Once in a while, I search online genealogy sites such as
www.ancestry.com to see if there are any new
records available. One way I do this is
by clicking on the little leaf next to individual names in my Family Tree Maker
genealogy file. When I clicked on the
leaf next to the name of my Great Grand Uncle Andrew Bullock, I discovered that
new military records about him were available online.
Blog Series About Uncle Andy B.
Perhaps, some of you may recall in 2010, the 12-part series
I wrote on Uncle Andrew Bullock whom I affectionately call “Uncle Andy B.” For those of you who either missed it or
don’t remember, Uncle Andy B. was a brother of my great-grandmother Bell
Bullock Johnson (1890-1982). He left
Vance County, North Carolina possibly in his teens (prior to 1917) and moved to
New York and remained in that state until he died in 1972. During interviews with family members and
friends of the family, no one seemed to remember much about Uncle Andy B. since
he left North Carolina at an early age.
In an attempt to learn more about this brother of my great-grandmother,
I decided to analyze and write about the few documents I had collected on him.
(
click here.)
Locating New Record on Uncle Andy B.'s Military Career
I
found this new information about Uncle Andy B.’s military career from the “Abstracts
of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919” records on
www.ancestry.com.
This document above provided me with more detail on Uncle Andy B’s military
service such as the start and end dates for his military in the United
States Army (October 30, 1917 – March 10, 1919). Prior to finding this document, I only knew
the start date of his military service from his U. S. Veterans Gravesite record
which was also found on
www.ancestry.com
some time ago. (Figure 3)
Timeline
In order to make sense of my research findings related to Uncle
Andy B.’s military service during World War One, I created a timeline.
New Research Journey
World War I research is a whole new research journey for me and
I look forward to the ride. Because of
locating this new military record on my Uncle Andrew Bullock, study of World
War I is now more meaningful to me as a researcher and as a family member of a
man who served his country and participated in this significant world event.
National Archives -St. Louis
They Came to Fight
To learn more about the history of the African American
soldier during World War I, watch the video, “They Came to Fight”.
