Great Grandfather, WW1 USA, Camp Bragg; Next steps?

[trees241]

Hi All,

Been a while since I have posted on Roots Chat. Previously posted in the handwriting forum. I have been researching my great grandfather. Family story goes, around 1917, he went to "work" one day and never came back. I believe I have discovered he joined the army. This was about the time the USA entered WW1. Through my research I have found that after returning from France he spent time in Texas and Kansas. He was originally in the 64th Regiment, a supply company.

Around 1920 he was re-enlisted and stationed at Camp Bragg (now Fort Bragg) in North Carolina. While there he became a Technical Sergeant for the "5th L.M.O.R.S. Ord Dept".

He had made a prior legal attempt to change his name while in Kansas in 1920 before Camp Bragg. After I contacted the County Clerk office where he was stationed they were able to find his record requesting a name change, but because he did not show up for the follow up hearing he was not able to change his name.

Back in Camp Bragg he decided again to change his name and this new name appears on a record from 1921, the most recent chronological record I have of him. In this medical record he is listed, it appears, as being in the Quartermaster Corps. Given his new last name is a common name (changed from Vogelfanger to Lewis) I know it will be more difficult to find him. My thought is to research the locations of where his department/company was stationed after 1921.

So my primary questions are for help on how to understand and research military regiments/companies.

* What is 5th L.M.O.R.S. Ord Dept? What is 5th specifically in this context? Is "Ord" Ordnance?
* Is Quartermaster Corps too generic for me to research further?
* Any tips for further research into military company movements etc?

I have attached a muster roll header from 1920 with 5th L.M.O.R.S. Ord Dept, and a snippet from the medical record in 1921 showing "QMC" for Quartermaster Corps.

Thanks for reading and your help!

[Andy J2022]

I can't help you with what LMORS stands for, but I can tell you that in 1920 Camp Bragg was very much smaller than it is today. It had only been set up in 1918 and originally contained no permanent accommodation. It was due to be closed down in August 1921 as part of the general reduction of the US Army after WW1, however this was later rescinded. The camp was mainly used an Artillery training area and so a Quartermaster Corps unit there is likely to have been in support of the artillery. Therefore the O could well stand for Ordnance, and consequently R and S could refer to resupply section.
The US National Archives hold a large amount of records related to the Quartermaster Corps in the series RG 92, and in particular:

92.13 Records of the Office of the Historian
1917-20, 1943-62

Textual Records: Historical records relating to QM activities during World War I and the immediate postwar period, 1917-20. Historical summaries of various QM units and field installations, 1950-52. Histories of various QM field installations, 1943-52. Miscellaneous topical histories (1903-62), compiled 1943-62. Copies of historical documents (1774-1962), compiled ca. 1945-62.

Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Historical Division in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government

may be helpful. The records are on microfilm and as far as I can tell they have not been digitized.

[Maggsie]

Just trying to help
you say...........
Given his new last name is a common name (changed from Vogelfanger to Lewis) I know it will be more difficult to find him.
There are two records for Lewis.  What was his Christian name?
If you have his actual Date of Birth that would help.
Did he marry?
What year did he enter the USA?
Maggsie

[manukarik]

LMORS could be a combination of 2 abbreviations?

LMO = Light Mobile Ordinance
RS = Repair Shop

Trying to find the 2 combined....

Add: this seems to confirm this as a possibility

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/36326-ordnance-mobile-workshops/

[trees241]

Thank you Andy and manukarik. I will consider looking into those records.

Just trying to help
you say...........
Given his new last name is a common name (changed from Vogelfanger to Lewis) I know it will be more difficult to find him.
There are two records for Lewis.  What was his Christian name?
If you have his actual Date of Birth that would help.
Did he marry?
What year did he enter the USA?
Maggsie

Maggsie, yes, his name was Samuel/Sam Vogelfanger. I have some good information on him from Ancestry and FamilySearch, as well as primary documents (postcards to family members etc before he entered the army). He was originally from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, born 1886. He entered the USA in 1905 (records of which are on Ancestry), he married and had two children by 1916, but "disappeared" in 1917. On my great-grandmother's Naturalization application in 1925 it states: "Have not seen husband in 8 years", which mathematically dates back to 1917, when it would appear he joined the Army (as I found his enlistment card from May 1917). I have a couple other family stories that give a perspective on why this may have happened, but honestly I will never know the true reason. When I found his Naturalization record (dating to 1919) he lists that he does not have a wife or children. Soon after that he attempted to change his name for the first time. Now in 1921, the latest record I have, it shows he still lists no immediate family, and trying to change his name for a second time. He still lists his profession, an essential piece of information, as that ties in to what is known by the family and from previous records on Ancestry.

So I have confidence I have "found him", but am looking for tips on how to continue the research, post-1921, now that he is going by a more common name. He does not appear as a Vogelfanger in the 1930 census, which would be the next available Census, if he was still alive then, so either he is going by Lewis or Vogel (both of which are far more common).

[Lisa in California]

I searched on Anc*try for Samuel shortly after you posted on Saturday but couldn’t find anything.  (But, I easily could have missed something and I didn't exhaust all possibilities.)

There is no record of his burial on this website (under the names Lewis or Vogel*); of course, he may not have been buried in a national cemetery.
https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/ngl/index.jsp

On Saturday, I found a couple of different towns or region names for his birthplace (or could one record be for a another man with the same details). Have you also run across this before?

If he tried to change his name once (or twice) I wonder if he tried again later, using yet another surname. 

I believe I also couldn’t find his death in America but if he died shortly after 1921, his death might be more difficult to find.

If he ended up in Canada it might be even more difficult to find his passing as Canada has fairly strict privacy laws for more “recent” vital records.

[trees241]

Hi All,

Took a bit of a break from research; thanks again for your replies.

Quick update: the National Archives here in the USA was able to find some medical records of Samuel. Most of the other records were destroyed in the St. Louis fire.

The attached is the previously posted clinical record from May 6, 1921, indicating his name change to Samuel R. Lewis. I just noticed the "B." may be an "R." The few records which exist indicating his name change (including the label to this folio) say Samuel B. Lewis, not Samuel R. Lewis, likely from a misreading of the letter.

Going by the attached, would you say the middle initial is "R" and not "B"? When you compare the B in Camp Bragg (near bottom of image) to the middle initial, the letter looks more like the "R" from his Military ID number above. See red marker lines. What do you think?

Samuel "R." Lewis will help me further in my research, but will still be a challenge for sure to find him. Thanks for any input!

[Lisa in California]

Related thread:

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=875470.msg7472365#msg7472365

[Maggsie]

So sorry,  I left Ancestry las month. Can't help now.
Maggsie