There are people who do what George has described for a living. Having done some of that I vote for abstracts! <g> May I suggest that you consider making a copy of the abstract[s] and donating the copies to the Logan County G&H to help others in the future. One of the interesting things about the abstracts is that there are deeds in mine that are from the prefire period, ie, from February 15, 1839, to the courthouse fire on April 15, 1857. If you missed George's detailed message the first time through I'll leave it below. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -----Original Message----- From: George & Shiela Irwin [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 7:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ILLOGAN] Abstracts Following up on Cheryl Rothwell's notes on title abstracts: I have recently been doing some genealogy work using the same data source in a different way, and thought the procedure might be of interest to some readers of this site. My objective was to trace land ownership of my immigrant ancestor and his 7 children during their first 50-60 years in Illinois, rather than to follow a single piece of property through all changes in ownership. So I was looking at a cross section over a number of abstracts -- perhaps an expensive purchase from an abstractor firm. You can, of course, do your own work. The records are public, in the County Recorder of Deeds office. It is just a matter of searching through them and copying the appropriate documents. It can be an interesting genealogy exercise, but very time consuming, and you have to travel to the Recorder's office to use the records. The saving grace is that it only has to be done once, if done without error. That is the benefit of an abstract of title -- you are the second purchaser of work someone has already paid for -- provided it addresses the question you are interested in.. The technique is the same as in preparing an abstract. You advance or retrogress in time, stepwise from one transaction to the next. You start out with a buyer or seller (a grantor or a grantee) in a transaction on a piece of property. It can be the most recent owner of a property or the original owner. (You can search either backward or forward). The county records, likely not computerized until recently, record actual deed documents in the order they were filed, probably in large volumes in a vault in the office of the Recorder of Deeds. Particularly in early years, the date of filing can be well after the date the deed is signed. The Recorder creates two supplemental indexes at the time the deed is filed, and these are the source volumes you use to find deed documents. These indexes record each deed transaction in two places. The first index is by the name of the seller, and is called the grantor index. The second index is by name of the buyer, and is the grantee index. In each, the names are in order the deeds were filed, and contain a reference to the volume number and page where the actual deed is located. The indexes also contain the name of the other party to the transaction, the price, and a brief description of the property. There will be a deed book, a grantor index, and a grantee index for each time period. The number of years included depends on the volume of deed transactions handled. Within this time period, the indexes may be subdivided with different sections for each first letter of the last name, to simplify searches. But you still have the items within a section in order of date filed, so searching is necessary. The process, once you have a beginning or an ending owner for a targeted property is to find out when they bought/sold that same property, by looking through the grantor or grantee indexes. This can be carried on repeatedly, guided by the question you are answering. There is also a filing of mortgage and chattel deeds on a property, which can be used to trace financing on a piece of property, and when the financing was paid off (released). These may also be recorded in the grantor and grantee indexes, but the reference will be to a volume and page in the mortgage books. I have found that a computer spreadsheet is essential to organizing the notes taken during repeated forays to the Recorder of Deeds office, in order to create a timeline. As Cheryl Rothwell notes in describing the contents of a single abstract on a piece of property, the individual documents copied from the deed book can be quite revealing. It is equally informative in tracing the history of an immigrant German farmer and his family from 1848 to the early 1900s. While deeds for purchase of a property are often in the name of the husband only, sale deeds ordinarily contain name of the spouse, because she has dower rights that must be handled. Such deeds, along with estate filings, also may have identification of descendants or ancestors that you have been seeking. Has anyone else on this list worked with this data source? ==== ILLOGAN Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe from the Logan County List if you are in mail mode, send to [email protected] If you are receiving messages in the digest mode, send to [email protected] -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.14 - Release Date: 5/20/2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.14 - Release Date: 5/20/2005

I checked from 1848 to 1912, or 1918 in one case. Still have some cleaning up to do, especially with mortgages. Logan County was formed from Sangamon in 1837, so I could get what I needed in the Lincoln Courthouse, and did not need to go to Springfield.

