Steve's Genealogy Blog

Great Aunt Mary (Danko) Golinski was married in 1915 and she had several children, including Victoria and John.

Mary’s marriage record and the birth record for her first child, Victoria, were recorded in a ledger, rather than on standardized marriage and birth certificates .  The birth of Mary’s son John, however, was recorded on a standard certificate .  When I requested copies of these three documents, I was somewhat disappointed by the documents I received for Mary’s marriage and Victoria’s birth because I received transcriptions rather than photocopies of the original records.

Mary’s marriage record arrived as a Copy of Record of Marriage for Paul Golinski and Mary Danko and contained several misspellings and a couple of crossed out entries .  The entries that appear to be transcription errors are:

• The name of the groom’s father is recorded as Gan Golinski, but should be Jan Golinski
• The name of the groom’s mother is recorded as Mary Darasz, but should be Mary Daraz
• The name of the bride’s mother is recorded as Agnes Sousa, but should be Agnes Sowa
• The name of the bride’s father is recorded as Joseph Jacob Danko, apparently to correct an error during transcription since the father’s name was Jacob Danko
• The form used to record the transcription was outdated, since it assumed that the document would be recorded in the 20th century and included the preprinted year 19__, which had to be crossed out to write in the correct year 2002

The marriage record reports Mary’s age at the time of the marriage as 28 years on October 4, 1915, indicating that Mary was born in 1886 or 1887.

The birth of Mary’s first child, Victoria, is reported as a Copy of Record of Birth for Victoria Golinski .  This document also contained an apparent transcription error:

• Mary’s maiden name is reported as Dauleo, but should be Danko

The transcription unfortunately doesn’t include the parents’ dates of birth.

The Return of a Birth for John Golinski is more complete than that for Victoria, and is the original record rather than a transcription .  Still, this document includes two entries that were apparently erased and typed over:

• The birthplaces of both the father and mother were originally entered as Poland, but were corrected to read Austria Poland

The record does, however, show that Mary was 33 years old when John was born on Jan. 2, 1922, indicating that Mary was born between 1888 and 1889.

Let me summarize the information I have on Mary’s date of birth:

• Marianna’s Birth and Baptismal Record, a Church Record from Poland, shows that her birth date was January 12, 1884
• Marjanna’s Hamburg Passenger Record, shows that she was 25 years old in 1909, indicating that she was born in 1883-1884
• Marianna’s Passenger Arrival List, shows that she was 25 years old when she arrived at Ellis Island on June 26, 1909 and indicating that she was born in 1883-1884
• The Copy of Record of Marriage shows that she was 28 years old on October 4, 1915, indicating that she was born in 1886-1887
• The Copy of Record of Birth for Mary’s daughter Victoria does not show Mary’s age or date of birth
• The Return of a Birth for Mary’s son John shows that Mary was 33 years old on January 2, 1922, indicating that she was born in 1888-1889
• Mary’s SS-5 Application for Social Security Account and Tax Number shows that she was born on March 12, 1887
• The Social Security Death Index shows that Mary was born on March 12, 1887
• Information from Mary’s daughter Fran, indicated that Mary was born on March 12, 1887
• The Massachusetts Death Index does not show Mary’s birth date
• Mary’s Cemetery Burial Record shows that Mary was born in about 1886-1887
• Mary’s Gravestone Epitaph shows that Mary was born in 1887

So, where does all this lead me?  My grandfather’s sister, Marianna, was born on January 12, 1884, which is consistent with records up through her immigration to the United States .  My grandfather’s sister, Mary, was born on March 12, 1887, which is consistent with records after her immigration into the United States (with the exception of the Return of John’s Birth, which suggests she was born in 1888-1889).

