> Subject: (Fwd) My Husband Has No Known Family Please Help Me? > Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 17:35:43 +0000 > From: "Dana Riffe" <primus@primusweb.com> > To: B530-L@rootsweb.com > > ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- > Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 05:05:03 -0800 (PST) > From: Dotben@aol.com > To: B530-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: My Husband Has No Known Family Please Help Me? > > Hello, > I am very sorry, I am Dottie Bennett and I have no idea who I am > requesting this information from. But what ever the cost is, Please > fell free to contact me at Dotben @aol.com. My Husband is Richard > Gordon Bennett. > Our problem is that Richard is 63 years old and has no known > relatives. > We do not even have much information or even sure if the little bit > Grampa {JOHN J.BENNETT OR just JOHN BENNETT} born he said on his > Social Security records November 10, 1907 told me is correct. Grampa > John Died March 14,1990 and carried his secret to the grave. He would > never talk about his Parents, relatives or past, with his family. > Grampa John told me that when he was 14 years old he ran away > from > Lancaster,Pa. that would be about 1921. He said he went to New York > City and worked there in a deli. Then he met a man that owned a store > in Sprinfield, Ma. & that that man gave him a job. My husband & I went > to Pa. and found nothing, but remind you we have no idea if we did > things right. We also wrote to Vital Records for his Birth certificate > in New Castle, Pa. to find his Parents names, the results came back > blank. We went to the Social Security Office because Grampa John is > deceased, and they even showed us the screen it had no Parents but it > did have his birth date of November 10, 1907. I have written 324 > letters to everyone with the name of Bennett around Lancaster, and > received many letters & again no relatives. Now we went out and got > this computer with hopes to find something. > Could you please help us or would you have any information on > where we > even start the search. Our anniversary is April 30th and any > information I could find for Richard would be the best gift. We won't > do those talk shows like Oprah or Unsolved Mysterys. > Thank you for > taking the > time to read our letter, > Dottie > Dear Dottie, I was touched by your letter in the B-350 mailing-list. I don't have any information on your John J. Bennett, although I too am looking for a Bennett and he too was my grandfather. I haven't had any luck finding him but perhaps I can point you in the right direction toward finding some information on your Bennett. The first thing to know is that there are a lot of places to look for information and this applies to anyone you're looking for. Here are some of the most profitable places I've found to search: 1. Funeral home records - Assuming you didn't fill them out, perhaps they will list his parent's names, failing that perhaps they will list a relative you never knew about as the informant. In any event they will point you to a couple of other sources: a. Cemetery records - again a lot of the same information, but they may have asked a question or two that the funeral home didn't ask. b. Published Obituaries - The records may tell you which papers published the obituaries for John J. Bennett. Local newspapers, published on a weekly basis may give you more information than the big daily papers. 2. Social Security Application - Form SS-5. You can get a copy of John J. Bennett's Social Security Application form, filled out by him, which is required to have his parent's names filled in on the form. The form itself is brief, about 8 1/2 x 3" but it can be a life saver when looking for important info. People seldom lie to the Government! (My aunt is an exception, although my uncle was not. I got the name of his father from the Feds!) It may take them about 6 months to dig out this information for you, so send away for it as soon as possible. (Drop me a note and I'll tell you who to get in touch with. The cost is $7.00) 3. Passport Application - you can get a copy of any passport application your John J. Bennett may have filled out, assuming he ever did. Once again the information is priceless. 4. Pension files from former employers. If you can get to them within the 5 year period before the government allows them to throw away their old records, you may find yourself with some useful information. 5. Medical records - this is sort of a long shot, but even the medical information you receive may help you and your descendents down the line. 6. Military records - Interview his children and get someone to go through his personal effects for discharge papers, draft records, commendations and medals. Look for membership certificates for the American Legion or The Veterans of Foreign Wars. I was able to come up with my uncle's Military Service Number because his obituary mentioned that members of an American Legion Post were invited to his funeral service. The American Legion Post had a copy of his application which included his Service Number. I've written to Missouri to try to get a copy of his military records, (he was born in 1906), and I hope to learn more once I receive them. 7. Look for old copies of IDs like driver's licenses, old bills, especially old address books, even old credit cards. Use these to build up a list of old addresses for John J. Bennett. This list of old addresses will provide you with new places to search. 8. John J. Bennett was 33 at the start of World War II, so like most adult males, he probably had to register for the Draft. The Selective Service Board in Washington D.C. keeps copies of each person's registration form in a ledger that is available to the public for searching. 9. Old School records. Here is where knowing old addresses for John J. Bennett will come in handy. Some school districts keep old school records around for years. (Many don't, but you won't know for sure until you ask.) Locate the Administrative Offices for the school district you're interested in and write to them, explaining what you're looking for. As an additional bonus, they may have copies of some of the old yearbooks from that time period and you could get lucky that way. 10. Local papers for the area John J. Bennett was living in at the time of his birth. Some of the local papers will carry birth notices and his may be among them. Be sure to look through at least a month's worth of notices from the date of his birth before giving up hope. Sometimes these events take time to make it to the papers. 11. 1910 and 1920 Federal Census Records. I don't know where you live, but you have 2 excellent chances to locate him in the Census Records. These two censuses are indexed. You will need to know the Soundex code for Bennett, (It is B530, like the mailing-list), and the state he was living in, in 1910 and 1920. (I'm assuming Pennsylvania.) You will also need to know the County he was living in, again, I'm assuming Lancaster County. With those three pieces of information you should be able to come up with a list of the heads of families named Bennett, living in Lancaster County Pennsylvania in the time period 1910 - 1920. The next thing you will have to do is look up each individual you found in the actual Census Record. Listed under him or her will be the rest of the family living with them, including infants well under 1 year old. Write down every single scrap of information that you find. Then, check the rest of that page in the Census and the page preceding and following that page for any other Bennetts. Families tended to live near each other at the turn of the century. My family lived next door to each other in a couple of the censuses I found. Once you've found John J. Bennett's parent's names, step backword through the rest of the available censuses until you've finished with the 1790 census. You'll be astonished by what you can learn about a family from the Federal Census. They're one of the best places you can start your search from! By the time you finish with the Federal Census records, and believe me it won't be in just one afternoon, you'll probably have more questions to ask. There are plenty of mailing lists to subscribe to to help you with your research questions. Try http://www.rootsweb.com/ for a list of the current mailing-lists they sponsor. Generally speaking, your best bet is to start with what you know and work your way backwards. (From Death to Birth is the accepted method. I've found it to be pretty reliable.) I can supply you with some addresses to write to if you want them. This takes guts and determination but you can do it. Genealogy is either feast or famine. (You'll find that you won't get much for quite a while and then all of a sudden you'll be drowning in information! I don't know why that is, I just know that that's the way it is!) Good luck to you!, Chris