Every Dillman family group in the DFA’s database that intersects with American military history — and there are many, from the Revolutionary War through the twentieth century — eventually leads to Fold3. No other genealogical platform concentrates military records with the same depth, the same breadth, or the same commitment to original documents. For Dillman researchers specifically, where documented military service stretches from Andrew Dillman’s Revolutionary War service in Bracken County, Kentucky, through the Civil War enlistments documented in our earlier Soldiers article, Fold3 is not optional equipment. It is where the paper trail often begins and ends.

What Fold3 Is

Fold3 is a military records database owned by Ancestry and available through a separate subscription. The Fold3 name comes from a traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in defense of their country. The platform contains more than 350 million records covering American military service from the Revolutionary War through modern conflicts, with particular depth in Civil War, World War I, and World War II records.

The collection draws heavily from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), with whom Fold3 has a digitization partnership. Many of the records available on Fold3 are exclusively available there — not duplicated on Ancestry, FamilySearch, or any other platform — because Fold3 holds the exclusive digitization rights to specific NARA record groups. With Fold3, users can explore detailed service records, muster rolls, unit histories, and even personal accounts that offer a glimpse into the lives of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who served their country.

The Record Collections

Fold3’s military coverage is organized by war and branch of service. The most genealogically significant collections include:

Revolutionary War. Pension files, bounty land warrant applications, compiled service records, and muster rolls. For Dillman researchers, Revolutionary War pension files are particularly valuable — they often contain detailed biographical information about veterans and their widows, including family members and migration history. The Patriot Burial Markers Program discussed at the 2026 DFA conference connects directly to these records.

War of 1812. Service records, pension files, and claims. The DFA’s 2014 conference included a presentation specifically on Dillmans in the War of 1812; Fold3 is where the underlying documentation lives.

Civil War. This is Fold3’s deepest collection. Compiled Military Service Records (CMSRs) for both Union and Confederate soldiers, pension files, regimental histories, and the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. The breadth of this collection is substantial — though, as users note, the CMSRs of all states are not yet digitized on Fold3, and the platform is more useful for the states that have uploaded their records than for those that haven’t. Digitization is ongoing.

World War I and World War II. Draft registration cards, service records, unit histories, photographs, POW lists, soldiers’ homes records, and casualty lists. The WWI draft registration cards (known as the World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards) are among the most genealogically valuable records in the entire Fold3 collection — they cover nearly all American men between 18 and 45 during the registration period and contain birthplace, physical description, employer, and next of kin information.

Other conflicts. Records from the Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, Korean War, Vietnam War, and others are represented, with varying levels of completeness.

How to Use Fold3 Effectively

Search by name and conflict. The basic search interface is straightforward — name, state, and war. For common surnames, filtering by state of residence or service is essential to reduce results to a manageable set.

Use the memorial pages. Fold3’s “Memorial” pages aggregate all records for a given individual across multiple collections. When a solid memorial page exists for an ancestor, it can connect service records, pension files, draft cards, and photographs in one place.

Check the exclusive collections first. Some of Fold3’s most valuable holdings are not available anywhere else. Before spending time searching Ancestry or FamilySearch for a military record, check whether the relevant record type is in one of Fold3’s exclusive NARA collections.

Download original images. Fold3 provides high-resolution images of original documents. Downloading these — rather than relying on transcriptions — is essential for citation purposes and often reveals details that transcriptions miss.

Access and Pricing

Fold3 offers a 7-day free trial to access original military records. After the trial, a paid subscription is required. Current pricing is available at fold3.com/choose-a-plan and varies between monthly and annual options. The platform is separate from an Ancestry subscription and must be purchased independently, even for existing Ancestry subscribers.

Fold3 is also distributed in a Library Edition by ProQuest, which means some public libraries and university libraries provide free patron access. Checking whether your local library subscribes before purchasing an individual subscription is worth the few minutes it takes.

Fold3 also runs periodic free-access events, typically around Veterans Day, during which portions of the collection are open without a subscription.

For Dillman Researchers

The connection between Fold3 and Dillman family research is direct and documented. The DFA’s Soldiers article in this series established that Dillman families served in American military conflicts from the Revolutionary War forward, and many of those service records are on Fold3. The Andrew Dillman patriot burial marker discussed at the 2026 DFA conference by Stuart Martin is one example; the War of 1812 Dillman records presented by Louise Dillman McKinney at the 2014 conference is another.

For any Dillman family line that includes American-born males in the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, a systematic Fold3 search is not an optional research step. It is the place where documentary evidence of military service — or the absence of it — lives.

Sources

Fold3 by Ancestry. “Memberships.” Fold3. Accessed July 2026. fold3.com/choose-a-plan.

ProQuest. “Fold3 Library Edition.” ProQuest. Accessed July 2026. about.proquest.com/en/products-services/Fold3-Library-Edition.

“Fold3 Free Access to WWI and WWII Records.” Genealogy Bargains. November 9, 2025. genealogybargains.com.

Dillman Family Association. Family Group Sheet Database, compiled 2026. Internal database, Dillman Family Association.

Note: This post was researched and written with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). All content has been reviewed for accuracy as of September 2026. All errors are the responsibility of the author.