Suppose you have the maiden name of a woman, and only a couple of bits of information, but not her married name. Can you find her husband on SSDI? Quite possibly:

In Craig County, Virginia, I showed a Ruba LEFFEL. She was born 9 January 1891. That was all that I had. Craig is a fairly small county. The time period was likely to be in the right range for a social security record, assuming she lived an average or slightly longer life.

I tried entering "Ruba and Craig County," in the SSDI. Then I realized the name Ruba was likely a mis-transcription for Ruby. I took the plunge and entered Ruby and Craig County and the birth date. Got one!

Ruby OHMER. Could be her, might not be. I saw a zip code listed, and so tried again, simply entering the zip code and the surname OHMER. Two entries: Ruby and Herbert. Yes, I found dates, locations, etc., even the mate . . . maybe. Would this prove to be valid? I checked other resources, and found it was.

Not only that, but I found dozens of other bits of data on other persons using such search techniques on SSDI, in which I did NOT use the surname. I did this all in one session, on one day.

Note: You can search the SSDI free at Ancestry.com at: www.ancestry.com/ssdi

Thanks to Vince Summers for today's Quick Tip! If you have a tip you would like to share with researchers, you can send it to: editor@ancestry-inc.com