Following up on Cheryl Rothwell's notes on title abstracts: I have recently been doing some genealogy work using the same data source in a different way, and thought the procedure might be of interest to some readers of this site. My objective was to trace land ownership of my immigrant ancestor and his 7 children during their first 50-60 years in Illinois, rather than to follow a single piece of property through all changes in ownership. So I was looking at a cross section over a number of abstracts -- perhaps an expensive purchase from an abstractor firm. You can, of course, do your own work. The records are public, in the County Recorder of Deeds office. It is just a matter of searching through them and copying the appropriate documents. It can be an interesting genealogy exercise, but very time consuming, and you have to travel to the Recorder's office to use the records. The saving grace is that it only has to be done once, if done without error. That is the benefit of an abstract of title -- you are the second purchaser of work someone has already paid for -- provided it addresses the question you are interested in.. The technique is the same as in preparing an abstract. You advance or retrogress in time, stepwise from one transaction to the next. You start out with a buyer or seller (a grantor or a grantee) in a transaction on a piece of property. It can be the most recent owner of a property or the original owner. (You can search either backward or forward). The county records, likely not computerized until recently, record actual deed documents in the order they were filed, probably in large volumes in a vault in the office of the Recorder of Deeds. Particularly in early years, the date of filing can be well after the date the deed is signed. The Recorder creates two supplemental indexes at the time the deed is filed, and these are the source volumes you use to find deed documents. These indexes record each deed transaction in two places. The first index is by the name of the seller, and is called the grantor index. The second index is by name of the buyer, and is the grantee index. In each, the names are in order the deeds were filed, and contain a reference to the volume number and page where the actual deed is located. The indexes also contain the name of the other party to the transaction, the price, and a brief description of the property. There will be a deed book, a grantor index, and a grantee index for each time period. The number of years included depends on the volume of deed transactions handled. Within this time period, the indexes may be subdivided with different sections for each first letter of the last name, to simplify searches. But you still have the items within a section in order of date filed, so searching is necessary. The process, once you have a beginning or an ending owner for a targeted property is to find out when they bought/sold that same property, by looking through the grantor or grantee indexes. This can be carried on repeatedly, guided by the question you are answering. There is also a filing of mortgage and chattel deeds on a property, which can be used to trace financing on a piece of property, and when the financing was paid off (released). These may also be recorded in the grantor and grantee indexes, but the reference will be to a volume and page in the mortgage books. I have found that a computer spreadsheet is essential to organizing the notes taken during repeated forays to the Recorder of Deeds office, in order to create a timeline. As Cheryl Rothwell notes in describing the contents of a single abstract on a piece of property, the individual documents copied from the deed book can be quite revealing. It is equally informative in tracing the history of an immigrant German farmer and his family from 1848 to the early 1900s. While deeds for purchase of a property are often in the name of the husband only, sale deeds ordinarily contain name of the spouse, because she has dower rights that must be handled. Such deeds, along with estate filings, also may have identification of descendants or ancestors that you have been seeking. Has anyone else on this list worked with this data source?

No, afraid not. You get them from a title company. There's only one in Logan County. They run about $25 - a copy of what they have if they have one for that property. It seems to me that the property owner often has a copy but maybe I've just been lucky. To have one made can be very expensive. It's basically a history of the title to the property. Some of them are quite thick and represent hours and hours and hours of professional work. They do all that research and transcribe the documents so copies are in the abstract. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.14 - Release Date: 5/20/2005

Are Abstracts found in the courthouse? Helen

I am sure I have mentioned this before but real estate abstracts, lengthy documents which trace the history of a property from its original purchase from the government to whenever the last time an abstract was made, are treasure troves of information. They contain copies of all the deeds relating to the land as well as any other documents which may apply including wills, court documents and so. In one I am working with we get this paragraph: "And the Court further finds that the said deceased left surviving his death the following heirs at law towit: Loretta Downing (widow), Margret Shaw intermarried with Lewis Shaw, Nancy Vandeventer widow of Andrew Vandeventer, Susan Wilcox intermarried with Alfred Wilcox all of whom are daughters. George Downing, Samuel W. Downing, William Downing, Mary Downing, Rebecca, Thomas Downing, all of whom are Sons and daughters of the decd. and John French Jr who is the only son and heir at law of Hannah French decd. who was also a daughter of the decd. the said Hannah French being intermarried with Daneil French..." Right there we know the names and marital status of all the children of Thomas Downing on October 11, 1867, date of the court's ruling. In this case Thomas Downing died having outlived three wives. The children, ranging in age from 44 to 13, went through probate and all was fine. Arrangements were made for the minor children to live with a half sibling. Then the "dead" third wife showed up! It appears she must have left her children with him and departed some years before his death, returning several years after his death to claim her share. Clearly she was believed dead by all before. By the time it all got through court again and all the settled property resettled she was really and truly dead. Loretta Sherman Downing is reported to have been a relative of General Sherman. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 266.11.14 - Release Date: 5/20/2005

