DearMYRTLE - READERS' FEEDBACK 22 May 2005

Providing practical, down-to-earth advice for family historians since 1995, online since 1985.

READERS' FEEDBACK 22 May 2005

-- RE: 1895 Exam
-- RE: Social Security Death Index
-- RE: Social Security Death Index
-- RE: What's in a Name?
-- RE: What's in a Name?
-- Myrt's warning to BACKUP

RE: 1895 EXAM http://www.dearmyrtle.com/05/0511.htm
From: pd2tmf@wowway.com
DearMYRTLE,
According to Snopes this is not true, although I thought it was, too. I'm not sending this to be mean, just to be helpful. http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm

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RE: SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX http://www.dearmyrtle.com/05/0517.htm
From: Sally Rolls Pavia
DearMYRTLE,
As usual, your info is a great help. When my husband applied for his card, [he] gave his step-mother's name instead of his real mother's name. She'd died when he was only 2-years old.

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RE: SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX http://www.dearmyrtle.com/05/0517.htm
From: Jazmyne@aol.com
DearMYRTLE,
Morse SSDI search website http://www.stevemorse.org/ssdi/ssdi.html -- Thought you might find this interesting to pass on to your readers. His site allows more detailed searches of a lot of databases. If any of you have done extensive lookups in the social security death index (SSDI), you'll know that there are several SSDI websites and each one has a different set of limitations. Several years ago Steve Morse made it easy for us by developing a single search form that could search any SSDI site that you specify. That way you could go back and forth between the different sites without having to reenter you data on a new form.

Steve has now come up with a single search method that combines all the desirable features of the various sites. He did so by using the rootsweb site as his starting point and then wrote code to get rid of the following limitations in rootsweb: Rootsweb requires at least three characters for partial names Rootsweb does not allow you to search on a range of years Rootsweb does not allow you to search on age Rootsweb does not allow you to search on a foreign last residence Rootsweb does not allow you to specify day of month for death. He calls his search method "RootsWeb Plus" and it is now the default choice on his SSDI search form. If you'd like to try it, go to Steve's site at http://www.stevemorse.org and select "Social Security Death Records" in his "Births and Deaths" section. Please direct any questions to Steve directly. His address is at the top of the site. steve@StephenMorse.org

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RE: WHAT'S IN A NAME? http://www.dearmyrtle.com/05/0514.htm
From: ehgaulin@att.net
DearMYRTLE,
As we get ready to head north for a couple month I took a few minutes to read your piece on names and wanted to tell you that I enjoyed it completely. Apparently no one in my family that I've identified so far ever had nicknames that stuck. As I thought more about it I concluded that none of my close friends from high school, college, the Army or even my neighbors did either. Is that strange?

Yet my wife's family is full of them and the first that I recall hearing about was a carriage maker (actually I think he was a blacksmith) in northen PA who was called "Old Sarge" all his life for his Civil War service. His grandfather was referred to on occasion as "the Hessian" because he was born in Darmstadt and deserted his Hessian regiment in Philadelphia the same year it arrived. The son of the "blacksmith" removed to Buffalo, NY where he designed and built automobiles from about 1898 to 1904. He was occasionally called "Wheels." Finally, my father-in-law was a powerboat racer for much of his early life and he could repair almost any engine. He was sometimes called "Gearhead," although I'm not sure that was a term of endearment. Now that I think about it he was also called "Bullet" which was the name of one of his racing boats.

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RE: WHAT'S IN A NAME? http://www.dearmyrtle.com/05/0514.htm
From: Janet Wheadon Criner
DearMYRTLE,
I loved your article on nick-names! My husband, from Newton County Arkansas, then Tulsa, OK is known only as Skip, but was given the name Donny Wayne Criner. No one knows how the nick name started or why. He really IS a Skip, not a Donny. I just recently found out the REAL spelling of his name is supposed to be Donnie! After 32 years married, for Pete's sake!

His entire database is filled with nicknames and when I first submitted them to the LDS library in SLC they wanted the nicknames taken out, but I didn't because then we surely won't know who is whom! They have since changed their minds and there is a nickname line in their PAF program for nicknames or known-as. Thank Heavens! Thanks for your interesting columns. I love them and learn a lot. I am now working on Skip's line for him, as he doesn't do computers.

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MYRT's WARNING TO BACK UP
DearREADERS,
Thanks for the feedback. It's great to be back in Florida again. When I got home, my 12 month old (out of warranty) E-machine's hard drive failed (3rd one they put in it.) Fortunately I had installed a 2nd drive just for backups, and was able to get things going again with a minimum of hassle. PLEASE BACK UP EVERYTHING important. You never know...

Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
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