The correspondence files where we had originally found Loyd also included some letters that mentioned his military service. This was a clue for us to go back to St. Louis and look into finding his Military Personnel File.
Notice the burned edges on these documents? That was due to an unfortunate fire in 1973 at the Records Center. Thankfully, portions of Loyd’s records survived and I was able to piece together Loyd’s military service:
- February 8th, 1918: physical exam in Las Vegas (he was in good shape);
- July 5th, 1918: mustered in at Camp Lewis, American Lake in Washington state;
- December 1918: became corporal;
- October 1, 1919: officially discharged with “excellent” character.
He also served with Company M of the 12th Infantry Division and spent a couple of nights in the hospital along the way for various stomach ailments.
As part of our ongoing efforts to help the public conduct successful research, we at the National Archives at Riverside occasionally share the research methodologies of our staff, researchers, and citizen archivists. This post is part of a series of posts related to the research of one of our former archivists, Monique, into the life of a man named Loyd Sechrist. Sechrist conducted surveys of Arizona immediately after statehood for the Bureau of Land Management, and records related to his life (and death) caught Monique’s curiosity. Follow the story of Monique’s research into the history of this man here on Tumblr with the tag #Loyd Sechrist, and on our archives’ Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/nationalarchivesriverside.
How about a picture?
Sometimes you can do tons of research on an individual, but never know what that person looked like. If photographs of that person were ever taken, and survived, where might one go to find them?
In the case of our guy, Loyd Sechrist, one of the first places that our archivist looked was at GenWeb. This site has all kinds of information and resources related to genealogy and family history research.
Because of information she had found in his Civilian Personnel File, our archivist knew where he went to high school. This was useful because of that thing so many of us keep hidden away in an attic or closet….the high school yearbook.
**Note Loyd’s captioning information. Such a witty fellow, that Loyd.
As part of our ongoing efforts to help the public conduct successful research, we at the National Archives at Riverside occasionally share the research methodologies of our staff, researchers, and citizen archivists. This post is part of a series of posts related to the research of one of our former archivists, Monique, into the life of a man named Loyd Sechrist. Sechrist conducted surveys of Arizona immediately after statehood for the Bureau of Land Management, and records related to his life (and death) caught Monique’s curiosity. Follow the story of Monique’s research into the history of this man here on Tumblr with the tag #Loyd Sechrist, and on our archives’ Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/nationalarchivesriverside.
Finding a Civilian Personnel File
In her hunt for details relating to Loyd’s short life, our archivist knew to look for a Civilian Personnel File, since Loyd was a federal employee. She contacted the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis (NPRC), and they were able to locate his records. This gave her much more information about his life.
Loyd was hired by the General Land Office on 4/18/1916. This application form confirmed my findings about his graduation from Yuma County High School. It also told me that he went to the University of Colorado at Boulder after high school.
As part of our ongoing efforts to help the public conduct successful research, we at the National Archives at Riverside occasionally share the research methodologies of our staff, researchers, and citizen archivists. This post is part of a series of posts related to the research of one of our former archivists, Monique, into the life of a man named Loyd Sechrist. Sechrist conducted surveys of Arizona immediately after statehood for the Bureau of Land Management, and records related to his life (and death) caught Monique’s curiosity. Follow the story of Monique’s research into the history of this man here on Tumblr with the tag #Loyd Sechrist, and on our archives’ Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/nationalarchivesriverside.
Where does one go if she wants to find a grave? Well, a good place to start might be the website Find A Grave.
Doing research on individuals often involves trying to find out information about a person’s death and burial. In the case of Loyd Sechrist, our archivist knew that he had fallen off of a cliff, but she had no idea where he was buried. Records in correspondence files related to his work as a surveyor showed that his body was to be transported, but the letters and telegrams did not indicate where the body would go.
Luckily, researchers and genealogists have a great tool—Find a Grave. Through this tool, we were able to find Loyd’s grave. He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery, just outside Los Angeles.
As part of our ongoing efforts to help the public conduct successful research, we at the National Archives at Riverside occasionally share the research methodologies of our staff, researchers, and citizen archivists. This post is part of a series of posts related to the research of one of our former archivists, Monique, into the life of a man named Loyd Sechrist. Sechrist conducted surveys of Arizona immediately after statehood for the Bureau of Land Management, and records related to his life (and death) caught Monique’s curiosity. Follow the story of Monique’s research into the history of this man here on Tumblr with the tag #Loyd Sechrist, and on our archives’ Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/nationalarchivesriverside.
Remember Loyd?
No, he’s not a teacher at the independence school, a genealogist, a tv personality, or the bee man.
He was a surveyor.
One of our former archivists, Monique, found Loyd in records related to group surveys in Arizona from 1913 to 1924. What got her attention about Loyd was the way he signed his letters, “Very Respectfully, Loyd Sechrist.” She thought Sechrist might be someone special to watch for, and kept an eye out for more correspondence from him. As she moved through, though, a telegram dated September 4, 1920 caught her eye:
“Loyd Sechrist killed by fall from cliff near Houck, Arizona, 530 P.M. yesterday.”
At this point, Monique knew that she wanted to find more out about Sechrist. She told us, “Loyd was only 28 when he died. Questions raced through my head. How exactly did he die? What about his family? Was he married? Did he have kids? Where was he from? Where was he buried? That’s how it all started.”
As part of our ongoing efforts to help the public conduct successful research, we at the National Archives at Riverside occasionally share the research methodologies of our staff, researchers, and citizen archivists. This post is part of a series of posts related to the research of one of our former archivists, Monique, into the life of a man named Loyd Sechrist. Sechrist conducted surveys of Arizona immediately after statehood for the Bureau of Land Management, and records related to his life (and death) caught Monique’s curiosity. Follow the story of Monique’s research into the history of this man here on Tumblr with the tag #Loyd Sechrist, and on our archives’ Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/nationalarchivesriverside.
We’re about to dedicate some blogging to this intriguing man… So far, we can tell you that his name is Loyd Sechrist.
Who do you think this man is?
