Genealogy Jottings

Nearly one hundred years ago the young men of America marched off to register for the World War I draft. I looked at some of those registration cards this week. There I found Charles, George, Claude, and Walter, the four sons of my great-great grandfather Thomas Sherman. I learned several things about them:

1. Birthplaces. Interestingly, the draft boards did not use the same registration form every year. The forms filled out by the younger sons, Claude and Walter, in 1917 asked for birthplace. The forms filled out a year later by the older sons, Charles and George, did not. From census records I know that Charles was born in Missouri, but I wish the draft card had given an exact location. The other boys were all born in Illinois, and now I know that Walter was born at Janesville, Illinois. Claude’s card says he was born at Johnstown, Illinois. I am unfamiliar with this location and did not know that the father Thomas Sherman had ever lived there. I need to do some more investigating of this clue.
2. Residence. When they registered, George and Claude lived in Charleston, Illinois, as I expected. Walter lived nearby in Bushton. Charles resided in Dexter, Missouri. He had left Illinois that year at the request of the Coles County Overseer of the Poor after having lived hand to mouth on the county dole for many months. Charles was quite the black sheep.
3. Occupations. The Shermans were blacksmiths, and all but the youngest son Walter pursued this trade during World War I. Walter worked at a grain elevator.
4. Physical Descriptions. All the sons but George were described as slender. The older boys, Charles and George, were of medium height; the younger sons were tall. They all had dark hair. Only Walter had blue eyes while the others had brown. Does my dad look like any of them? He was tall, slender, blue-eyed, and had dark hair.
5. Claude and Walter claimed exemptions from the draft on the grounds of being needed to support dependents. The form did not name these people, but the list included Walter’s mother.

These draft cards gave me a good look at family members from another era. You can find the records on Ancestry.com.