"Tracing Our Roots" Newsletter Archive (A monthly genealogy newsletter written by the late Brenda Kellow, dec'd, for the Plano Star Courier newspaper. We've included all the ones we could recover.)
Lynne Darrouzet, attorney and certified genealogical record specialist, is my guest writer today while I am recovering from thumb surgery. Lynne teaches genealogy classes at CCCC and regularly lectures locally and regionally, with expertise in researching in Collin County and the South.
Military and military related records can lead to important information about our relatives. A case in point is that of John E. McFarlane of Colorado. His life was reasonably well documented through 1917, when he served at age 21 as a cook in an army unit during World War I. After a long search, I finally found him in the 1920 federal census for Gallup, New Mexico living with his brother Robert. Then the trail ran cold again.
Family tradition had it that John died fairly young in Colorado and never married. A search of Colorado marriage records, death, cemetery and census records turned up nothing. But when I heard last month that most of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs' national cemeteries could be searched online for burial locations http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1, I knew I would finally find John.
A search of the VA s database returned a John E. McFarlane, cook U.S. Army, who died in 1942 and was buried at Ft. Bayard National Cemetery in New Mexico. A researcher there found for me John s death certificate and obituary. Those documents confirmed his identity, that he had lived in Denver until about a year before his death, and revealed a marriage and child previously unknown.
If John had been drafted for the war, more personal information might be obtained from the microfilmed World War I Draft registration cards. These cards require you to know the state and county where the individual registered for the draft, but several online projects are underway to make this much easier. Ancestry.com is in the process of digitizing and indexing these cards presently 12 states are online, including Texas. You may also find this information abstracted on a county genealogy web site, or searchable on a state archives website such as Florida s www.floridamemory.com/Collections/WWI/.
Further information related to John McFarlane s military service might also be found by ordering his records from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis at www.archives.gov/facilities/mo/st_louis/military_personnel_records/standard_form_180.html.
Researchers should be aware, however, that a fire at the Center in 1973 destroyed many World War I army service records. Be sure to check state archives for military service information; Missouri for example, www.sos.mo.gov/archives/ww1/Default.asp even has World War I Military Service cards online.
GENEALOGY CLASSES AT CCCCD
Genealogy classes continue at CCCCD s Preston Ridge Campus in Frisco this summer and fall. There is still time to register for Genealogy I beginning Monday evening July 12 and running through August 30, 2004. Class times are 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Genealogy I topics include organizing your research, introduction to vital records and census records, field trips to the Genealogy Section at the Gladys Harrington Library and Family History Center, evaluating genealogical evidence and documenting your research. For more information on the summer class, see CCCCD s online schedule at www.ccccd.edu/cs/areasofstudy/conted/contedmain.html. Genealogy I will also be available August 26 through October 14, 2004. Genealogy II will be offered in the fall October 21 through December 16, 2004. Genealogy II topics include deed and tax records, federal and state land records, military records, probate and court records, immigration and naturalization records, church and cemetery records, and further skill building in research planning, evidence analysis and report writing. The course instructor is Lynne Darrouzet. Details for fall classes will be in CCCCD s fall course schedule.
Brenda Kellow, dec'd, Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Instructor, had a Bachelor s Degree in history and taught genealogy courses at the local Community College and computer genealogy at the University.
