How do you know if your ancestor served in the military? Sometimes this is easy; your family may have a strong tradition of military service. Other times it is not so simple. One great way to find out if you ancestor had military service is to see if they are listed as a veteran on the 1890 Veteran's Schedule, a rare remaining part of the 1890 US Census. Another way is to look at other census records. The best way to determine if you ancestor potentially served in the US Military is to look at the years they were of the age 16-40. Were these years during a major conflict? Although 16 was always too young for service, many people lied about their age in order to serve for a cause they believed in. 40 was usually too old but in certain conflicts like the Civil War, all able bodied (and not so able bodied) men were asked to serve, this is especially true of the Confederacy.

Let's look at the time frames for major conflicts in the US. From 1776 until 1792, the US was at war with Great Britain. Not everyone support the rebel efforts. Many people like the idea of being part of the UK and did not want independence. You may find records for British supporters in US and UK court records. After the war many Loyalists fled to Canada. This is a good time frame to look for Revolutionary War Pensions, muster rolls, and other military files.

After the Revolutionary War, there was another war with Great Britain. In 1812, the US once again had a major conflict with the British. Look for records of your men during this time frame as well.

Starting in 1860, the Civil War ripped the United States apart. This was a horrible conflict, many times splitting families and putting brother against brother or father against son. Both Confederate and Union records are available for research.

Later on, in more recent times (from 1917 onward), there was WWI, WWII, the Korean Military Action, Vietnam and The Gulf Wars. You can get access to records for these conflicts as well.

Where do you find military records? NARA has many military records. They can be searched on site, either at the main location in DC or at satellite offices, some are even available online. You can access a database of WWII enlistments online through the NARA website. Although there are no images of these enlistment files, the database can give you enough information to request a copy of the military records from the National Personnel Records division. NARA also has pension files, muster rolls, and a whole host of military files for all conflicts prior to WWII.

The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis Mo., is another resource to check. This is where you should go for military records of your ancestor if they have served in WWII or later conflicts. You will need to write to them to request the records, or if you are next of kin, you can fill out an online form on the NARA website to request the records directly. Normally there is no charge to obtain these records. If you are not next of kin you need to request the records using an FOIA request. This is a Freedom of Information Act request. Although they will not release medical records to you under a FOIA request, the other information is quite good.

What information can you expect to see in a military file? Well, a pension file can contain huge amounts of genealogical information. This is especially true if the pension was requested by the veteran's widow or if there was a denied pension claim. In order to claim a pension the veteran had to prove military service, residence and other information. A widow had to prove that she was married to the veteran and usually that he was the father of her children. You can expect to see birth records, baptismal records, family genealogies, death records, muster rolls, pay records, medical records, and more. Muster rolls will show you who was a part of what unit. If you are sure that you ancestor served in a conflict but cannot find their record, find out what unit or units others from their town joined. Chances are you will be able to find them on a muster roll for that unit. Unit records are a great way to see what roll your ancestor played in the conflict. NARA has all of these records and most of them need to be researched at an NARA facility.

If you cannot get to an NARA facility, check your local and state archives. If the person you are researching is from your area, the local archives may have military records pertaining to units and individuals from that particular state. This is very important with Revolutionary War files and Confederate records from the Civil War. Once again, local newspapers are also a good resource. Many will have lists of those local boys (and gals) that died, joined, served or received promotions.

The most difficult military records to find are those of women. Throughout US history, women did not serve in a combat capacity. This did not mean that they were not in harms way. During the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, women gave aide to injured soldiers, as well as provided food and supplies to local troops. Although no officially part of military service, records do exist for these exceptional ladies and no stone should be left unturned in your search for their stories. During WWII you had WAC and their Navy counterpart. WAC is the Women's Army Corp. Their job was to keep the home front up and running while the men were off fighting battles. Many of these women flew transport and supply planes, and handled the day to day operations of the military at home and abroad. You can find a lot of information, including pictures of WAC individuals online at NARA.

Other places to look, especially if you are not researching US history: during WWII Russia had women fighter pilots; prior to WWII both Russia and Poland had required military conscriptions. So did many other countries. It is best to locate an expert on these areas to help you locate the military records. For UK military involvement be sure to check the PRO (Public Records Office), or the National Archives in Britain.

Military research can be very rewarding. Finding out that an ancestor served is exciting and it gives you a very good picture of their life. In addition, some information contained in military files may not be found anywhere else. For example, when looking through one individuals Civil War Pension file, there were birth certificates and marriage records from Italy. These records may not have been easily located by someone in the US. However, because they questioned the claim, a lot of personal information was required to prove this man's identity. The 200 pages of his file provided huge amounts of family information written by this person. There is no other record that contains all of this. When possible, always look for a pension file.