Are Marianna and Mary the same person?  If so, why are there two apparently different birth dates?  If Marianna and Mary are different people, they must be sisters, but there is no evidence for two sisters named Marianna Danko and Mary Danko .  Perhaps Mary changed her birth date after her arrival in America .  I’d like to find a Census Record and other records for Mary between the time she arrived in America in 1909 and the time she was married in 1915, but finding those records will take some additional research.

Copyright © 2006 by Stephen J. Danko

Social Security Records, including the Social Security Death Index and the SS-5 Application for a Social Security Account Number, are some of the first records I examined when I first started to compile my family tree .  I used the information in the Social Security Death Index to discover or verify dates of birth and dates of death .  I also requested copies of the SS-5 cards, the Application for a Social Security Account Number to discover or verify information such as names of parents, place of birth, occupation, and address at the time of application.

The Social Security Death Index is generated from the Death Master File of the Social Security Administration (SSA) .  The SSA does not generate the index itself .  The Death Master File currently includes over 77 million records of individuals who had a Social Security Number and whose deaths were reported to the SSA, usually when someone applied for Social Security Death Benefits .  In 1935 the Social Security Act was passed, and in 1936, the first Social Security cards were issued .  However, the Social Security Death Index was not initiated until 1962, when the SSA began using a computer database to process benefit requests .  For that reason, few individuals who died before 1962 are listed in the Social Security Death Index .  More information on the Social Security Death Index is available at Ancestry.com, and interesting information on the first Social Security Card and the lowest Social Security Number is available at the Social Security website.

The Social Security Death Index is available at Ancestry.com for a fee, but it is also available for free from other sources, including FamilySearch.org .  I prefer to use the Ancestry.com version of the index because the information is formatted in a way that I can directly cut and paste the information into the source information area of my genealogy database .  The RootsWeb version, however, has the most comprehensive search feature on the web; all the information in the Index is searchable .  The FamilySearch version of the index is not as full-featured as either of the other two indexes .  That said, if you can’t find someone in one index, you can always try the others .  Differences in the search algorithms and in the search interfaces may provide different results.

A copy of the original SS-5, the Application for Social Security Account Number, can be ordered from the Social Security Administration, as long as the requestor is the individual named, or if the individual is deceased . Â A copy of the SS-5 can be ordered whether or not the individual is listed in the Social Security Death Index .  Currently, the SSA charges $27 for this copy, if the Social Security Number is provided, and $29 if the Social Security Number is not provided .  The SSA also offers a Numident, a computerized Numerical Identification record for a reduced price, but the Numident doesn’t provide all the information on the SS-5 and may contain transcription errors, so it’s not as useful for genealogical purposes as the SS-5 .  The SSA also offers a copy of the Claim File for $14, but these Claim Files are usually destroyed within a few years after the final decision on a claim is made .  Once, instead of receiving the SS-5 I requested, I received a Form OAAN-7003, Employee’s Request for Change in Records instead.

Well, back to my Great Aunt Mary .  The information in the Social Security Death Index states:

Name: Mary Golinski
SSN: 033-38-4218
Last Residence: 01527 Millbury, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
Born: 12 Mar 1887
Died: Sep 1975
State (Year) SSN issued: Massachusetts (1964-1965)

A couple of points to note here .  Sometimes, as in this case, the complete date of birth or death is not included .  If you search for a complete date, but don’t find what you’re looking for, try including only the month and year, or just the year .  The second point is that the Last Residence is not necessarily the place of death.

Finally, I obtained a copy of Mary’s SS-5.

The SS-5 for Mary Golinski -1965 states that:

• Her Social Security Number was 033-38-4218
• Her name was Mary Golinski
• Her full name at birth was Mary Danko
• Her date of birth was 3/12/87
• She was born in Austria Poland
• She was 77 years old on her last birthday
• She was a white female
• Her parents were Agnes Sawa and Jacob Danko
• She had never previously applied for or had a Social Security Number
• Her mailing address was Sullivan Place, Millbury, mass.
• She signed the form on 1/18/65

There are some miscellaneous notes on the card, including a stamp that reads “ORIGINAL PULLED FOR CLAIM”, a date APR 05 1965, another date JAN 2 [illegible], a stamp that reads “DAD-[illegible], the notation 5-11, and what appear to be two sets of initials in the two lower corners.

