Tip: Find your relative's parents using the new Social Security Applications and Claims index

Social Security Application Form

Ancestry.com has just made a fantastic new data collection available for the first time, and people in the genealogy world are going crazy for it. Mad crazy insane. This is big news, and there are many stories about people finally being able to break through those frustrating brick walls that they've had in front of them for years. The source of their collective delight is the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, and it is well worth your time to investigate it as a source of new information.

The collection has data from over 49 million people and often lists the applicant's father's name and the mother's maiden name! If you haven't had much luck finding or confirming a relative's parents, now is your chance.

It is also a good quality source for date and place of birth as most people are less likely to lie about their age on an official government form. They still might fudge, but it's a good solid clue -- and that's what being a cousin detective is all about: clues.

Now that you know about this great new source, try not to be too offhand and smug when you casually drop the inevitable, "have your tried searching Ancestry's Social Security Applications and Claims index?" Just smile graciously when their second great grandparent's names appear on the screen as if they were common knowledge.

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