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March 21, 2002
See Rhonda's Previous
Columns
Railroad
Retirement Benefits
Q:
I worked for the Pennsylvania railroad as a fireman in Akron, Ohio in the 1950s.
I would like to apply for my railroad retirement but I have not been able to
find anyone who can tell me how to do this. -- Lester
A: The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board is found in Chicago, Illinois. However, they have field offices around the country. The easiest way to find your local district office is to put your zip code in at the RRB District Office Lookup.
You will want to take a look at the Railroad Retirement
Board Web site for additional information. They have some information about
the proof you'll need in order to qualify for benefits.
Privatized
Information
Q:
We have found a name we think may be our relative, but it says private. How can we find further information or let her know that we are looking for her? -- Lauren
A:
To protect the privacy of living individuals, Family Tree Maker and many of
the currently available genealogy programs will privatize or hide information
on living individuals. As you have discovered, many compiled databases include
the names of the living, but list their vital information as LIVING or PRIVATE.
One way to find more information would be to determine who the submitter of
the information was by contacting the person who compiled or published the information.
If you are using the World Family Tree here on Genealogy.com, simply fill
out a form to get contact information for the person who contributed the
information. You will need to know the volume number and the tree number. Once
you fill out the form, the contact information will be e-mailed to you shortly
(usually within a few hours). You can then write to the individual.
Usually fellow researchers are happy to collaborate but I think it is important
to mention that some people are unwilling to share information on living individuals.
If they are in contact with the living individual in question, they may pass
along your contact information. I suggest that you encourage that in your contact
letter.
FamilyFinder
Reports
Q:
I am new to genealogy. I was doing my tree and up popped this report listing
members of my family. I just clicked one person and up popped a user home page
on familytreemaker.com. Could you please tell me what that is? I found pages
one through thirty seven. Can those all be related to me? -- Elizabeth
A:
Congratulations! You've discovered the FamilyFinder Report. The FamilyFinder
Report is the result of a FamilyFinder Search that Family Tree Maker runs for
you. It takes the information you have entered in your family file and compares
it to the databases and information available at Family Tree Maker and Genealogy.com.
The resulting report offers links to individuals, including those found on the
user home pages.
You will notice a number of stars beside each name. The more stars, the more
likely the individual on the Web site is to match the individual in your family
file. To find out if you are related to all of the individuals, you will need
to investigate the data on the user's web page more thoroughly and then compare
it to what you presently know. Then it is a good idea to contact the person
directly and discuss with them the common individuals. It is possible that the
person who compiled the Web site may be able to tell you how and if you are
related to all those individuals you found on the Web page.
Beyond
Ellis Island
Q:
My maternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Hungary: Anna and Martin
Silling. I have found records through the Ellis Island database showing my great-grandmother
Anna, with my grandmother as an infant, arriving at Ellis Island in 1913. The
ship manifest shows they were going to live with my great-grandfather who already
had an address in Detroit, so obviously he came to America before my great-grandmother.
Since there is no Ellis Island record on Martin, is there another immigration
source I can check? I would like to find records of Anna and Martin's parents.
Any advice how to go about finding birth and marriage records in Hungary? --
RAndrews
A:
The page of the passenger list that lists Anna actually gives you another clue,
though you may have been unaware of its importance. Above Anna's occupation
as a wife, you will find written in a different handwriting a cryptic number
followed by a date: 8-276804 2/10/43.
The cryptic number tells you that Anna was somewhere in the midst of the naturalization
process. Verifications of facts submitted on the naturalization application
forms would be checked. When a check was made, a number made up of the naturalization
district number (the first number) and the application or Certificate of Arrival
number (the second number), was written in the occupation column above the person
in question followed by the date. This number tells you that you should contact
the Immigration and Naturalization Service
to request a copy of Anna's naturalization records.
As for Martin, it is entirely possible he came through the Port of New York
and that his name was recorded wrong in the index. The problem with some of
these online indexes is coming up with an alternative. When the name is not
found, the Ellis Island site will offer you some alternatives which you may
want to try. However, I think I would encourage you to locate the family in
the 1920 census and see when Martin came over. This would give you something
to work with.
If you still can't find him in the online index, which I mention only because
of the age of the two children, then you will want to turn your attention to
the microfilmed index, Soundex actually, to see if Martin appears in that for
New York. If not, then begin to branch out to the other eastern ports.
In regard to birth and marriage records in Hungary, you will need to know the
town of birth of the individuals in question. Vital records are available from
1895, so that means that Anna's and Martin's children who appear on the passenger
list might be available in the vital records. You would need to write to the
Civil Registration Office, (Town), Hungary. Prior to 1895 you will need to turn
your attention to church records. It is possible that some of these may be available
on microfilm through the Family History Library, again on the town level.
Rhonda R. McClure is a professional genealogist specializing in celebrity trees
and computerized genealogy. She has been involved in online genealogy for fifteen
years. She is the author of the award-winning The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, now in its second edition.
She is the author of four how-to guides on Family
Tree Maker. In late 2001, she wrote The
Genealogist's Computer Companion. She is a contributing editor to Biography
Magazine with her "Celebrity Roots" column and a contributing writer
to The History Channel Magazine. Her latest book is Finding
Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors. She may be contacted at rhondagen@thegenealogist.com.
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