The Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center is pleased to announce the addition of a new database of genealogical information to our collection of online resources! Fold3 provides focused access to historical military records, supplementing what you can find on our AncestryLibrary, FamilySearch, HeritageQuest, and newspaper databases.

Discover more about the lives of your ancestors who served in the military, especially in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other English-speaking countries.

Many of the records for the United States are digitized from the collections of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in partnership with Ancestry, Fold3’s parent company. Please note that World War I and World War II records are scarce due to a 1973 fire at NARA’s National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis.

Before you begin searching, we recommend that you set up a free Fold3 account in order to take full advantage of the database’s features, including the ability to download and print records (not all are available without), add tags and annotations to records, create memorials, and assemble records in subject pages. Click on “Member Login” on the upper-right side of the page, then click the blue “Sign Up” link in answer to the question “Don’t have a Fold3 account?” at the bottom of the “Sign in” page.

To search, click on the words “Search & Browse” in the red bar at the top of the introductory page. Begin typing a phrase into the search box, and Fold3 will automatically ask if you want it to be a name, place, or keyword. 

For example, in the screenshot shown above, the phrase “Scott County, Iowa” will be searched as a place.

Search results are displayed in the larger area to the right. To narrow your results, check boxes next to the filter names listed in the column to the left. You can also use the “Filter” drop-down menu to the left of the search box (especially useful if you would like to search for a precise date).

Filters include Conflict/War, Title Collection, Publication Name, Publication Type, Record Type, and Content Provider. Click on the “See All” link for the full list of specific filters within each of these. Each sub-filter is listed with the number of records available. The counts will change as you add more filters or search terms.

The screenshot above shows the “US Civil War” sub-filter box checked under the “Conflict/War” filter and that there are 857 records available. The results can then be narrowed further by checking the box next to “Civil War Stories” (848 records) or “US Civil War Service Records…” (2 records) under the “Publication Name” filter.

If you are not certain which filters to choose, click on the “Browse” button next to the Search button (underneath the search box) instead. The publications matching your search criteria will be displayed on the right, along with record counts. You may then select which of these is most relevant to your search.

For Scott County, Iowa, “US WWII Army Enlistment Records” make up the largest number of records, followed by “Civil War Stories” (soldier profiles automatically compiled from sources available on Fold3, Ancestry and Find-A-Grave), “US WWII Draft Registration Cards,” and “Korean War Era Draft Registration Cards.”

One Scott County item found under “US Civil War Subversion Investigations, 1861-1866,” offers a glimpse into a problem faced by local officials in the summer of 1862. Some men of age to serve in the Union Army were crossing state lines to evade conscription or collect additional bounties. In a letter to the Secretary of War, Davenport’s Postmaster Charles H. Eldridge complained that a recent order meant to stop these criminals was being used by its self-appointed enforcers as a “pretext for making a grand show of Authority and for their individual pecuniary benefit.” Guards placed “at the Ferry Landings, Steamboat Wharves and Railroad Depots” on the Mississippi River were charging ordinary citizens money for a pass to cross. “I know,” he concluded, “the War Department does not wish to have orders so construed as to be in the hands of any and all persons and to be used to the detriment of business and disparagement of the Government.” 

Another Civil War-era find is an affidavit signed by Andrew Auldrige before a Scott County notary in January 1865. He claimed exemption from military service in Iowa because of his legal status as a deserter from a “so-called” Confederate Army Infantry regiment raised in Pocahontas County, Virginia.

A search for “Davenport, Iowa” uncovered many mentions of the city in “Project Blue Book – UFO Investigations, 1947-1969.” In January 1953, for example, two Iowa State Highway patrolmen reported a sighting of a “…spherical ball of light…easily several hundred feet in size” that “changed color from white to amber then red to amber and then white again a number of times” in the sky over northwest Davenport. The Air Force “Approving Officer” noted that this report “…leads to the furtherance of the belief that ‘Flying Saucers’ are no longer to be regarded as whims of the imagination, but rather a reality.” Read more of these reports on Fold3 to see if you agree!

Visit any of our library locations or log in from home with your library card to explore gems like these and more amongst the variety of military records available on the Fold3 database! As always, the Special Collections staff will be pleased to guide you through the search process. Come see us on the second floor at Main or give us a call if you have any questions!