Great Database, But What Do I Do With It?

Do you get those emails from Ancestry highlighting one of their new databases? The latest one, is U. S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938.  The description is according to Ancestry:

"This database contains records from twelve National Homes. The majority of the records consist of  historical registers, but other records included in this database are indexes to the historical registers, applications, admissions, deaths, burials, and hospital records."

So I randomly started entering family surnames hoping to find a hit. On Webb I hit on John V. Webb. The record showed a relative named Mrs. J. M. Redd. Great. This is a son of Thacker V. Webb and Martha Tyree Green, all of Lafayette County, Missouri.  (If you want to see a larger image click on the image.)

I haven't quite figured out what to do with this information. It doesn't give me a birth date or a death date or a burial place. It does tell me that he was single and that he had cerebrospinal syphilis. It does tell me that in that pre-penicillin age he probably didn't live much longer. There is an age on the form, which probably is for his first admission. His last admission was in 1929, which would make him almost 60. The one thing it probably does tell me is that he probably died in Leavenworth, Kansas and not as I had supposed in Missouri. These particular registers for Leavenworth, Kansas range from 1885-1934.

So far, this John Webb is the only one I can verify as being "mine." If you would like more information on this database, go here.


Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes