MARSHALS, LAWMEN, RANGERS: HISTORICAL CHARACTERS ON THE FAMILY TREE

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

A surprising number of American families have stories about an ancestor who was a U.S. marshal, Texas Ranger some other kind of law enforcement officer. Like all family legends, there often is some truth therein, but usually the information to work with is sketchy at best.

It is fairly easy to determine if one's ancestor was a U.S. Marshal -- check Index of U.S. Marshals, 1789-1960, transcribed from National Archives' Record Groups 60 and 287 by Virgil D. White. This book is widely available in libraries. Additionally, The Register of the Department of Justice and the Judicial Officers of the U.S., Including Instructions to U.S. Marshals, Attorneys and Clerks, 1885-1970 is available in publications of the U.S. government in Record Group 287 (46 volumes).

These registers give the name, office, place of birth, place appointed from, where employed, annual compensation and date of appointment for virtually all civil employees of the Department of Justice. Contact the Reference Service Branch (NNIR), General Services Administration, Washington, D.C., 20408 for the forms and procedures necessary to obtain information these records.

Ascertaining if one's ancestor worked as a deputy marshal is another thing and requires some sophisticated research techniques in federal court records of the locality where your ancestor resided.

The Moody Texas Ranger Memorial Library (division of Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum) in Waco, Texas, has as one of its ongoing projects the extraction of names from official documents, books, magazines, and photographs, and the creation of biographical files on all verifiable Texas Rangers, beginning in 1823. If your ancestor's possible service dates fall within the Mexican War (1846-1848) or Civil War (1861-1865) time frames, most likely your ancestor was not a Texas Ranger but actually served in the U.S. or Confederate Army.

There were many groups called rangers, even called "Texas Rangers,'' but actually were part of the army. One distinguishing characteristic to look for is who paid your ancestor for his services -- was it the federal government, Confederate government or State of Texas? Additionally, there were other rangers in Texas -- known as Special, Loyalty, and Railroad Rangers.

The Texas State Archives, P.O. Box 12927, Austin, Texas, 78711-2927, has some Texas Rangers rolls as early as 1836. The Republic of Texas Rangers (rolls for 1836-1845) can be found on 2,900 cards. These provide name and rank, commanding officer, organization, enlistment and discharge dates, and sometimes place of enlistment. Also, the Texas archives has more than 8,000 cards on later Texas Rangers, dating into the 1880s.

The Texas Ranger Library, P.O. Box 2570, Waco, Texas, 76702-2570 offers research service to genealogists ($20 per surname), which includes photocopying up to five pages and postage. Requests should include full name, any nicknames, variant spellings of surname, dates or time frame, and other pertinent information such as others your ancestor might have served with, or his company's designation.

Many of the so-called gunfighters of the West also served as law officers and range detectives, and are mentioned in compilations such as Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters, and in Western collections of major libraries and archives in the Western states.

Local histories often contain detailed biographies of lawmen -- especially if they were pioneers in the area. Additionally, local newspapers can provide rich prose for your family's history.

Check with state libraries and archives for finding aids to manuscripts, newspapers and other material that may shed light on your ancestor's law-enforcement career.

(c) 1997, Los Angeles Times Syndicate