Trace ancestors through Salvation Army records

The Salvation Army has assisted thousands of people in the past. Today it could help you if your ancestor was a commissioned officer in the Salvation Army, said Susan Mitchem, director of the Salvation Army National Archives in Alexandria, Va.

"We've helped hundreds of people obtain genealogical information about our commissioned officers," she said.

To be a commissioned officer, one must complete a two-year course in residence at one of the Salvation Army's colleges in Chicago; Suffern, N.Y.; Atlanta; and Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Further, officers are required to marry other officers or leave the Army because the organization believes that married couples should undertake a joint ministry.

The Army began as the Christian Mission in the East End of London in 1865 and was renamed the Salvation Army in 1878 to reflect the increasingly military structure the movement had adopted.

It arrived in the United States in 1880. Records for the first decade or so are a bit skimpy, Mitchem said. But after the late 1890s, the records are stuffed with information vital to any family historian.

"In the best-case scenario, you would get the dates and places where they were born and died, locations where they served and a short biography," said Mitchem. "If married, there would be data on their children and each officer's parents. There may possibly even be photos."

Prior education, immigration information (if applicable) and retirement records may also be available.

"We may have funeral information, including where they are buried and who participated in the funeral," Mitchem said.

No records are available for other Army employees, volunteers or clients.

To request information about Army commissioned officers who served in the United States, e-mail Mitchem at susan_mitchem@usn.salvationarmy.org. Write to her at 615 Slaters Lane, Alexandria, VA 22313, call (703) 684-5529, or log on to www.salvationarmyusa.org.

"We need the name and a few clues, like maybe the person died in Chicago in 1938. There may be more than one John Smith, so we need a little help," she said.

Want copies of actual documents? You'll pay 25 cents per copy. You can usually get your information for free via e-mail or snail mail. Turnaround time is often less than one week.

Did your ancestor serve as a commissioned officer in Canada or the Bermuda Territory after 1882? You might be lucky enough to latch onto similar information, according to Karl Larson, secretary of the Canadian archives in Toronto.

"During the first third of the 20th century, the Salvation Army sponsored an immigration scheme from the United Kingdom to Canada. Approximately 250,000 people migrated through this scheme," said Larson in an e-mail interview. "Our center has many of the sailing sheets from the ships, which transported immigrants from the old to the new world."

A nonrefundable fee of $10 is required before the center will begin a search. That pays for the first hour. You'll pay $10 an hour for each additional hour and 20 cents per page copying charges. Photos are $15 each. Shipping and handling charges are extra. Only bank drafts or money orders drawn on Canadian banks are accepted. Check currency exchange rates before sending payment.

Log on to www.salvationarmy.ca/heritage for more information or write to: Salvation Army, George Scott Railton Heritage Centre, Archives & Museum, 2130 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3K6, Canada. Or e-mail Larson at Karl_Larson@can.salvationarmy.org.

Records for all other countries are housed in London. Go to www.salvationarmy.org/heritage.nsf for details. Mitchem says that most pre-World War II records were destroyed when London was bombed during the war, but it's always worth making a request for those earlier records.

-- Donna Murray Allen welcomes your questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in future columns. Sorry, she can't take phone calls, but you can write to her c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@yahoo.com. You can read her column online at www.sptimes.com. Type "Donna Murray Allen" in the search box.

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