Fold3
I just got an email from Fold3. Fold3 holds many documents of historical and genealogical interest. The emphasis is on military records but there are many others. Fold3 just added a set of records called Navy Casualty Reports, 1776-1941.
Free Trial
I had tried a free trial, stayed on for a year, but decided it wasn’t worth it for me after that. But I think I may try again.
But your family and situation are surely not the same as mine. So give it a try. By the way, it really was easy to leave paid membership and go to free membership. Of course, the free membership is the lesser of the two and many documents are called premium images and these are reserved for paying customers (after all, free doesn’t pay the bills). But with free membership you can search and see what is available.
But I think the best deal is to take the free trial and see what they have, including the premium images. If you think there is enoough there to be worth the price, just continue. But if not, simply inform them and move to the free membership. It doesn’t cost to look. You might find stuff duing the trial.
One of the things I had disliked during my trial was I thought the search function was kind of clunky (to use the technical term). A recent Fold3 blog entry discusses the improvements in searching. Here is a link to the Fold3 blog.
My brief experience indicates the search is much better now.
Somethings are free for everyone
Fold3 just added a set of records called Navy Casualty Reports, 1776-1941. Despite the name which would make you think these are Navy seamen only this includes both seamen and others who died in Andersonville Prison. These free offering may change from time to time so you might want to check periodically if you elect not to keep your paid membership.
I currently have the free membership and found a record on the death of Wiliam Greer on the USS Maine when it was blown up in Havana harbor in 1898. Oddly, Fold3 does not have the Spanish American War as a category but you can search by year or year range. Since this event led to the war but was not part of the war, I don’t know if it would have been included in that category even if they had one.