02 December 2011

A Young Man's Draft Card - A Deceptive Title, An Unexpected Find

     Today, Ancestry.com added a database called "U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1898-1929." Well color me excited!

     I quickly began a search for my Grandfather, Thomas Craft, in Georgia. No results. What do you mean no results? Ok, just give me anyone named Craft in Elbert County, Georgia. One result. What?! That can't be right. Well, the ancestry.com searches have been acting up, let me start over. I went back to the landing page for the new database and that's when I saw it: despite the title of the database, this is a limited collection. The only records in this "U.S" collection are from North Carolina.

     Well, now I'm disappointed.  I assume that the database will be expanded to include other states over time, but for now the title is misleading.

     I was about to say "the heck with it" when I paused.  My Great-Grandfather Mack Huyler eventually ended up in High Point, North Carolina in later years. He traveled a lot in his youth - I wonder if he might have been there for the draft?

     Yep, he was.

     He was the only Huyler in the state and registered under his birth name, Vary.  He's living in Charlotte, NC in 1942. His "Person Who Will Always Know Your Address" is a Mrs Charlotte Bristo[w] in High Point. It would appear that his connection to High Point, NC does go back further than his retirement years. Mack might have been able to hide from his family in the 1930s and 1940s, but he can't hide from me!

     One thing to note: if you do find your relatives in this database, make sure to scroll to the next page. There's no indication of it, but these records are two pages long.

Vary Huyler - WWII Draft Card pg 1

Vary Huyler - WWII Draft Card pg 2

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