More Free Forms: U.S. Draft Registration Cards

I thought Grandpa skipped draft registration due to his birth date. Wrong!

I used to wonder why I never found a draft registration card for my Grandpa Iamarino. He arrived in America in 1920 at the age of 18. He should have had to register like all the other old men in my family.

Then I realized Grandpa was lucky. Born in late 1902, Grandpa was too young to have been called to serve in the Italian military. (My other grandfather served several times, fought in World War I, and was held prisoner for a full year.)

And the U.S. World War II draft registration in 1942 left out Grandpa, too. It covered men born on or between 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897. Grandpa was too young again. What a lucky guy!

Then I found a surprise. While searching Ancestry.com for Grandpa's naturalization papers I saw something new. It was Grandpa's "Young Men's" draft card. This had never shown up before.

Grandpa was 39 years old and in good health when he registered. He had a wife and 2 children. The U.S. never called him to serve, but boy am I glad they registered him. This type of registration covered all men born on or between 17 Feb 1897 and 31 Dec 1921. It says so at the top of the card. The "old man's" draft registration card has the dates at the top, too.

Each registration has a birth date range. Is your ancestor out of range?

This new-to-me card had 3 important facts:

• My grandmother had a middle name! I saw her listed once as Lucy G. Iamarino. My dad says that rang a bell, but he didn't know what the G stood for. At long last I know her middle name was Gloria. Like my favorite U2 song.
• Grandpa worked for D. Ornstein and Sons, Inc. at 119 West 24th Street in New York City. Grandpa was a jeweler. A stone setter. I always assumed he worked in the Bronx, close to home. But Grandpa commuted downtown.
• Grandpa's signature in 1942 doesn't quite match his signature in 1952. A 1952 index card is something Grandpa needed to prove his citizenship when he moved to Ohio. His signature in 1952 looks shockingly like my dad's signature. There are circles over the I's. I asked my father if he could possibly have signed it, but he said no. As I compare the 1942 and 1952 signatures, I see that the circles over the I's are the only real difference. Was that in style at the time, or did he see his son's signature and think it was more American? Now I know my dad did not sign Grandpa's official card.

Earlier this week I published a fill-in-the-blanks PDF for that lets you create a 5-generation ancestry chart for anyone. One reader suggested I make a form for U.S. draft registration cards. So here they are. Download these files and you can type any ancestor's information into the form, then save the file with their name. Typing is so much better than printing!

• World War I draft registration card Note: Now revised to include all 3 types of cards
• World War II young men's draft registration card
• World War II old men's draft registration card

If you have an idea for another useful form, please let me know. Here's what I have so far.

Free 5-Generation Fill-in-the-Blanks Form

This PDF file lets you neatly type in the names of your direct ancestors.

I saw a nice-looking family tree chart online yesterday. I thought an electronic fill-in-the-blanks chart would be a much better thing to have. I don't like charts that you have to write by hand, even though they can be pretty. I would make mistakes, and after a lifetime at a keyboard, I can't write very nicely.

So I made a PDF file that lets you type to fill in the blanks with names. I've given each field a number from 1 to 31. Those are the Ahnentafel numbers for any person and their direct ancestors through to their 2nd great grandparents.

• Number 1 is you (or any individual you'd like to make a chart for)
• 2 and 3 are your parents
• 4 thru 7 are your grandparents
• 8 thru 15 are your great grandparents
• 16 thru 31 are your 2nd great grandparents

Download the Direct Ancestor Chart PDF file for yourself. Simply click in any field, type, and press the tab key to go to the next logical person. When you're finished, save the PDF file with a different file name.

No more sloppy handwriting or cramped fingers. Fill in this ancestor chart on your computer.

I found it was best to keep my grandparent chart open. Then I could see everyone's Ahnentafel number and enter their full names. If you don't have that chart, you can get it from my Dropbox account.

I filled this chart out for myself, and I simply love seeing all those names in one place.

But you can fill it out for anyone. Say you found a 3rd cousin online. Maybe they turned up as a DNA match. You could fill out a chart for this cousin with everything you've learned about their part of the family. That's a nice ice-breaker!

You can do one for your spouse, for your mom, or for a relative you're planning to visit soon. The chart is a standard 8½ x 11 inches in landscape mode. I added color for interest, but my printouts will be grayscale.

I made my own chart, but I could make one for any of my relatives.

Here's a list of other electronic genealogy forms and charts I've published before:

• 1900 U.S. Census Worksheet
• 1910 U.S. Census Worksheet
• 1920 U.S. Census Worksheet
• 1930 U.S. Census Worksheet
• 1940 U.S. Census Worksheet
• Family Genealogy Worksheet
• Family Genealogy Worksheet for large families
• Grandparent Chart (with Ahnentafel numbers filled in)
• Relationship Calculator
• Document Tracker Inventory Sheet
• Vital Records Transcription Chart

What else can I make? What would you like to see?

Sorting Out a Confusing Mess in Your Family Tree

When you find a big error in your family tree, examine all facts carefully.

While I was improving my source citations this week, I spotted a problem in my family tree. My cousin Silvio Saviano was no longer related to me.

How did Silvio's relationship to me change? As I dug into the facts in my tree and on Ancestry, I saw the problem. Silvio's father was Luigi, but I "gave" him to the wrong Luigi!

Without enough records for my little town, it was easy to confuse the 2 Luigi's.