Illinois State Journal, Springfield, IL, 12 Aug 1958, page 15 Burl F. Oliver, 82, of Long Beach, Calif., formerly of 3332 S. 4th St., died yesterday morning in Long Beach where he had resided since 1956. Mr. Oliver was a contractor here. His wife died in 1956, and he is survived by two sons, Burl F. Oliver, Jr., Melrose Park, Calif.: James, Long Beach, Calif.; three daughters, Mrs. Charles Hess, Oak Park; Mrs. Alpa Howlett, and Mrs. Helen Kett; both of Chicago; and 18 grandchildren. The body is at the Ellinger & Kunz Funeral Home where services will be held at 1:30 p.m Friday, the Rev. Donald Finley officiating. Burial will be in Roselawn Cemetery. - - - - - Surnames: Bailey, Baughan/Boughan, Comstock, Hess, Howlett, Kett, Nicholas, Plummer, Oliver, Treft History Notes: Burley was named after his grandfather, Burrell Russell L. Oliver, b. c. 1804, KY Burrell "Burley" Franklin Oliver, b. 2 Nov 1876, Mt. Pulaski, Logan, IL, d. 11 Aug 1958, Long Beach, CA, s/o James Franklin Oliver & Louise/Louisa Martha Treft. Burley married Mary "Mollie" Baughan Comstock, 18 Feb 1905, Logan, IL, she was b. Nov 1879, Sheridan, Logan, IL, d. 1956, Springfield, IL, daughter of, Berryman Baughan/Boughan, & Mary E. Bailey. She is buried in Roselawn Cemetery, Sangamon, IL. Mary Mollie Baughan/Boughan m. (1) Charles C. Comstock, 26 Oct 1895, Logan, IL, Divorced c1904, s/o Andrew Comstock, & Anna Nicholas, he was b. Jun 1875, IL. Charles m. (2) Ellen ?, before 1920, prob. WY or IL, Ellen was b. c1885, NY, father b. NY, mother, b. NJ. Children of Charles Comstock and Mary "Mollie" Baughan/Boughan: 1. Willard Charles Comstock, b. Apr 1897, Logan, IL 2. Lucille Comstock, b. Jul 1899, Logan, IL 3. Mable Comstock, b. c1902, Logan, IL Children of Burley Oliver & Mollie Baughan/Boughan Comstock: 1. Alta Mae Oliver, b. 4 Jan 1906, Logan, d. Dec 1976, Springfield, IL, m. Lewis Edward Howlett, Sr., c1922, Sangamon, IL. Lewis is the s/o James Franklin Howlett and Mary Elizabeth Plummer, he was b. 27 Oct 1895, IL, d. Mar 1973, Springfield, IL. Children of Lewis Howlett and Alta Oliver: a. Lewis Edward Howlett Jr., b. c1923, IL b. Robert Howlett, b. c1926, IL c. Helen Howlett, b. c1928, IL 2. Helen Oliver, b. c1908, IL, m. ? Kett (res 1958, Chicago) 3. Burrell/Burl Franklin Oliver, Jr., b. c1912, IL, d. after 1958, in prob. CA or FL. 4. Wilma Oliver, b. c1913, IL (m. Charles Hess, aft 1930, res 1958, Oak Park, IL) 5. James, b. c1917, d. aft. 1958, prob. CA or FL 6. Edith Oliver, b. c1922, IL , d. bef. Aug 1958

