The National Archives will host for the very first time a Virtual Genealogy Fair September 3 – 4, 2013 from 10 AM – 5 PM daily . . . woo-hoo!
Visit the National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair
The Servicemen’s Dependents Allowance Act of 1942, signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, provided a much needed allowance to the wives, children, and certain dependent relatives of servicemen in the lower grades (privates, private first class, technician 5th grade, corporal, technician 4th grade, and sergeant) of the Army. Relatives and dependents were divided into two classes. Class A consisted of wives, children and divorced wives to whom alimony was still payable, and Class B consisted of parents, grandparents, siblings, and grandchildren.
My father grew up in the home of his maternal grandparents, Henry and Olivia (Moten) Newsome. When his grandfather’s health deteriorated to the point that he had to be permanently hospitalized (he was admitted to the Austin State Hospital), some of the financial care of his grandmother rested on his shoulders. Therefore when he was drafted into the Army on 4 December 1945, he completed the Application for Dependency Benefits below listing his grandmother as a Class B dependent so that 49% of his financial support went to her each month.
Front
Below is a front and back transcription of my father’s — applicant copy — of the original application:
ARMY SERVICE FORCES
OFFICE OF DEPENDENCY BENEFITS
NEWARK 2, N.J.
APPLICATION FOR DEPENDENCY BENEFITS
(Servicemen’s Dependents Allowance Act of 1942, As Amended)
I. (a) Soldier
(Last name) – Taylor
(First name) – John
(Middle name) – W
(Army serial number) – 38 754 049
(Present Army grade – private, corporal, sergeant, etc.) – Private
(Soldier’s Army mailing address) —
(Single, married, divorce) – Single
(Race) – Colored
(Soldier’s home address: Number and street or R.F.D.) – 422 Gunter St.
(City, town or post office) – Houston
(State) – Texas
I hereby apply for the family allowances authorized by law for the following name relatives and/or dependents who are related to me in the manner stated in paragraphs II and III below.
CLASS A
II. List: Wife (W), child (C), former wife divorced to who alimony is still payable (W.Div). (If there are none in class A, write “None” in the name column.)
NONE
CLASS B OR B – 1 DEPENDENTS
III. List below the father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, either husband or wife, person in loco parentis (foster parent), brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted brother, adopted sister, who are dependent upon the soldier for substantial or chief portion of their support. (If there are non in class B or B-1, write “None” in name column.)
Name
(Last) – Newsome
(First) – Olivia
(Middle) —
Address
Number and street or R.F.D. – Rt.2, Box 192
City, town, or P.O. and postal zone No. – Brenham
State – Texas
Relationship – GM.
Date of birth of minors —
Degree of dependency (percent) — 49%
IV. Enter on the lines below the full name and address of the person or persons to whom the checks are to be made payable.
Make checks payable to —
Name — Olivia Newsome
Address number and street or R.F.D. — Rt. 2, Box 192
City, town, or P.O. and postal zone No. — Brenham
State – Tex.
W.D., A.G.O. Form No. 625
1 January 1944
This form supersedes W.D., A.G.O. Form No. 625, 21 October 1942, which may be used until existing stocks are exhausted.
Back
Members of immediate family now serving in the military or navel service
V. The following named member of (my) (the soldier’s) immediate family are now serving as soldiers, sailors, marines, or coast guardsmen (not officiers) in the military of naval service.
NONE
VI. I hereby swear or affirm that all the foregoing statements are correct and that every member of class B or B-1 for whom I claim the family allowance is dependent, to the degree indicated, upon the soldier whose name appears in paragraph I above, for support.
(Signature) —
[SEAL]
Subscribed and sworn to before me this — 5 — day of – Dec., 1945 at — 22.00
(Title) — W. E. LOHMAN, 1st LT. WAC.
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Once this application was approved, Momma Olivia would have started receiving a monthly allowance at the end of the next succeeding month from the date on the application. The allowance that would be paid to her came from money that was deducted from my father’s pay and from the government. Even though this application did not state what her monthly allowance would be, I hope my father’s compiled service record I recently requested from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will provide that information and much more!
This military application for dependency benefits was a GREAT genealogy find! Not only did it provide me the Houston address of my father before he was drafted in the Army, but it also helped me to pinpoint which Washington County, Texas town (Brenham) my great-grandmother lived in between the 1940 and 1950 census decades!
—–
Source Citation:
Marshall, G.C. (1944). Application for dependency benefits. TM 12-223, Reception Center Operations. Washington, D.C.: War Department. Retrieved November 28, 2012 from http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/wwIItms/TM12_223_1944.pdf
It’s Follow Friday and I continue my tribute to Veterans by recommending three major websites that I use to document my family’s service; enjoy!
U. S. Military Collection is one of my personal favorite collections at Ancestry.com! Ancestry — noted for being the world’s largest online collection of family history resources — has millions of military records spanning from before the Revolutionary War all the way up to Vietnam. In this collection there’s draft records, service records, pension records, bounty land records, claim records, and military histories. There are search tips and sample images available to get you started. In addition to this collection, Ancestry’s paid subscribers have the ability to create public or private military webpages for all veteran ancestors in their family trees with the records they find as well as with their own photos, personal documents and stories. Now how cool is that? I say that’s very cool indeed. So check out this military collection for yourself!
Fold3.com, formerly known as Footnote.com, was acquired by Ancestry in 2011 and is believed to be the Internet’s premier collection of original U. S. military records — including many from the U. S. National Archives. According to the website, “[t]he Fold3 name comes from a traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in defense of their country and to maintain peace throughout the world.” This website truly does provide convenient access to US military records, stories, photos, and personal information about the men and women who served our country. I started using Fold3 for the first time last year when I was given a discount for joining the website because I am a member of the Houston Genealogical Forum. And if you’ve never used this website before, I suggest you report to the “Fold3 Training Center“ where there’s excellent tutorials and videos available to get you started with your military research there!
Veterans’ Service Records at the National Archives is the “go-to” place for all genealogists looking to document their family’s service. According to the website about the records at the National Archives, “[o]f all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept forever. Those valuable records are preserved in the National Archives and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching an historical topic that interests you.” What I particularly love about this website is the — get-to-the-point — “Genealogy Research in Military Records” section that highlights specific records that are important and tips on how to begin and be successful with our military records research via the National Archives!
We are just a week away from the release of the 1940 Census and thanks to the National Archives, they have setup a direct link to the 1940 Census records at http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/ and a brief, yet informative video I’ve posted below, for anyone planning to access these records on April 2, 2012.
So why is the 1940 Census so special?
This census describes our country during the Great Depression, which began when Wall Street crashed, October 1929. According to Wikipedia.org, This crash “. . . marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement.”
So what can you and I do right now to prepare for the grand opening of the 1940 Census?
We can begin by:
For more information and free resources for Genealogist at the National Archives, visit them online at http://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/
Happy Researching!
Claiming Kin Genealogy 