Why it Pays to Read the Record Collection Description

A few years ago, I remember searching for my great-grandfather’s World War II draft registration card.  I tried every possible combination I could think of between names, places, and date of birth.  After countless attempts, I gave up and made a note of the search in my database. 

Several months after this, I was working on family in Michigan and was struggling to find the WWII draft cards for these guys.  Then it dawned on me.  My great-grandfather was also living in Michigan at the time and I was unable to find him.  Was this a coincidence?

I was sure it wasn’t a coincidence and figured there had to be a reason, so I looked at the record description that Ancestry has for their WWII draft card collection.  Lo and behold, Michigan was NOT a state that was included in their collection.  Well no wonder I couldn’t find these men…Ancestry didn’t have them!  I made a note of this in my database and added the fact that NARA has the cards in their Chicago facility.

Earlier today, I was checking to see if there were any recently added or updated collections at FamilySearch (I try to do this once a week).  And although the WWII draft cards collection wasn’t new or updated, it occurred to me, why not check to see if they have Michigan.  Ah-ha, they do!  And there was the draft card for my second great-grandfather, right were I expected it to be.

Mind you, FamilySearch has two different collections.  Both collection have images, but one is indexed and the other is not.  Following is a list of the Ancestry and FamilySearch collections and what states they each cover.

Ancestry	FamilySearch (indexed)	FamilySearch (image-only)
Alaska Arkansas* California* Connecticut Delaware Idaho Illinois Indiana* Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New Jersey New York* Ohio* Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia	Arkansas California Connecticut Delaware Indiana Louisiana Maryland Michigan Nevada New Jersey New York (NYC, all 5 boroughs) Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania Texas West Virginia Wisconsin	Delaware Illinois Indiana Maryland Massachusetts New Hampshire New York (NYC, all 5 boroughs) Ohio Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island Vermont West Virginia Wisconsin

*Collection incomplete for these states

It’s also important to note that WWII draft registration cards were destroyed for the following states:

• Alabama
• Florida
• Georgia
• Kentucky
• Mississippi
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Tennessee

The moral of the story?  Always read the record collection description.  At a minimum it should tell you what the collection covers, the source of the original information, and why the records were created.