Stacey, there are some web sites for railroad afficianados, PA RR especially. Do a Google search -- that's how I found them. They may be able to help you identify the specific railroad. And there are a couple museums that house the old payroll records of the PA RR. If he was a section hand, the railroad was probably not being built. He would have been responsible for making repairs over a certain length of existing track. Just because his wife's obit says he was dead, that doesn't necessarily make it so. Being an Irish family, he could have been "dead to them", meaning "we don't want any association with him". It was also a way to save face to avoid saying "the rotten old so and so deserted me". Neither of these explanation may be the correct one for your family, but I wanted to make the point that the obit may not necessarily be accurate. Hope this might help a little. Genie Flahie -------Original Message------- From: StaceyRego@aol.com Sent: 06/20/03 06:00 AM To: PAERIE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [PAERIE] Disappearance//Railroad pension records/other RR info... > > I have a very tough case to crack on the disappearance of my great-grandfather. I need a small miracle here. Does anyone know of any railroad pension records available for any railroad in Erie Co from abt. 1920 -1950? The Railroad Retirement Board can't help me because I don't have enough info on my great-grandfather, Daniel Caughlin. He disappeared some time after 1923 (last time family saw him), but his wife--Lena's obit in 1950 indicated that he had already died so someone knew about it. The county, library, and state can't locate death info for him though. He's not in the SSDI either. Daniel's wife--Lena was still living in Girard on the 1930 census and still married, but Daniel wasn't with her and I can't locate him on the 1930 census. He was a section-hand b/w 1910 & 1920, living in Harborcreek, Northeast, and Girard. I need a new angle to find out when/where/how he died. Anyone know anything about Daniel Caughlin or perhaps know of a railroad being built in Erie Co b/w 1923 & 1930 that may have led Daniel to another county or state? Also, does anyone know of any RR pension records available for Erie Co b/w 1920 & 1950?? Thank you for any info or advice you may offer!! Sincerely, Stacey ==== PAERIE Mailing List ==== Welcome to the PA-Erie Mailing List To leave PAERIE-L, send mail to PAERIE-L-request@rootsweb.com with the single word unsubscribe in the message subject and body. To leave PAERIE-D, do the same thing with PAERIE-D-request@rootsweb.com. Periodically, messages are received that various viruses are floating around the newslists. While no viruses have yet been transmitted via this board, all readers are strongly encouraged to keep their virus checkers up to date in order to ensure that your computer will not be impacted should this occur. ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >