The History and Achievements of the Fort Sheridan Officers' Training Camps

Veterans Day may have passed but the Genealogy & Local History collection has great resources to honor veterans year round.

One interesting book in the Lundberg Collection is about nearby Fort Sheridan: The History and Achievements of the Fort Sheridan Officers' Training Camps published in 1920 by the Fort Sheridan Association.

The book is an excellent resource for learning about how the army prepared its soldiers during World War I. It's also a neat bit of area history and should definitely be consulted if you're researching WWI ancestors who may have been stationed at Fort Sheridan.




The History and Achievements of Fort Sheridan details how the soldiers prepared for war, gives the full schedule of each week of training camp, describes how the men entertained themselves, and what some officers accomplished during the war.

It's also incredibly well illustrated with photographs of the soldiers during training and also goofing off.

There is a very nice (and sadly very long) section of photos and short biographies of all of the men from Fort Sheridan who died while fighting in WWI.

The book also includes a full roster of every man who trained at Fort Sheridan during World War I. I found two men from Glenview in the ranks:

A.W. Burnham

Alvin G. Gyllenhaal

Teddy Roosevelt visits the troops at Fort Sheridan

The Lundberg Collection includes many interesting military histories particularly from the Civil War. The collection even houses military rosters, records and pensions from states across the country. Drop by the Genealogy & Local History Room to research the veterans in your family!

WWI Draft Registration Cards

World War I officially began one hundred years ago today. WWI is a particularly fascinating time period to research and one of my favorite military records collections is the United States World War I Draft Registration Cards.

Beginning in May 1917, the Selective Service Act authorized President Wilson to increase the size of the US military. There were three draft registrations between 1917 and 1918:

• June 5, 1917: All men residing in the US between the ages of 21 and 31 
• June 5 and August 24, 1918: Registered men who had turned 21 since June 5, 1917
• September 12, 1918: All men between 18 and 45

About 24 million men were registered--and these were not just American citizens. All men living in the US regardless of their citizenship were required to register. If an ancestor wasn't naturalized, a draft card may be the only place you can find an exact birth date and place of birth for them. Other information typically found in these records includes: address, occupation and employer, name and address of nearest relative, citizenship status, physical description and signature.

Remember that just because an ancestor has a draft registration card does not mean that they served in the war. The draft cards do not include any information about WWI military service. 

You can search for WWI Draft cards through Ancestry or FamilySearch.

Finding Your World War I Ancestor

THANK YOU to Genealogical Publishing Company for the use of the article below. 

The Glenview Public Library owns a copy of The Great War: A Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers by Christina K. Schaefer, c1998 Genealogical Pub. Co.
R929.3 SCH GENEALOGY

Below are some insights into how this book can help you research your WWI ancestors:

"Finding Your World War I Ancestor

Suppose family legend has it that your great-grandfather served in the Polish army during World War I. If his service records have survived, you assume you will be able to find them without any trouble. In reality, however, it is not quite that simple.
Between October 1914 and September 1917, for example, some Polish combatants served in the Russian Army. Why? Because, prior to the Russian Revolution, Poland existed as the Duchy of Warsaw within the Russian Empire. Following the establishment of a provisional Polish government in September 1917, the Poles serving for Russia were regrouped into a new Polish army. Or, your ancestor could have been a member of the insurrectionary "Polish Legion" established in Vienna to serve the Empire of Austria-Hungary. Still other Poles served with the German army in Upper Silesia and East Prussia as the Polnische Wermacht, or with a Polish army on the side of France. In short, great-grandfather's service records could conceivably be in Russia, Germany, France, or Hungary, as well as in Poland.
The dispersion of Polish military service records for "The Great War" was not altogether unusual. Following the armistice, the victorious powers carved up the defeated nations and/or their territories. For example, if your Alsace-Lorraine ancestor fought for Germany, his records would have come under French jurisdiction after the Treaty of Versailles. For its part, Denmark acquired Jutland and Schleswig-Holstein from Germany. Similarly, the nations of Finland and Lithuania achieved their independence at the Soviet Union's (Russia's) expense.
Clearly, anyone on the trail of a World War I service record is more likely to be successful if she/he is equipped with a roadmap to the records of that tragic conflict. And roadmap, indeed, is exactly what genealogist Christina K. Schaefer has created in her guidebook The Great War: A Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers.
Organized by country, The Great War provides at-a-glance information on the existence of records and how they can be accessed. Each chapter begins with an outline history of a given country's involvement in the conflict as it impacts on the records. The author then lists all extant record groups for that nation's army and navy. So, for example, we are provided with a list of every German army regiment, followed by another list of the capital ships and U-boats that served the Kaiser. The lengthy U.S. chapter lists the national repositories and then record holdings state by state. Each chapter concludes with a breakdown of that nation's military archives and its holdings and a bibliography of suggested further reading.
For researchers who can profit from a brushing-up on their World War I history, Mrs. Schaefer begins the book with a detailed timeline of events from 1914 to 1918. The volume concludes with a number of very useful features: (1) records pertaining to the aftermath of the war (e.g., service records of the Red Cross); (2) a table of the political changes ushered in by the war; and (3) a list of World War I sources available on the Internet at the time of the book's original publication in 1998. "

Your WWI Ancestor

The Great War : a guide to the service records of all the world's fighting men and volunteers / Christina K. Schaefer. -- Baltimore, Md. : Genealogical Pub. Co., c1998.

929.3 SCH and R929.3 SCH GENEALOGY

The Glenview Public Library owns this helpful book, recommended for people trying to locate World War I records for their ancestors.. Here is a description from the Genealogical Publishing Company of its many useful features:

"Anyone on the trail of a World War I service record is more likely to be successful if she/he is equipped with a roadmap to the records of that tragic conflict. And roadmap, indeed, is exactly what genealogist Christina K. Schaefer has created in her magnificent guidebook, The Great War: A Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers.

Organized by country, The Great War provides at-a-glance information on the existence of records and how they can be accessed. Each chapter begins with an outline history of a given country's involvement in the conflict as it impacts on the records. The author then lists all extant record groups for that nation's army and navy. So, for example, we are provided with a list of every German army regiment, followed by another list of the capital ships and U-boats that served the Kaiser. The lengthy U.S. chapter lists the national repositories and then record holdings state by state. Each chapter concludes with a breakdown of that nation's military archives and their holdings and a bibliography of suggested further reading.

For researchers who can profit from a brushing-up on their World War I history, Mrs. Schaefer begins the book with a detailed timeline of events from 1914 to 1918. The volume concludes with a number of very useful features: (1) records pertaining to the aftermath of the war (e.g. service records of the Red Cross); (2) a table of the political changes ushered in by the war; and (3) a list of World War I sources available on the Internet at the time of the book's original publication in 1998."