Ancestry.com- Shaking Your Family Tree, September 02, 1999

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Shaking Your Family Tree

September 02, 1999

Shaking Your Family Tree, by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

Working on the Railroad

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

It is easy to get derailed while searching online for information about ancestors who worked on America's railroads. There are so many tracks to follow:

-- Check out railroad terminology, slang and abbreviations. Was your ancestor a gandy dancer or a hogger? http://www.rrb.gov/funfacts3.html

-- Look up nicknames, abbreviations and trade names of railroads. What were the "Big Four'' and the "Balloon'' routes? http://www.rrb.gov/funfacts2.html

-- How much did the railroad pay grandpa back in 1925 for his work as a ticket agent, watchman, coach cleaner, dispatcher, or stationmaster? http://www.rrb.gov/funfacts1.html

Want to see the routes of various trains a century ago? Visit the website featuring the 1891 Grain Dealers and Shippers Gazetteer (http://www.livgenmi.com/1891shippersgaz.htm) and see the route map of such famous railroads as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Chicago, Burlington & Northern. Many railroad historical societies have websites and a good starting point to find these organizations is at the Railroad Historical Societies home page, http://tucson.com/concor/histsoc.html.

If your ancestor worked for the railroad after 1937, you may be able to learn more about him or her through the records maintained by the Railroad Retirement Board. At the same time that the Social Security Act of 1935 came into being, the Railroad Retirement Act made provisions to maintain a separate program for employees of American's railroads. A separate block of numbers, 700-728, was set aside to be assigned to them. Search the latest version (June, 1999) of the Social Security Death Index at RootsWeb, http://www.rootsweb.com/.

You can obtain information from the Railroad Retirement Board on deceased persons for genealogical purposes. There is a nonrefundable fee of $16 per search. Send check or money order made payable to Railroad Retirement Board to: U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Office of Public Affairs, 844 N. Rush St., Chicago, IL 60611-2092.

If your ancestor worked for a railroad or died before 1937 this office will not have any records on him or her. Nor does the board generally have any pertinent records of persons whose rail service was performed on a casual basis and/or was of short duration. Employees of street, interurban or suburban electric railways were not covered under the act and the board does not have these records.

The board keeps records by the employee's unique number, so include the Social Security and/or Railroad Retirement number or both if you have them. Death certificates often contain this information. Include your ancestor's full name, including middle name or initial, and complete dates for birth and death. This information is critically important in searching for information about employees with common surnames.

For more information about the Railroad Retirement Board, visit its website at http://www.rrb.gov/ and "Genealogical Research Before 1936'' at http://www.rrb.gov/geneal2.html leads to a list of depositories with railroad company records. While few of these have information about the ordinary working people, there is a great deal of valuable historical material available.

The digital library and other library archives at Virginia Tech offer numerous sources for railroad history research at http://scholar2.lib.vt.edu/railroad/guiderr.htm.

The Railroad Maps Collection, 1828 to 1900, is a part of the American Memory online section of the Library of Congress. You can search and view these digitized maps by visiting its Web site at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrhome.html

Learning what railroads existed and their routes may help you follow the likely migration trails of your ancestors.

(c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate

Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter

Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page
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September 02, 1999
	Working on the Railroad by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
It is easy to get derailed while searching online for information about ancestors who worked on America's railroads. There are so many tracks to follow: -- Check out railroad terminology, slang and abbreviations. Was your ancestor a gandy dancer or a hogger? http://www.rrb.gov/funfacts3.html -- Look up nicknames, abbreviations and trade names of railroads. What were the "Big Four'' and the "Balloon'' routes? http://www.rrb.gov/funfacts2.html -- How much did the railroad pay grandpa back in 1925 for his work as a ticket agent, watchman, coach cleaner, dispatcher, or stationmaster? http://www.rrb.gov/funfacts1.html Want to see the routes of various trains a century ago? Visit the website featuring the 1891 Grain Dealers and Shippers Gazetteer (http://www.livgenmi.com/1891shippersgaz.htm) and see the route map of such famous railroads as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Chicago, Burlington & Northern. Many railroad historical societies have websites and a good starting point to find these organizations is at the Railroad Historical Societies home page, http://tucson.com/concor/histsoc.html. If your ancestor worked for the railroad after 1937, you may be able to learn more about him or her through the records maintained by the Railroad Retirement Board. At the same time that the Social Security Act of 1935 came into being, the Railroad Retirement Act made provisions to maintain a separate program for employees of American's railroads. A separate block of numbers, 700-728, was set aside to be assigned to them. Search the latest version (June, 1999) of the Social Security Death Index at RootsWeb, http://www.rootsweb.com/. You can obtain information from the Railroad Retirement Board on deceased persons for genealogical purposes. There is a nonrefundable fee of $16 per search. Send check or money order made payable to Railroad Retirement Board to: U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Office of Public Affairs, 844 N. Rush St., Chicago, IL 60611-2092. If your ancestor worked for a railroad or died before 1937 this office will not have any records on him or her. Nor does the board generally have any pertinent records of persons whose rail service was performed on a casual basis and/or was of short duration. Employees of street, interurban or suburban electric railways were not covered under the act and the board does not have these records. The board keeps records by the employee's unique number, so include the Social Security and/or Railroad Retirement number or both if you have them. Death certificates often contain this information. Include your ancestor's full name, including middle name or initial, and complete dates for birth and death. This information is critically important in searching for information about employees with common surnames. For more information about the Railroad Retirement Board, visit its website at http://www.rrb.gov/ and "Genealogical Research Before 1936'' at http://www.rrb.gov/geneal2.html leads to a list of depositories with railroad company records. While few of these have information about the ordinary working people, there is a great deal of valuable historical material available. The digital library and other library archives at Virginia Tech offer numerous sources for railroad history research at http://scholar2.lib.vt.edu/railroad/guiderr.htm. The Railroad Maps Collection, 1828 to 1900, is a part of the American Memory online section of the Library of Congress. You can search and view these digitized maps by visiting its Web site at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrhome.html Learning what railroads existed and their routes may help you follow the likely migration trails of your ancestors. (c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
Copyright 1998, 1999, Ancestry.com Inc. and its subsidiaries. Terms and Conditions \| Privacy Statement