Discover your ancestors in these enlistment records from the 19th century United States Navy. Learn important facts about their lives when they joined the Navy, such as the year and city in which they enlisted.
Discover your ancestors in these enlistment records from the 19th century United States Navy. Learn important facts about their lives when they joined the Navy, such as the year and city in which they enlisted.
There are more than 260,000 records of enlistments in this collection from the United States Navy. While the information for each person varies, United States Naval Enlistment Rendezvous 1855-1891 usually provides:
These records cover enlistments in the United States Navy for nearly 40 years, including most notably, the American Civil War. Thousands of Americans opted to enlist in the Navy, both during the Civil War and in peacetime, and each enlistment is included in these records. This period also saw the growth of the United States Navy during the Civil War and the late 19th century, until the United States possessed one of the dominant navies by the turn of the 20th century.
Use these records and uncover essential details about your military veteran ancestors. The information you learn can help you to identify your ancestor in our other collections and expand your family history research.
Findmypast is pleased to present these records in partnership with FamilySearch, Intl.
If you are having trouble finding your ancestor in the records, you can expand your search by clicking the “name variants” box under the search bar. When checked, this will return even more records, including those with similar names, alternate spellings or the use of initials or middle names.
If you chose to include the birth year or enlistment year in your search and you are having trouble finding your ancestor, try increasing the year range. Widening the year range will return more results and may lead to surprising new details.