I have been writing and rewriting this article for 2 full days. I kept finding contradictory information. In the end, the solution was quite a surprise to me.

Here's how confusing it is.

Background

• My great grandmother was a Saviano. She came from a small village that has only 653 residents today. It's safe to say that every Saviano living there in the 19th century is my relative.
• This town's unusual history means there are no available birth records before 1861. And no marriage or death records before 1931.
• My mom knew Silvio Saviano and his family when she was growing up. She knew them as cousins.

Similarities

• Some of Silvio's U.S. records say his father was Luigi. There is no mention of his mother.
• In the town's available records, there are 2 men named Luigi Saviano born in the 1850s. That's based on the birth records of 16 children they had between them from 1878 to 1899.
• The Luigi born in 1858 is my 3rd great uncle. I have his 1938 Italian death record, and it names my 3rd great grandparents as his parents. Uncle Luigi stayed in Italy.
• The Luigi born in 1852 did come to America. So did at least 4 of his 11 children. I found U.S. death records for Luigi and 3 of his children.
• Only 1852 Luigi had a son named Silvio.

Silvio never gave the same birth date twice. Since I wanted him to belong to my 3rd great uncle Luigi, I figured he was born the year there are no records: 1895.

Sorting Out a Tangled Mess

After examining all the documents, it became clear that Silvio was NOT the son of my 3rd great uncle. He was the son of the other Luigi.

Do you have a confusing twist of same-named people in your family tree? It may help you to see how I came to realize which Luigi was the father of Silvio.

I know from his birth record that Silvio was born on 9 Oct 1896 to Luigi Saviano and Maria Grazia Guarente. He is the only Silvio Saviano in the town's available vital record collection.

It's hard to imagine, but our ancestors weren't always sure of their birth dates.

Here's what I found in America:

• 1912 ship manifest with Luigi Saviano (age 60) and his son Silvio (age 15). The manifest clearly says that father and son are from Sant'Angelo a Cupolo. It says Luigi leaves behind a brother Giuseppe in Italy. That brother Giuseppe came to America in 1898. Either I have the wrong Giuseppe Saviano in 1898, or he went back to Italy.
• 1917 World War I draft registration card for Silvio. It gives his birth date as 16 Oct 1895 and his address as 253 East 151st Street, Bronx, New York.
• Two military transport manifests (31 Jul 1918 and 21 Apr 1919). Both mention his brother Joseph living at 630 Morris Avenue, Bronx, New York. That's around the corner. And Silvio does have a brother Giuseppe who came to America.
• 30 May 1918 petition for naturalization. This was my red herring. It gave his birth date as 12 Oct 1895. But it says he has lived in South Carolina since 1900. When I found another Silvio Saviano who became a citizen in Tennessee, I knew I had to delete this document.
• 17 November 1918 New York newspaper listing Silvio as severely wounded. His address is 630 Morris Avenue. His World War II draft registration card corroborates this. It says he has a "scar on left wrist and bullet scar on calf of right leg."
• 1920 military service record. This index card, unfortunately, uses the same birth date as the southern Silvio: 12 Oct 1895. It gives his address as 630 Morris Avenue and says he was inducted in New York City. It says he was "slightly" wounded on 12 Sep 1918 ("severely" is smudged out). It also says he was overseas from 31 Jul 1918 to 21 Apr 1919, which fits the military transport records exactly. It's good except for that pesky birth date.
• 1925 census. Silvio and his wife and 3 kids are living at 599 Morris Avenue. His kids' names are the ones my mom knew and grew up with. He's still an alien, which further rules out those 1918 naturalization papers.
• 1930 census. Silvio and family are on a different street nearby. He is finally a citizen. But it says he arrived in 1901. I do have a 1901 ship manifest for his father Luigi and 2 of his siblings. But not Silvio. Luigi had been detained while waiting for my 2nd great uncle, Semplicio Saviano. On the ship manifest Luigi calls Semplicio a relative. On the detainee list, he calls him his nephew. But he is not his nephew!
• 1942 World War II draft registration card, mentioned earlier. Silvio and his wife Mary are at another Bronx address,and his birthday is 9 Oct 1896. That is the very first time Silvio's birth date on a U.S. document actually matches his Italian birth record. It was only when I got to this last document that I realized the truth. Silvio is not the son of my 3rd great uncle.

I can't prove his relationship to me. But I can try to find the missing pieces. Luigi came to New York with 2 of his children, Maria and Giuseppe, in 1901. He made another trip in 1912—as a 60-year-old man—and brought back only his son Silvio. Luigi died in the Bronx in 1916 as a widower. Did his wife die in Italy? Is that why Luigi went back to fetch his youngest child, 15-year-old Silvio? When did Silvio's other sister Letizia come to America? She married and had a baby in the Bronx in 1905, dying 5 days later of complications. Her death record says she arrived in 1901. (I just realized she is not my only Letizia Saviano, and both died the same way!)

I need more immigration records. So far, they're eluding me. I'll bet Luigi is my 2nd great grandfather's 1st cousin, but I may never be able to prove it. For now I'll give the whole branch my blue "No Relationship Established" profile image and move on.

The lesson here is to stop what you're doing when you find a big error. You may forget about it and make more mistakes as a result. Take a step back and be objective. Examine all the facts you have, and then search for more.

So…who's all messed up in your family tree?

Here are some related articles you may have missed:

• What to Do When Your Family Tree Is Stuck
• What's in Your Genealogy Toolbox?
• What to Do When There Are No Documents