Searched for João da Silva in Ancestry.com’s World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

I searched Ancestry’s WWI draft cards because GenSmarts gave it as a recommendation. At first I was skeptical because John Paul da Silva was not a US citizen so I thought he wouldn’t be found. I searched the WWI draft registration cards with the following criteria:

Last name: da Silva
State: Hawaii
Birth date: 3 May 1894

To my surprise, the search returned a John Silva born 1 May 1894 in Portugal, who was Caucasian, living in Honolulu, Hawaii. I clicked on the image and was supprised once again that this was him. The draft card was for an alien who was born in Kamacha, Porto Santo, Portugal (a misspelling of Camacha). According to the draft registration card, he was working as an electrician’s helper for the Honolulu Plantation Company in Aiea, Oahu. It is interesting to me because there is a physical description of him. He also signed the document which is amazing to see! I have attached the image:

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