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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => US Lookup Requests => Topic started by: bainin on Monday 03 August 15 21:42 BST (UK)
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Hi-I recently found a social security number on Ancestry in the US Social Security Applications and Claims Index 1936-2007 which may refer to my missing Murphy relative which I had been unable to find after his immigration in 1900. There are so many Murphys! The index gives parents names which are right for my relative and is dated November 1936 .As I am not in the US I was unable to use the online form to access the original application which might give me a clue to where he was living/working and maybe finally solve what happened to him.Any advice how to proceed? Would Social Security deal with overseas requests ?Thanks
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We had a similar question a few years ago - http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=613815.msg4627709#msg4627709 I'm not sure what the end result was, but you may need to contact Social Security to see if they will mail the information overseas.
If you want to give us the information on your Murphy, maybe someone can help to find something.
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This index is a very useful tool in United States research. In the past people could apply for the deceased person's original application with the fee attached regardless of where they were in the world. This seems not to be necessary now with the new "Applications" Index which supplements the "Death" Index information. ancestry.com should be complemented for getting this important genealogical resource. From their site:
"Information you may find includes:
applicant's full name
Social Security Number (SSN)
date and place of birth
citizenship
sex
father's name
mother's maiden name
race/ethnic description (optional)"
plus I have added
full name should be maiden and married name for married women.
Contacting and paying Social Security probably will not get any further information.
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The original SS-5 application may have a present mailing address and employer's name and address from the time of the application. http://genealogy.about.com/od/online_records/a/ss5_request.htm
There may be other ways to figure this information out without paying for it, but I can't give any further advice without the person's details.
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Thanks for replying. The details are Joseph James Murphy ssn 049075317. Date of birth given is 2nd January 1884.Father Thomas , mother Maggie Flynn. I thought the first 3 digits might refer to Connecticut? I was hoping to find an address or employers name on the application.
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The year of birth and order of the names is off, but I thought this WWI draft registration card was potentially interesting - https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZF4-X59 I see a lot of immigrants from this time frame whose year of birth bounced around, so I wouldn't count it out on that alone.
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Yes that draft record is very interesting as my relative was known as Joe but baptised James Joseph! The confusion over his first name and the numerous Murphys have been stumbling blocks in my search for him not to mention problem of inconsistent ages.I had to look for Joseph as well as James.
The next of kin mentioned seems to be "cousin" Joseph McCarthy.My Joe had no McCarthy first cousins but his mother had an aunt who married a McCarthy, so just maybe .Seems a bit odd because Joe had two married sisters and brothers- in-law who could have been named as contacts.I am in touch with the descendents of one of those sisters but they never heard of Joe so maybe the family had lost contact years earlier.
In the ss claims index the parents' names are right.
If it was possible to tie this James Joseph's address/occupation to whatever is in the ss claims index for Joseph James, that would be great.
I've had a look through two census years and found a Murphy with nearly right immigration year (1899)
In the 1920 census for Bridgeport I found James born 1883, married to Jennie from Poland /Austria and working as a "forman" (no industry mentioned).I think the same couple are in the 1930 census where James is now "Joseph J" married to Jennie and his job is"labourer elect fittings" In 1920 he is an alien.In 1930 naturalised. Would having been drafted in 1918 give him citizenship? Would that take more than 2 years? Would naturalisation records exist that would tell me any more?
Thanks for you help.
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All men of a certain age were required to complete draft registration cards. It doesn't mean they were actually drafted or engaged in any military service. Considering that this James Joseph wasn't required to register until September, 1918 and the war ended in November, 1918, it makes it less likely that he was drafted. If the man in the 1930 census is the same one, it says he was not a veteran.
If he was naturalized, there would be a record of it, but not all of them are available online. Do you have a passenger list of his arrival in the US?
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Yes-James Murphy arrived in New York on the Teutonic, 28th September 1899 with his sister and went to their grandmother Mrs Flynn who was in New York already.
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Do you have further information on the sister or the grandmother or any other US relatives? Maybe an obituary would says where James/Joseph was living.
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I found Joe in the 1900 census in New York at the address given on the passenger list a few months earlier.His grandmother Mary and an aunt and uncle are there. His birth month/age is not quite right on that census and his sister Alice is not there. After that I couldn't trace him among all the James or Joseph Murphys.I have loads of info from Alice's grand children and great grand children including her obituary which does not mention Joe though it does mention a "surviving" relative in Ireland who had already passed at that stage-1954. She died as Alice Hughes in Darien Ct. James Joseph does not feature in any of their family photos or letters that have been shared with me.
His grandmother Mary Flynn died on July 17th 1906 in New York.I don't have an obituary for her but I have a copy of her will which mentions her children but not her grandchildren.
Josephs other sister,Mary came to New York in 1907 and married Thomas Timothy Walsh and had a daughter Margaret in 1911,if I remember correctly. I have followed that family up to 1930 in the census and a possible record in the 1940 census in Manhattan. I have no death information for any of the Walshes. Alice's descendents were unable to tell me anything about the Walshes either though they did have a photo of them from 1922 .All suggesting there was little contact among the Murphy siblings.I do have one photo here in Ireland that I have had all my life of a lady sitting at a graveside,no headstone is visible but their is a small American flag on the grave of an older type with less stars on it than the current one.Does that suggest a veteran's grave?-if it is Joe's grave. I don't know whose it is except that it is a Murphy photo and looks like it dates to the late 30s or early 40s at a guess.
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There is a veteran's grave locator here - http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/index.html I don't see any likely match for him using a birth date of Jan. 1882, 1883, or 1884 under either James or Joseph.