How do I research my World War I ancestor?
Answer
World War I Official Military Personnel Files are held by the National Archives and Records Administration facility in St. Louis. Please note that a fire in 1973 destroyed many military service records. See also: Researching Individuals in WW1 Records.
Approximately 263,000 Ohioans served in the First World War. The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the World War, 1917-1918 is a 23-volume set of books published by the Ohio Adjutant General. It provides a brief description of the service of each Ohioan who served in the war. There is a key in the beginning of each volume that explains the abbreviations used.
If you have a subscription to Ancestry.com, or your local library provides access to the library edition of Ancestry, you can search this work. It is listed as the Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917-1918 database.
You will also find digital copies of all 23 volumes on Hathitrust.org.
The contribution of Ohio in World War I is described in the book, Galbreath, C. B. History of Ohio, Volume 1, Chapter 5. A list of the WWI dead by county can be found on pages 669-708. History of Ohio, Volume 1 can be found online on Hathitrust.org.
You will find information of Ohio's contribution on the United States World War I Centennial website.
You will also find a great deal of material available in our World War I in Ohio collection on Ohio Memory.
Please visit our research guide for more information on resources at the Ohio History Connection.