Oregon, Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States  Oregon

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains the Grand Army of the Republic membership records of Union Civil War veterans for the years 1870 to 1930. The Descriptive books are arranged by Post name and number. The Descriptive books may list name, age, state of birth, residence in Oregon, occupation, date-rank-company-regiment of service and final discharge, cause of discharge, when mustered into G.A.R., status, and date of death. The collection is located at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland and is part of manuscript 1378. Oregon G.A.R. posts include:


 * Meade Post 2
 * Lincoln-Garfield Post 3
 * Sumner Post 12
 * US Grant Post 17
 * Hancock Post 21
 * General Compson Post 22
 * Shepardston, Post 25
 * Gettysburg Post 33
 * Reuben Wilson Post 38
 * Arlington Post 40
 * M.A. Ross Post 42
 * F. B. Sprague Post 46
 * Iuka Post 48
 * Benjamin F Butler Post 57
 * John Bucher Post 70
 * Wm P Dickinson Post 78

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
These records generally contain the following information:


 * Member's name
 * Residence
 * Birthplace
 * Enlistment date
 * Discharge date
 * Rank
 * Organization served in
 * Remarks

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of the soldier.
 * The place where the soldier was born.
 * The unit or organization in which the soldier served.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in your ancestor’s name in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person.You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the appropriate "Descriptive Books" which takes you to the images.

Look at the images one by one. Again you will need to compare the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor.

Be aware that with either search you may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the wiki article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor in the Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. The information may also lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the name, enlistment date and organization to find the soldier’s military records.
 * Use the name and residence to find the soldier’s family in census, church, and land records.

I Can't Find Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Continue to search the records to identify other relatives who may have served in the same unit or a nearby unit.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Search the records of nearby military units.
 * You may need to compare the information of more than one family or person to make this determination.
 * If you are unable to find your ancestor look for variant spellings of the surnames. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.

Related Digital Books

 * Roster of Posts 1886 Department of Oregon Grand Army of the Republic

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image. Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: