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

People have reported great success with the Railroad Retirement Board...I have heard of people getting 20-30 pages of information. http://www.rrb.gov Mike Wennin Come Visit the Cameron County Genealogy Project! http://www.rootsweb.com/~pacamero ----- Original Message ----- From: <StaceyRego@aol.com> To: <PAERIE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 6:00 AM 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 >

Stacey, In some situations and some states, if a person has disappeared and not been heard from, or found, for a period of time--often it is 7 years, they can be declared legally dead. This could be for insurance, spouse wants to remarry, or some such reason. This happened in my family in the mid 1920's. Doris

I have an instance of this in Erie. My grandmother's brother disappeared and was declared dead (according to family legend). Does anyone know how I can verify this? Jan