Category: Military Records Page 4 of 5

Compiled from service records following the end of World War I. 

Graeme McGregor Smith, mother of two World War I veterans, was one of these inspired Americans who went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that every Tennessean who served in the Great War would be remembered. Her efforts resulted in the Record of Ex-Soldiers in World War I, Tennessee Counties, 1917-1919, the compiled service records of over 130,000 soldiers and sailors from Tennessee who served in the First World War.

Click here to learn more about these compilations held at TSLA.

The original typed manuscript documents are in the Tennessee State Library and Archives; the PDF file below is a scan from microfilm of the original Bledsoe County section.

Use the tool bar at the bottom of the document to turn pages, enlarge, or reduce images.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://tngenweb.org/bledsoe/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/p15138coll38_394.pdf” title=”Bledsoe County Record of Ex-Soldiers of World War I”]

The data contained in this site was taken from Record Group 36, the compiled service records of soldiers and sailors who served in the First World War from Tennessee. Information on individual servicemen and women came from the files of Major Rutledge Smith, Chairman of the National Council of Defense for Tennessee, World War I; from the office of the Adjutant General of Tennessee, 1933-1937; and from the report of the Provost Marshal General to the Secretary of War, 1917-1918.

The records were compiled pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution No. 76, Public Acts of 1919, and were received and stored by the Tennessee State Library and Archives in accordance with Chapter No. 301, Public Acts of 1937. They also include information about those who were killed in service. Further information about their deaths can be found in the Gold Star records at the State Library and Archives.

The fields show–in order from left to right–the serviceman’s name, age or year of birth, birthplace, notes, and page number in the original volume. The data is arranged by county. It should be noted that additional information regarding the soldier’s rank, training, dates of service, discharge, etc. can be obtained from the microfilmed records in Record Group 36.

Copies of an individual service record, as well as copies and searches of other World War I collections, can be ordered from TSLA. Please click here for instructions for ordering military records by mail.

Errors in the military records are not uncommon; it may be the case of a simple spelling error or misheard information. The information in the WWI listings is given as it appears on the original record. While we cannot change the information on the record, names which may be spelled incorrectly will be marked with a question mark (?) .

The index that follows is not a “complete” list of all Tennesseans who served in World War I. Individuals from Tennessee who enlisted in other states are not included. Only those soldiers whose names appear in the compiled service records (Record Group 36) are included in the following list.

You can search this table.

Source: https://sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com/tsla/history/military/ww1intro.htm

submitted by Joyce Hines Stone (before 2015)

Just received my ancestors pension Records for Civil war. The Records give me the full name of Andrew Parker Wiley Married Sarah Ann Smith in Bledsoe County, TN. Their Marriage date is June 8, 1856, as recorded in “Pikesville,” County seat of Bledsoe County, TN. Paperwork also lists living children’s names:

W. A. Wiley male, born Feb. 24, 1857
I. H. Wiley male, born Dec. 8, 1859
G. W. Wiley male, born April 2, 1865
J. N. Wiley male, born July 23, 1867
Mary J. Wiley female, born Feb 10 1872, Pension documents list her as M. J. Shackelford
Thomas Wiley male born, Oct. 27th 1873

Andrew P. Wiley died June 18, 1906 in Keller, Tarrant County, Texas. Sarah Ann Smith Wiley died Mar. 1, 1917, in Willis, Montgomery County, Tx.

He joined the service in Nashville. I think he was a Union soldier.

They were on the census 1840-50-60 census in Bledsoe County, then to Warren County, then to Coffee County then to Texas.

His mother was Sarah Wiley. Her sister was Frances or Fanny Wiley.