Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 199: Frederick W. Seaver's World War I Draft Registration Card

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the World War I Draft Registration card for Frederick Walton Seaver in 1918 in Leominster, Worcester County, Massachusetts: 

The information on this draft registration card includes:

REGISTRATION CARD:

*  Serial Number:  2670

*  Order No.   A853

*  Name: Frederick Walton Seaver

*  Address:  290 Central St, Leominster, Worcester, Mass.

*  Age:  41

*  Birthdate:  October 9th 1876

*  Race:  White

*  U.S. Citizenship:  Native Born

*  Present Occupation:  Superintendent Paton Mfg. Co.

*  Employer's Name:  Paton Mfg. Co.

*  Place of Employment or Business:  282 Central St. Leominster, Worc. Mass.

*  Nearest Relative Name:  (wife) Alma B. Seaver

*  Nearest Relative Address:  290 Central St., Leominster, Worc. Mass.

*  I Affirm That I Have Verified Above Answers And They Are true:  Frederick W. Seaver

REGISTRAR'S REPORT:

*  Height:  Medium

*  Build:  Stout

*  Color of Eyes:  Blue

*  Color of Hair:  Lt. Brown

*  Physical Disabilities:  No

Signature of Registrar:  J. Ward Healey

Date of Registration:  September 12, 1918

Stamp of Local Board:  Local Board for Division No. 14, State of Mass., 12 Main St., Leominster, Mass.

The source citation for this World War I Draft Registration Card is (using the RootsMagic source template for "Draft Registrations - Images"):

"World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," indexed database, digital image, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 October 2010), Massachusetts, Leominster, Draft Board 14, Serial No. 2670, Order No. A853, Frederick Walton Seaver entry, dated 12 September 1918.

When I initially downloaded this image of my grandfather's draft registration card, it looked to be in pretty poor shape when it was imaged on the FamilySearch microfilm.  The registration card image currently on Ancestry.com looks a bit cleaner than this one, although it is still pretty fuzzy compared to others.  I had to find a "cleaner" card on Ancestry just to get the right titles for the entries.

I consider this to be an Original Source document, since the first time it was created is on 12 September 1918 at the Draft Board office.  Some Information is Primary (name, address, employment, spouse's name and address, etc.) and some is Secondary (birth date, race, citizenship).  All of this is Direct Evidence.  

I have used this document to provide evidence of his name, birth date, race, citizenship, residence, employment, spouse's name, and physical description in my database.

This is the only document that I have with my grandfather's signature.

These World War I Draft Registration cards are excellent resources for birth dates of persons in places where birth records were not kept in the late 19th century, or are not accessible due to state laws.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/01/treasure-chest-thursday-post-199.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver