Familiarity with records is crucial to genealogical research. One can’t just take what they’ve found online and leave it at that.
Researchers should always be asking if there is “more” to the record than what they have found or if the record they have found means that other separate records may have been created.
This is the General Index Card to compiled military service records for Leander Butler who served in Companies I and B of the 10th Kansas Infantry in the Civil War.
I’ve already got a copy of his pension (that’s a separate record), but his compiled military service record (which this card is just a part of an index to) may tell me more about his military career and may provide clues about his enlistment.
And since I’m stuck on what his family was doing in the 1850s and 1860s that information may be helpful.
Many records we use are actually indexes to other records. One should never stop at the index–even if you didn’t know it was just an index when you were searching it.
5 Responses
Thank u for that information. I think it’s the first time I ‘ve actually seen what an index card is. I’m like u,in the fact I too am looking to see what my families were doing during that time in Illinois. Also trying to figure out where they were while my Civil War grandfather was serving.
I have seen those index cards before and didn’t realize there was more! How do you read what else there is??
Judy Kurtz
The cards provide the unit information and indicate that there’s a compiled military service record. Some of those have been microfilmed. Others have to be ordered from the National Archives. The one in the blog post isn’t online and I’ve ordered it. The sample (linked to in the blog post) was ordered from the National Archives.
thank you! I have dozens of these and although I realized there was sometimes more (in some cases family members had copies), I did not know how to get them.
[…] It’s Just An Index Card–There’s More by Michael John Neill at Genealogy Tip of the Day […]