Lincoln Daily Courier, Lincoln Illinois, April 16, 1967 Funeral of Mrs. Wright Tuesday Mrs. Mabel Wright, 90 died at 1:45 a.m., Sunday at the Atlanta Nursing Home, where she had been a patient three years. The funeral will be at 10 a.m Tuesday, at Holland and Barry Funeral Home, the Rev. Orval L. Bear officiating. Burial will be in Union cemetery. Visitation will be 7 to 9 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. The deceased was born in Lincoln Oct. 20, 1876, a daughter of Albert and Mary Mattson Russell. Her husband Thomas Wright died in 1947. Surviving are a sister, Mrs. Alice Fitch, Chicago; two grand children; and one great-grandchild. Mrs. Wright was a member of Calvary Methodist church, Chicago. She was preceded in death by a daughter, two brothers, and four sisters.

If you have problems and can't figure it out ask on the list for suggestions. Sometimes the obvious answer is out of view when you have been trying and trying and trying. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.10 - Release Date: 5/13/2005

You might try putting a middle initial as the first letter of the last name, i.e. Joan B. Lund has become Joan Blund on a database that I get a lot of junk mail from. Joan --- George & Shiela Irwin <[email protected]> wrote: > Richard Pence: > > Thanks for all the helpful hints on the SSDI. I > expect there are others who > will also appreciate that you have shared your > expertise. > > Right now, I am embedded in tracing family during > the 1700s and 1800s, and > looking at County land deed transfer records for > farmers. But I could not > miss the opportunity to learn something about the > more recent data from > Social Security. > > From my experience in Federal service, database > development is always a > compromise between the content users would like and > the cost others insist > you do not exceed! But sloppy data entry sure is > not very helpful to either > point of view. > > George > > > > ==== ILLOGAN Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Logan County List if you are > in mail mode, send to > [email protected] If you are receiving > messages in the digest mode, send to > [email protected] > > Joan Black Lund [email protected] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~joanlund/

Thanks to all who contributed to this discussion on SSDI. At this moment, it is not an issue for me but I certainly appreciate the insights and the time you all have taken to share your knowledge. Virginia Pitts

George: I have a friend who has helped design what is contained in the various databases at the SSA and, as you might expect, it goes far beyond what is made available in the Death Master File. What usually surprises most folks involved in genealogical research is that we are only small-time users of the information. Contrary to what a lot of people worry about (that the numbers in the SSDI will be used to create false identities), the most prevalent use of the information is by financial institutions. They check the index to see if someone is giving them information that is about a deceased person. This is why the SSA so quickly releases the data in its death file. Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: "George & Shiela Irwin" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 8:14 AM Subject: Re: [ILLOGAN] Social Security Death Index > Richard Pence: > > Thanks for all the helpful hints on the SSDI. I expect there are others who > will also appreciate that you have shared your expertise. > > Right now, I am embedded in tracing family during the 1700s and 1800s, and > looking at County land deed transfer records for farmers. But I could not > miss the opportunity to learn something about the more recent data from > Social Security. > > From my experience in Federal service, database development is always a > compromise between the content users would like and the cost others insist > you do not exceed! But sloppy data entry sure is not very helpful to either > point of view. > > George > > > > ==== ILLOGAN Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Logan County List if you are in mail mode, send to [email protected] If you are receiving messages in the digest mode, send to [email protected] >

