Today’s Treasure Chest Thursday entry is the World War I Draft Registration Card for my great-grandfather, Francis Taylor Kendrick.
Click to enlarge
I love draft registration cards, because you never really know what you are going to learn, but there is almost always some good information. Plus, they include physical descriptions, so you can start to get an image of the ancestor in your head, even if you don’t have any pictures of him.
This card tells me that France’s middle name was Taylor. He lived in Cisco, Georgia, where he would remain until at least 1930, although he later moved to Chatsworth, Georgia.
This is also the best source I’m likely to get for his birth date. It’s an original record, he was the informant and was 42 at the time, so he certainly would be reliable, and it offers direct evidence, stating the DOB as 13 Jun 1876.
He was a self-employed farmer and his nearest relative was Lizzie Kendrick, his bride of less than a year.
France was of medium height and build, with blue eyes and dark hair, which is exactly what I would expect.
The card also includes his signature, so I know this is a record that he handled himself.
Lastly, this card was dated 12 Sep 1918; France and Lizzie’s son Roy was born 28 Jun 1918, so I can use their stated residence as indirect evidence of Roy’s birthplace.
Source: “World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” Database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 October 2009), entry for Francis Taylor Kindrick, serial no. 804, order no. 129, Draft Board 0, Murray County, Georgia; citing World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918, NARA microfilm publication M1509.
