Most people know that the military provides burial honors for veterans but may not know about the online availability of some of the earlier applications for headstones of military personnel.
National cemeteries in the U.S. go back to 1862 when the government began to establish cemeteries to honor Union war dead. Congress later extended the privilege of government-provided gravestones to soldiers buried in private cemeteries.
Ancestry.com has a database titled “U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925- 1963.” This database has application forms for headstones for deceased members of the armed services. Applications were made between 1925 and 1963 but included veterans going back to the Revolutionary War.
The application for the military headstone usually give the name, birth date, enlistment date, rank and unit, service number, discharge date, and date of death. It also includes the cemetery name and location, and the name and possibly the relationship of the applicant to the veteran.
Another database is “U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca. 1775-2006.” This provides information on the burials of veterans and their dependents who were buried in national cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries or other military cemeteries.
A database titled ” U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865” contains the names of about 6.3 million soldiers who served in the American Civil War. In addition to their names, you will also find their regiment, company and rank.
These three databases are available on www.ancestry.com which is free at the public libraries and Family History Centers in Fort Collins and Loveland.
Kathy Patrick is vice president and an instructor for Larimer County Genealogical Society. Please visit our website at www.lcgsco.org or our Facebook page at www.facebook. com/lcgsco for our genealogy resources and calendar events. Please join our society volunteers on Thursday after- noons from 1 to 5 pm at Loveland Library or Old Town Library in Fort Collins for genealogy help.