honor our men and women in military service twice. Those who are in active duty on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May, and those who are no longer with us Memorial Day on the last Monday. Veterans Day is in November, as you no doubt know.
This July we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of our country. There are lots of genealogy sites gearing up for this with offers about military records, particularly those for the Revolutionary War. So I wanted to make sure you knew about existing free places to find information about your ancestors who were in service to our ountry.
You may learn interesting things about your family, like I learned about my Great Grandfather Henry Dorsey. He enlisted in the Civil War twice and served in two different units! First in 1863 at age 49 where he was wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and then again in 1864 to a volunteer unit.
Our National Archives are a great resource for all sorts of information
and images, including our "Founding Documents." Here is the link to their home page: https://www.archives.gov/
Family Search is a totally free site, they would just like your email address. They don't spam you, I promise! After you sign in, click on the "Search" option box, and then "Records." At the lower left side of the page there is a "Find A Collection" box, just type in "Military" and hit enter, and get ready to dive in. https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/
Ancestry's Card Catalog is slightly searchable for free. You can locate your ancestor's record if one exists, but you can't see it till you sign up for that free trial. They don't make it easy to find the card catalog without trying to get you to sign in. This entry page shows they have 33,395 files of records from all over the world. Here's a link that will take you right there: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/catalog?searchOrigin=navigation_header
Enjoy your holiday weekend pursuing our hobby and honoring those who have served and paid the ultimate price for our freedom to do so! Remember too, please, the families who wait for them at home. Pray for peace.
Need some help with finding your military records? Send me an email to the address below! We offer a free review and advice about your family tree!
Thank you for spending a few minutes with me,