Any database is only as good as the transcribers. I have found problems with the Illinois Marriage Index also. Of course, if you could see the original records you might understand some of the mistakes but there are plenty of digit transpositions. Thanks for the info Richard. I would not have thought of Ageorge or ichard. I've picked up most of this by trial and error but it would be useful to make a tips list. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -----Original Message----- From: Richard Pence [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 1:14 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ILLOGAN] Social Security Death Index And would it surprise you to know that there are 406 guys whose first names are "Goerge" <g> in the SSDI"? You are right that there is a character limitation and names longer than the limit are truncated and are the devil to find. Somewhere on the Internet there is an article that helps you around some of the other errors made in entering data, as for Goerge above, but a brief search failed to run it up. Among things I remember from it are entries where a person was perhaps names something like A. George Brown and he would be indexed as Ageorge Brown. Or try searching for ichard instead of Richard (first letter missed in keypunching). Date transpositions are also fairly common. There are thousands of people in the SSDI whose dates of death are given prior to 1937, the first year benefits were paid. Look at this one I plucked at random: Peggy Ilgofsky, born 19 Aug 1827 died - Aug 1927, SS# 112-18-5514. Obviously, if Peggy died in 1927, she wouldn't have a Social Security number. And most likely she didn't die right at age 100. I'll bet two glazed donuts that she was both born and died in August of 1972 (which is after the time when we were supposed to get SS numbers for all children. Other letter and date transpositions are present throughout the database. You know that Uncle Harry died in 1982, but the SSDI might give it as 1928. And remember - if all of your attempts to find someone in the SSDI fail, that's because they probably aren't there! was/is no specific criteria for placing a name in the database. Generally, three things (besides death) had to happen - the person had to have a SS#, the person's death had to be reported to SSA and the entry had to be correctly made. Lots of people didn't used to have Social Security numbers - children, government workers, self-employed, farmers, etc. And the SSA didn't start computeritizing its Death Master File (which is the real name for the SSDI) until October of 1962, so only a relatively few deaths before 1962 are in the index. And remember not to make the most common mistake of all: The places in the SSDI are NOT the place where the person died. The first address is the person's address with the SSA and the second is where a final death benefit (about $260) was sent (paid only to surviving spouses or other specified dependents after 1989). There is one more anomaly about the address. The Death Master File contains the ZIP code as of the date of death. When Ancestry or RootsWeb or FamilySearch puts this information on line it matches the ZIP to a current list. A lot of ZIPs have changed in the last 40-plus years. So if you think Grandpa died in one town and the SSDI says another it could be the result of a change in ZIPs not a difference of opinion as to where he died. Good searching. Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cheryl Rothwell" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 7:54 PM Subject: [ILLOGAN] Social Security Death Index > I have discovered a couple things about the Social Security Death > Index that > are worth sharing. > > First there is apparently a limit on the number of characters. I was > searching for Schaffenacker which is a most uncommon name in the US. > When I > finally found it there were 16 in the whole US. But it too forever to > find it because they have it as Schaffenacke - no r. Possibly there is > a 12 character limit since they were all spelled that way. > > Second, when you can't find George R. Jones try G. R. Jones or even G. > Jones. Why some of them are like that I don't know because in my case > the person went by his full name. It seems simple but I didn't think > of when I was tearing my hair looking for someone. > > Cheryl Rothwell ==== ILLOGAN Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe from the Logan County List if you are in mail mode, send to [email protected] If you are receiving messages in the digest mode, send to [email protected] -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.9 - Release Date: 5/12/2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.9 - Release Date: 5/12/2005

I think SSDI at Rootsweb is better, updated more often. At least that is my experience. Your mileage may vary. http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.9 - Release Date: 5/12/2005

Richard Pence: Thanks for all the helpful hints on the SSDI. I expect there are others who will also appreciate that you have shared your expertise. Right now, I am embedded in tracing family during the 1700s and 1800s, and looking at County land deed transfer records for farmers. But I could not miss the opportunity to learn something about the more recent data from Social Security. From my experience in Federal service, database development is always a compromise between the content users would like and the cost others insist you do not exceed! But sloppy data entry sure is not very helpful to either point of view. George

George or Shiela Irwin <[email protected]> wrote: > Question: In the case of a very uncommon name like Shaffenacker, would the > Social Security index let you search on only the last name? How about using > the asterisk? Yes - at least the SSDI at RootsWeb will. It shows that there are 4,216 persons with the surname PENCE in the index as of March. Before the SSDI was made available at several sites on line, there used to be a company that would sell you a database of a given surname. In 1989 it cast me about $20 to get all of the PENCEs in the list. Some folks may like the search capabilities at other sites, but I generally get better searches with the options available at RootsWeb. Richard

