Social Security and Railroad Retirement – George G. Morgan

Some of the most informative U.S. resources can be records from our
ancestors’ federally-administered retirement programs’ files. These include
the Social Security and Railroad Retirement programs, which are similar yet
unique unto themselves. Unfortunately, though, there are many researchers who
either don’t understand them or don’t avail themselves of them. In “Along Those
Lines . . .” this week, let’s explore these two programs a bit and discuss how
you can access information from each program’s administrators.

The Background of U.S. Retirement Programs
The Great Depression in the United States was devastating to millions of
people. The poverty, homelessness, disability, and suffering of persons who
were either unable to find work or physically infirm and could not work was
dreadful. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration saw the human suffering
among the elderly as particularly terrible, and resolved to improve the conditions
of this group of persons for the future. Before this time, only veterans were
awarded federal old age pensions. However, in a departure from the typical American
practice of individuals providing their own financial support, the FDR administration
introduced the idea of old age pension benefits. The Social Security Act of
1935 established an old age insurance system into which working individuals
contributed a part of their salary as an investment toward their retirement
years. Employers also contribute to an individual’s Social Security fund, and
the government contributes and administers the funds.

While the Social Security system was in the planning and formative stages,
the nation’s railroad workers and their unions sought a separate retirement
and unemployment security system for themselves. While Social Security would
not begin for several years and would not give credit for any service prior
to 1937, the railroad employees wanted both credit for prior service and unemployment
compensation programs. Legislation was enacted in 1934, 1935, and 1937 to establish
a railroad retirement system separate from the Social Security Act of 1935.
Under Railroad Retirement provisions, service was credited back to 1936 and
rail workers received a somewhat higher benefit than they would have under Social
Security. Additional legislation passed in 1974 restructured railroad retirement
benefits into two tiers to coordinate them more fully with social security benefits.
The first tier is based on combined railroad retirement and social security
credits, using social security benefit formulas. The second tier is based on
railroad service only and is comparable to the pensions paid over and above
social security benefits in other heavy industries. A person who worked in both
the railroad industry and in another sector during his or her working career
would collect retirement benefits from both Social Security and Railroad Retirement.
This is an important fact to keep in mind as we explore the numbering system.

In order to participate in Social Security or Railroad Retirement, people completed
an application form known as an SS-5. It is this application form that contains
informational gems for which you may have been searching. In later years, persons
who were of retirement age who never worked or paid into Social Security applied
for Medicare or Medicaid benefits also completed an SS-5 form. A Social Security
number was then assigned to the individual and labeled as a Medicare or Medicaid
card.

What the Numbers Mean
You may have looked at your Social Security or Railroad Retirement number and
wondered what it means. Here’s a look at what the three sets of number represent:

First Three Digits: The first three digits of your number indicate where,
why, or how it was issued. They may represent the U.S. state in which the applicant
applied for and was awarded his or her number. In North Carolina, the numbers
range between 237 and 246; in Oregon, they range between 540 and 544. Additional
numbers were assigned for other areas. These include those beginning with 574SE
and 586SE, which were assigned to Asian refugees applying for Social Security
numbers between April 1975 and November 1979. The number 586 is used for American
Samoa, Guam, and the Philippine Islands. The range of 900-999 is not valid but
has been used for some special state purposes in the past.

The number range 700-728 was reserved for use by the Railroad Retirement Board,
and these were used through 1963 for the assignment of new numbers, and then
discontinued. This is an important designation. If you know your ancestor had
a number beginning with any number between 700 and 728, he or she did work for
the railroad at some extended point in time. If he or she drew Social Security
retirement benefits, and the number was in this range, he or she also would
have drawn Railroad Retirement benefits as well, assuming he or she applied
for benefits.

You can find a complete list of Social Security number ranges in the book, The
Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy.