What I learned from the Social Security Death Index and the SS-5 was that Mary’s birth dates recorded in these two records agree with all the rest of the birth information I have found for her in other records generated after her arrival in the United States .  Records prior to and at the time of her arrival report an earlier birth date.

Believe it or not, there are still more records to search to try to figure out this mystery.

Copyright © 2006 by Stephen J. Danko

My grandfather, Michael Danko, was the first of my ancestors to immigrate to the United States .  After arriving in America, he lived in Worcester, Worcester Co., Massachusetts the rest of his life .  He and his family are enumerated in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 US Federal Census records and his sister, my Great Aunt Mary, is enumerated in the 1920 and 1930 Census records.

The 1910 US Federal Census for Michael Danko shows my grandfather living at 3 Moran Court in Worcester .  Of special interest is that not only are he, his wife Mary, and his children John and Sophie (Zofia) listed, but no fewer than seven boarders are living with them!

1910 Census Record for the Michael Danko Family

The 1920 US Federal Census for Michael Danko shows that my grandfather is living at 19 Prescott Place .  This time, the family has grown, and no boarders are living with them .  Living near them and enumerated on the same page of the Census, at 11 Prescott Place Court, is Paul Golinski and his family .  Paul’s wife Mary is my grandfather’s sister, Mary.

1920 Census Record for the Michael Danko Family and the Paul Golinski Family

The 1930 US Federal Census for Michael Danko shows that, except for my Aunt Sophie, my grandfather and his family are living at 19 Prescott Street, and the 1930 US Federal Census for Paul Golinski, shows that Golinskis are living nearby at 11 Prescott Place Court.

1930 Census Record for the Michael Danko Family

1930 Census Record for the Paul Golinski Family

Towards my goal of learning my Great Aunt Mary’s date of birth, I started to examine the paperwork that documents her birth date .  Yesterday, I presented four documents:

• Mary’s Birth and Baptismal Record, a Church Record from Poland, showing that her birth date was January 12, 1884
• Information from Mary’s daughter Fran, who told me Mary was born on March 12, 1887
• A Cemetery Burial Record, showing that Mary was born in about 1886-1887
• Mary’s Gravestone Epitaph, showing that Mary was born in 1887

With two conflicting birth dates, I need to search other records to determine which date is correct .  It’s possible that the Birth and Baptismal record is not for Mary, but for a sister named Marianna .  My family knows that my grandfather had a sister named Mary and is unaware of another sister Marianna, so it’s likely that Mary and Marianna are the same person.

The census records provide more information about Mary’s birth date .  In the 1920 Census, Mary (Danko) Golinski is 32 years old, indicating that she was born in about 1887-1888 .  In the 1930 Census, Mary is 42 years old, again indicating that she was born in about 1887-1888 .  This appears to be evidence that the Birth and Baptismal Record I have is not for my Great Aunt Mary.

The 1920 and 1930 Census Records also show that Mary immigrated to the United States, but the two records show different years of immigration!  The 1920 Census shows that she immigrated in 1909, and the 1930 Census shows that she immigrated in 1910 .  So, here is another possibility .  Mary’s emigration and immigration records should show her age.

If Mary immigrated before April 15, 1910, she should be enumerated in the 1910 Census .  I have not yet found Mary in the 1910 Census, but since she was single in 1910, I may have to wait until the every-name index for 1910 is available.

Finally, the Census Records show that Mary had filed her First Papers for Naturalization .  This is yet another source that will show her birth date.

So, there are more records to find to solve this mystery .  Tomorrow, Great Aunt Mary’s emigration and immigration records.

Copyright © 2006 by Stephen J. Danko