He’s been dead for almost 35 years. I know where he’s buried.
He died in a VA hospital, and I remember him telling me when I was small about serving in WWII and in France and in Okinawa (I’m guessing Okinawa was after the war had ended but maybe not.) He was born in Hamilton Ontario and came to the U.S. as an orphan and got a job as soon as he got here. He might have been as young as 9. (I think both his parents died in 1918, which suggests the flu epidemic to me, but again that’s just a Wild-Assed Guess.) He was the youngest of his siblings, and he would be 95 this year if he were still alive, so I’m supposing that hunting for family (none of whom I’ve even seen in the last 35 years) is pointless, but I’m wondering—has anyone ever tracked someone down by using Social Security records or US Army records? Do relatives have any access at all? Anyone got any other ideas?
Hey, pseudotriton. My grandfather died in a VA hospital too and I spent about 2 years tracking down information about him. I started by finding his social security number which I got from his death records – on-line. I think this is the site that got me started, though I had some specific information from my mother such as his birthday, the day he died, the town where he was born and his middle name.
Military records might be tougher. There was a fire in the 1973 that resulted in the loss of a huge number of old records. You can request them with whatever information you have, though. You can also request them from his home state. I had better luck getting information from New York State than from the Army. Try starting here.
Though I was able to get only minimal information from the Army (he was a disabled First World War veteran), I hit paydirt with the VA. I got a 45 page tome (an entire psychological history), from the hospital where he was first comitted, diagnosed with “shell shock.” Since my grandfather was confined for most of his life, the records they had were extensive. In your case, you might only get a death certificate, but at least that will give you a place to start.
Some genealogy websites can also be amazingly helpful. I even found a few relatives I didn’t know I had, who knew my grandfather and were able to provide some information. So don’t write the relatives off. Siblings often have children who have heard stories and you may discover someone out there who knows something and is willing to dish.
pseudotriton, you have a lot of information! As koeeoaddi suggested, there are a lot of different websites that can help you. If you need help searching, email me.
I didn’t find any record at all of him of the SS Death Index–which struck me as odd indeed. You couldn’t be in the US Army and earn a living here for decades without having an ss#, could you?
I did find my mom on the SS death Index, only with a birthdate (exactly) one year earlier than I had thought for the last five decades. Her last name was listed as her married name, which was my dad’s name as well, of course. And she worked very little during my lifetime.
This really could turn into a job of work here.
Does anyone military have knowledge of exactly what I’d have to do to access my dad’s military records, or even if that’s possible?
And on a somewhat related subject, I’m trying to research a car that F. Scott Fitzgerald drove (and maybe owned) from 1922 to 1924. If I go to the NY State motor vehicle bureau asking them for help, what do you think will happen? When I’ve asked for help about DMV stuff that relates to me personally, they’ve been extremely (and notoriously) unhelpful, so I’m looking for a strategy.
prr - there was a site mentioned in a thread on the SDMB - it was a thread about The Most Essential Websites for Trivia Research or something close to that - it was called:
hey pseudotriton ruber ruber you have any luck yet? I just saw this and thought I’d check it out. Are you just looking for some extended family members?
Possible relatives and such? If so, drop me a line and I’ll see what I can come up with. This is one of my hobbies…I’ve even done some genealogy for other folks so let me know. If you just want to acess some free stuff try the church of LDS. I believe that link is simply LDS.com then go to the family search link on the front page. It’s a pretty good site for a quick search.