Second Two Digits: The second cluster of numbers, two digits in length,
are a code to help identify fraudulent numbers. These are much like check-sums
or check-digits used on many items today. An arithmetic formula is applied to
add, subtract, multiple, and/or divide the first group of numbers and one of
the digits from the resulting answer is used to verify that the number was keyed
correctly or was accurate. (Incorrect check digits in some of these on grocery
store products are the most common cause for cash register errors and cashiers
to have to do price checks, for example.)

Last Four Digits: The last group of numbers is four digits in length. These
numbers are assigned randomly. Contrary to some myths, there is no connection
between one’s birth date or other data and the last four digits of one’s Social
Security Number.

Social Security Numbers are unique. They are not reused. They apply to the name
and history of one individual and his or her employment earnings and benefit
amounts.

What Do I Find the Number For My Ancestor?
Because each number is unique, it is an important link to one exact individual’s
information. If you have the card that belonged to your parent or ancestor with
the number printed on it, that’s great. However, these do sometimes get lost.
There are other places you might locate a card. These include military records,
on some voter registration cards, death certificates, divorce papers, income
tax returns, credit reports, insurance papers, medical and/or hospitalization
records, school records, and others. Use your imagination and consider all the
possible alternative places where a Social Security number may have been listed
or required.

If you cannot locate a document for your ancestor’s number, you can
always try the massive Social Security Death Index (SSDI). You can use this great tool to locate the name of your
ancestor and his/her number, and to generate a letter to the SSA for a copy
of the SS-5, the application for a Social Security number. You can also use
the SSDI to locate death certificates and other records for ‘lost’ relatives
by checking the names and birth dates, and then determining where the last benefit
was paid. (Then contact the county courthouse in that area.) A person may NOT
be in the SSDI if he or she a) never paid into Social Security, b) never collected
a benefit, c) their death was never reported to the Social Security Administration
(SSA), or d) they were only participants in Railroad Retirement (which is the
same effect as points a and b above).

How to Obtain Copies of Records
Now that you know all about the numbers, how do you locate and obtain copies
of the records? Well, the most common record you might want to obtain is the
SS-5 application form. Here you may find parents’ names, place and date of birth,
and other information. Social Security just raised their rates effective 1 July
2001 for these to $27 where you can provide the number and $29 where you can
only provide the person’s name, date, and place of birth, and any other information
other than the number to help them locate the record. You can generate a letter
for this purpose from Ancestry.com’s SSDI database, too.

If you are seeking a copy of the application from the Railroad Retirement
Board (RRB), you must also do so by mail. Visit their Web site, and particularly read the information at www.rrb.gov/geneal.html
regarding genealogical inquiries. The RRB, effective 1 October 2000 also raised
their rates to search for any record to $21, regardless of whether you know
the number or not. In addition, the RRB has the reputation of being very protective
of its records. Be prepared to provide ample written proof that you are a direct
descendant or immediate family member in order to obtain records. You might
also provide a copy of the death certificate for a deceased relative or a letter
or permission from a living relative to release a copy of his or her record
to you.

And What If They Tell You Your Ancestor Isn’t Dead?
A few years ago, I requested the SS-5 for my Grandmother Morgan, who applied
in 1963 for a Social Security number for Medicare. She was born in 1873, which
meant she was 90 at the time. I received a letter from the SSA advising me that
they could not release the SS-5 copy because the individual was still living.
They gave me sixty days to appeal the decision. I knew that my grandmother was
not living, having died in 1966. Had she been alive, she would have been almost
125 years old. I mailed a photocopy of her death certificate and, within a week,
I had the copy of the SS-5 and a very nice letter of apology from the SSA. Ordinarily,
responses take 6-12 weeks to process.

The point of this column is to encourage you to learn more about the Social
Security and Railroad Retirement systems and the records they may provide for
you. Keep looking for the SS-5s, but don’t forget the SSDI and other resources
to help you locate your ‘lost’ relatives.

Happy Hunting!
George