Clare-born in U.S. applying for Social Security numbers
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 5:22 pm
As of 1935, the U.S. federal government implemented a retirement scheme for all its working citizens, for which an individual number is assigned to each participant, the famous Social Security number considered the best way to identify a U.S. resident. To guard against identity theft, the government maintains secrecy about S.S. numbers of the living but has placed online an extract of each deceased participant not involved in the railroad industry (for which there is a separate database, not online). Data on the S.S. application form (SS-5) is provided directly by the applicant seeking a S.S. number. It is very easy to search the extract database for applicants born in Clare, anyone old enough to be employed as of 1935 and young enough to still be in the workforce. The earliest birth year I observed so far is 1865. Here is the link to the NARA webpage, with this database being the 6th one down on the list: https://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-list.jsp?cat=GP22
I have some suggestions on using the search function. There are several fields to select, restricted to a total of only 10 fields at any one time. Don't bother asking to be shown the "middle name" field. Also leave out the S.S, number from the search. Do request that the search return list show the applicant's parents' surnames. From the search return list, you elect to see an extract and then you will view all recorded data, including the applicant's middle name, etc.
Unfortunately the entire database cannot be searched at one time, but rather sections of surnames are sorted alphabetically in groups such as A & B, C & D, etc. There is also an extra step to determine a country code for an applicant's place of birth. Ireland is EIf (an uppercase letter "i" not the numeral 1), so you can bypass the code list. Instead of typing a city in the "birth city" field, just type Clare and you will receive a list of self-declared Clare-born applicants in that alphabet section. Only a few Clare-born omitted the word Clare on their applications and instead wrote only a city plus Ireland as the country.
This database is a handy way to track down married women who were mothers of applicants, because mothers are listed under their maiden names (if their son or daughter knew that surname). Applicants used his/her legal surname as of the time of the application. As to female applicants, some (especially in the earlier years of the S.S. system) were already married before applying and thus this database will reveal their maiden name via the father's surname field. As younger women entered the workforce, at ages 18 to 21 or so, the application will be in the maiden name, which the system does not change down through time (so far as I know although I suppose exceptions might occur for a good reason).
To catch siblings who were applicants, only one of whom listed Clare on the application, use only the country code and look for the same full mother's name and full father's name to identify the other sibling.
It's a lot of free fun. Enjoy.
I have some suggestions on using the search function. There are several fields to select, restricted to a total of only 10 fields at any one time. Don't bother asking to be shown the "middle name" field. Also leave out the S.S, number from the search. Do request that the search return list show the applicant's parents' surnames. From the search return list, you elect to see an extract and then you will view all recorded data, including the applicant's middle name, etc.
Unfortunately the entire database cannot be searched at one time, but rather sections of surnames are sorted alphabetically in groups such as A & B, C & D, etc. There is also an extra step to determine a country code for an applicant's place of birth. Ireland is EIf (an uppercase letter "i" not the numeral 1), so you can bypass the code list. Instead of typing a city in the "birth city" field, just type Clare and you will receive a list of self-declared Clare-born applicants in that alphabet section. Only a few Clare-born omitted the word Clare on their applications and instead wrote only a city plus Ireland as the country.
This database is a handy way to track down married women who were mothers of applicants, because mothers are listed under their maiden names (if their son or daughter knew that surname). Applicants used his/her legal surname as of the time of the application. As to female applicants, some (especially in the earlier years of the S.S. system) were already married before applying and thus this database will reveal their maiden name via the father's surname field. As younger women entered the workforce, at ages 18 to 21 or so, the application will be in the maiden name, which the system does not change down through time (so far as I know although I suppose exceptions might occur for a good reason).
To catch siblings who were applicants, only one of whom listed Clare on the application, use only the country code and look for the same full mother's name and full father's name to identify the other sibling.
It's a lot of free fun. Enjoy.
- SS-5 search C-D surnames, Sinon & Ire as search terms.JPG (51.52 KiB) Viewed 4199 times