United States Naval Enlistment Rendezvous - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
A rendezvous was the recruiting station where the men enlisted in the Navy. Officers at the rendezvous kept a record of each man enlisted and reported the information weekly to the Navy Department. These documents are known as the “weekly returns of rendezvous reports.”

The largest number of enlistments occurred during the Civil War. The number of men in uniform for these years is estimated at between 26,000 and 51,000.

This collection consists of these enlistment registers. The original records are located in the National Archives Record Group 24 (NARA publication M1953): Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. The records were microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah in 2003.

They are arranged in the following order:


 * Volume
 * Chronologically by week
 * Name of naval rendezvous
 * Date of enlistment

The indexes to these records, both arranged alphabetically, are available on microfilm from the National Archives in the following publications:


 * T1098, Index to Rendezvous Reports, Before and After the Civil War, 1846–1861, 1865–1884
 * T1099, Index to Rendezvous Reports, Civil War, 1861–1865

Record Content
The registers include the following information:




 * Name of naval rendezvous
 * Name of sailor
 * Date and term of enlistment
 * Previous naval service
 * Place of birth
 * Age
 * Occupation
 * Personal description

How to Use the Record
To search for your ancestors in the index you will need to know their full names. If you are having difficulty finding your ancestor, look for variations in the spelling of the name. If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. This information will often lead you to other records.

For example:


 * Death dates may lead to death certificates, mortuary, or burial records.
 * Use the age to calculate an approximate birth date.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the residence or place of birth of the deceased to locate census, church, and land records.

You may also find these search tips helpful:


 * Compile the entries for every person who has the same surname as the deceased; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have been seeking the pension.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

For additional information see the wiki article: Steps for research in United States Military Records.

Related Websites
National Archives Publication: “Navy”

Related Wiki Articles

 * Union Service Records
 * US Military Branches
 * U.S, Navy

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Example of a Source Citation for a Record Found in This Collection
"United States, Naval Enlistment Rendezvous, 1855-1891'" FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org;) accessed 8 June 2011). entry for Henry Newman, age 21;  Citing Naval Records, FHL microfilm 00,276; National Archives, Washington D.C., United States.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the data and images published on FamilySearch.org Historical Records. It may include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.

“United States Weekly Returns at Naval Rendezvous ("Enlistment Rendezvous"), Jan 6,1855-Aug. 8,1891,” index and images, FamilySearch; (http://www.familysearch.org); from the National Archives in Washington, DC, NARA publication M1953. FHL microfilm, 71 reels, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Information about creating source citations for FamilySearch Historical Collections is listed in the wiki article Help:How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.