And would it surprise you to know that there are 406 guys whose first names are "Goerge" <g> in the SSDI"? You are right that there is a character limitation and names longer than the limit are truncated and are the devil to find. Somewhere on the Internet there is an article that helps you around some of the other errors made in entering data, as for Goerge above, but a brief search failed to run it up. Among things I remember from it are entries where a person was perhaps names something like A. George Brown and he would be indexed as Ageorge Brown. Or try searching for ichard instead of Richard (first letter missed in keypunching). Date transpositions are also fairly common. There are thousands of people in the SSDI whose dates of death are given prior to 1937, the first year benefits were paid. Look at this one I plucked at random: Peggy Ilgofsky, born 19 Aug 1827 died - Aug 1927, SS# 112-18-5514. Obviously, if Peggy died in 1927, she wouldn't have a Social Security number. And most likely she didn't die right at age 100. I'll bet two glazed donuts that she was both born and died in August of 1972 (which is after the time when we were supposed to get SS numbers for all children. Other letter and date transpositions are present throughout the database. You know that Uncle Harry died in 1982, but the SSDI might give it as 1928. And remember - if all of your attempts to find someone in the SSDI fail, that's because they probably aren't there! was/is no specific criteria for placing a name in the database. Generally, three things (besides death) had to happen - the person had to have a SS#, the person's death had to be reported to SSA and the entry had to be correctly made. Lots of people didn't used to have Social Security numbers - children, government workers, self-employed, farmers, etc. And the SSA didn't start computeritizing its Death Master File (which is the real name for the SSDI) until October of 1962, so only a relatively few deaths before 1962 are in the index. And remember not to make the most common mistake of all: The places in the SSDI are NOT the place where the person died. The first address is the person's address with the SSA and the second is where a final death benefit (about $260) was sent (paid only to surviving spouses or other specified dependents after 1989). There is one more anomaly about the address. The Death Master File contains the ZIP code as of the date of death. When Ancestry or RootsWeb or FamilySearch puts this information on line it matches the ZIP to a current list. A lot of ZIPs have changed in the last 40-plus years. So if you think Grandpa died in one town and the SSDI says another it could be the result of a change in ZIPs not a difference of opinion as to where he died. Good searching. Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cheryl Rothwell" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 7:54 PM Subject: [ILLOGAN] Social Security Death Index > I have discovered a couple things about the Social Security Death Index that > are worth sharing. > > First there is apparently a limit on the number of characters. I was > searching for Schaffenacker which is a most uncommon name in the US. When I > finally found it there were 16 in the whole US. But it too forever to find > it because they have it as Schaffenacke - no r. Possibly there is a 12 > character limit since they were all spelled that way. > > Second, when you can't find George R. Jones try G. R. Jones or even G. > Jones. Why some of them are like that I don't know because in my case the > person went by his full name. It seems simple but I didn't think of when I > was tearing my hair looking for someone. > > Cheryl Rothwell

If you go to http://www.familysearch.org then select search, on the left hand side of the screen you can select the SSI. Joan Black Lund [email protected] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~joanlund/

Yes, they let you search on only the last name. I do that all the time. If the name is not common you get a managable number. Like Rothwell. <g> You can narrow it by state or by state and county. I searched for Schaffenacker with no luck so I searched by soundex but only in Logan County -- and that's when I discovered the problem. I think Penny had the Schaffenacker information on her web site. I know she was in communication with them. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.9 - Release Date: 5/12/2005

Cheryl: Question: In the case of a very uncommon name like Shaffenacker, would the Social Security index let you search on only the last name? How about using the asterisk? Comment: It was before the days of Social Security, but I found a reference to the original Schaffenacker immigrant as George C. Schafnager. His son, George S., married my ggrandfather, Matthew Stoll's sister Katherine. The other son, Frederick, had a son named George F. who married Matthew's oldest daughter! Such was life in the early days of non-English immigrants. Also a couple centuries back in Berks County, PA, some of my German-name ancestors "migrated" to more English-based spellings without the umlauts. Sometimes sons of one couple went to 3 or 4 different spellings in one generation. I guess spelling was just not that important. On the other hand, it may have happened in Logan County as well. I was told that Loetterle, Litterly, Letterly, etc. may have emerged from some sort of family disagreement.