Pay Attention to Those Draft Dates & Ages When Researching Draft Registration Cards

New York Times headline on 5 June 1917
This notice ran on the front page of The New York Times the morning of the first U.S. draft registration date on 5 June 1917. 1

I mentioned in my last post that on this Veterans Day, I decided to start digging a bit more into the World War I (WWI) service of my maternal great-grandfather Patrick John Flanagan. This prompted me to also look into the WWI service of his two brothers, Michael John Flanagan and Thomas Joseph Flanagan.

These three brothers served in Europe during the war.2 None appeared to be career military before or after the war. So each Flanagan brother should have registered for the draft.

But I could only find draft registration cards for two of them, my great-grandfather Patrick and his younger brother Thomas, who both registered on 5 June 1917.3

Try as I might, I could not find a draft registration card for the oldest brother Michael Flanagan who was born 16 June 1885 in Ballyglass, County Mayo, Ireland and who immigrated to the U.S. at the age of two in 1888 with his mother.4. I spent a full week trying every search strategy possible looking for this record on Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Fold3.

Michael had to have registered. It was the law. His brothers registered. Michael served in the war, so I knew he did not evade his duty.

And then it hit me.

Perhaps I should pay closer attention to the requirements for each of the three WWI draft registration dates, and in particular, who had to register when.

During World War I there were three registrations. The first, on June 5, 1917, was for all men between the ages of 21 and 31. The second, on June 5, 1918, registered those who attained age 21 after June 5, 1917. (A supplemental registration was held on August 24, 1918, for those becoming 21 years old after June 5, 1918. This was included in the second registration.) The third registration was held on September 12, 1918, for men age 18 through 45.5

Born in 1885, Michael at 32 years old was one year too old to qualify for the 5 June 1917 draft registration. He would have been required to register in the third phase at age 33 “…held on September 12, 1918, for men age 18 through 45.”6 However, Michael joined the Army one month before that final draft registration occurred.7.

I could not find a draft registration card for Michael because one should not exist.

The first two draft registration dates did not apply to Michael. The third and final one did, but Michael had already enlisted in the Army by that time.

Thorough genealogists know the importance of a reasonably exhaustive search, but thorough genealogists also need to pay attention to the laws and regulations that dictate the who, what, and when part of how particular records were created.

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Sources Cited

  1. “Full Instructions for Registration Day; War Department’s Primer for Use of Eligible.” The New York Times, 5 June 1917. p. 1, col. 6; image copy, Proquest (https://search.proquest.com ; accessed 13 November 2018), ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index.
  2.  “Flanagan, Michael J.,” The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War 1917-18, Volume VI (Columbus, OH: The F.J. Heer Printing Co., 1926) 5334; image copy, HathiTrust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org/ : accessed 11 November 2018). “Flanigan, Patrick,” The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War 1917-18, Volume VI (Columbus, OH: The F.J. Heer Printing Co., 1926) 5337; image copy, HathiTrust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org/ : 11 November 2018). “Flanagan, Thomas J.,” The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War 1917-18, Volume VI (Columbus, OH: The F.J. Heer Printing Co., 1926) 5335; image copy, HathiTrust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org/ : accessed 11 November 2018).
  3.  “U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 November 2018), card for Patrick John Flannigan, no. a-23 , Precinct B-3, Bellaire, Ohio. “U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 November 2018), card for Thomas Flannigan, no. 30 , Precinct C 3rd, Bellaire, Ohio.
  4. Cari A. Taplin, CG, “Research Report for Colleen Greene,” p. 2; Research Report #1, 25 May 2018; copy privately held by Colleen Greene, {address withheld for privacy}, 2018 .
  5. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, “World War I Draft Registration Cards,” National Archives: Research Our Records, n.d. (https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww1/draft-registration : accessed 24 November 2018).
  6.  US National Archives, “World War I Draft Registration Cards.”
  7. Final pay voucher, Michael J. Flannagan, Pvt., 10th Co., 3rd Tr. Bn.; World War I Enlisted Men Final Military Pay Vouchers, 1917 – 1921; Record Group 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789 – ca. 2007. National Archives, St. Louis, MO. “Flanagan, Michael J.,” The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War 1917-18. He enlisted on 7 August 1918.

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3 thoughts on “Pay Attention to Those Draft Dates & Ages When Researching Draft Registration Cards”

  1. Hello Colleen. I came across something a bit bizarre when researching WWI draft registration cards and was wondering if you had ever seen this before. I located my grandfather’s card, which was filed out in Gary, Indiana in 1917. I am 100% certain it’s his. The name, birthdate, and birthplace are all an exact match and the street address matches a known address I have for him in Gary. He was from a small town in Spain and has an unusual surname, so unless he had a secret twin brother it is definitely him. But there’s a problem – in 1917 he was serving in the Spanish military. He wasn’t discharged until the end of 1919 and I have a copy of his discharge papers to prove it. The draft card also describes him as “short and stout” when in fact he was “medium height” and slender. So it seems pretty clear that somebody filled out the registration card for him, 2 years before he could have possibly entered the country. I have mounting evidence that he may not have ever entered the country legally. His wife did and I have her immigration records, but I strongly believe he entered illegally.

    The question is, why would someone have filled out a draft card on his behalf? Would this have somehow made it easier for him to enter the country, or was there some other benefit of an immigrant being registered for the draft? I’m stumped on this one!

    1. Hi Ray,

      I apologize for the delay. I just found your comment.

      I can’t give you a definitive answer to your question. Immigrants did not gain any benefit from registering for the WWI draft. It was a legal requirement for citizens and resident alien males of the right age to register, so the only benefit I’m aware of is compliance with the law.

      Have you searched for someone with the same or a similar name in that same place and time period? I know you said there are other facts, like birthdate and address, that exactly match your relative, but it’s still possible there is someone by the same or of a similar name.
      Colleen

      1. Hi Colleen,

        Thank you so much for responding! This is helpful information. I have checked quite thoroughly and there’s a 99.999% chance that the person referenced on the draft card is my grandfather. It’s a very unusual last name in a very small town, and according to the baptismal records from that town it was the only birth that day. The town today as a population of less than 8000 and was much smaller back then, and according to Spanish census records there are only about 100 or so people in the country with that last name, and even the matrilineal surname matches. The chances of someone with that name being born in that town on that date, and just happening to migrate to the same town in the USA, are extremely small.

        It’s definitely a very bizarre situation that remains a mystery for now. The only thing I can figure is that some family friend who had already immigrated was passing himself off as my grandfather to fraudulently get him a green card before he arrived. If that were the case though I’d expect to see records of that somewhere. Perhaps they were mistaken in believing that registering for the draft would facilitate the process. I do know that my grandfather seemed to have difficulty getting legal entry into the US for some reason (I have records of a detention hearing). I’m not sure why other than he was a likely public charge, but his wife had no problem getting in.

        Thanks again for your reply. It’s a mystery that I may never solve but it’s interesting nonetheless.

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