Ancestry Magazine

All aboard. . .There is a certain sense of romance and adventure that comes from riding a train. Just hearing the sound of a steam locomotive’s whistle or a diesel engine’s horn in the distance evokes a kind of excitement.For many of us, trains have even more meaning. We may have ancestors who actually worked on the railroads or who migrated by train in the 1800s and 1900s. Because of this we want to learn more about this exciting transportation development and how it impacted our ancestors’ lives.In the United States, the first railroads were chartered in the mid-1820s. Blood, sweat, and tears accounts of the first transcontinental railroad construction and the driving of the golden spike joining the eastern and western legs capture our imagination.But railroad companies and specialty rail freight haulers contributed more than just a sense of allure to the landscape: they also contributed to the westward expansion of the country and the migration of individuals and families. They opened up vast markets for the shipping of livestock and other products. In addition, telegraph lines paralleled the rails, and trains carried mail and freight throughout the country. Without railroads, it is doubtful that the United States could ever have expanded and become the world power that it is today.If you have ancestors who worked for any of the railroads, you probably have a great interest in locating more information about them and their work. It takes time, perseverance, and a healthy sense of research adventure to track down information about your railroad-working ancestors. But it can be done.

Early Railroad Records
Tracing the records of your ancestors’ railroad employment means doing some double genealogy research. The earlier your ancestor lived, the more research you will need to do. You need to identify your ancestor’s location in time, but you will also have to conduct research about the specific railroad. Railroads and their branches were built and operated, and then acquired by other railroad, transportation, or shipping companies. Your job is to trace the history of that railroad.Sorting through a railroad’s history means conducting a detailed investigation of the railroad’s various owner(s) over an extended time period. Fortunately, there are some important resources that can help.Libraries are an excellent starting point. Local public libraries have books, periodicals, and even original records of railroads that operated in and traveled through their areas. State libraries and archives usually have substantial information about the history of transportation in their state, particularly about railroads. Many such collections contain original records that include advertising materials, photographs and videos, train timetables/schedules, route maps, meal menus, tickets, and even railroad employee’s uniforms, hats, insignia, and tools. Don’t overlook the collections of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Library of Congress. Both collections contain significant railroad-related information, as well as some visual and audio resources. Libraries and archives can be easily located at www.libraryspot.com.One book of particular interest and help to railroad research is The Directory of North American Railroads, Associations, Societies, Archives, Museums and Their Collections, compiled by Holly T. Hansen (1999). Here you will find a listing of more than 1,600 railroads and other entities, complete with addresses, conta ct information, and the locations of any known, surviving records. Cross-references to other listings in this book make the compilation easy to use. And while the book doesn’t contain listings for every railroad and branch line, the references to museums and societies of railroad aficionados is very useful.Don’t overlook research on the Internet. Many websites focus on railroads. The following are some of the best sites for railroad research:

• A timeline of important milestones in English and American railroads can be found at www.sdrm.org/history/timeline. It will provide you with a sense of the developments from the early 1800s to 1986.
• The Virginia Tech Imagebase and its Manuscript Collection are filled with railroad materials. At the Imagebase site at http://imagebase.lib.vt.edu/, you will find more than 200 categorized folios containing thousands of historic photographic images. Trains, maps, timetables, advertisements, stations, railway yards and switches, turntables, and even photographs of individuals and groups of railroad employees can be found here. The largest folios of online images are of the Norfolk and Western but there are also others on the site.
• The manuscript collections of Virginia Tech are particularly noteworthy, especially the Manuscript Sources for Railroad History, located at http://spec.lib.vt.edu/railroad/rrintro.htm.
• The American Memory Collections at the Library of Congress website includes a compilation called “Railroad Maps: 1828–1900.” Included are 623 railroad maps of the United States as compiled in 1975 by Andrew M. Modelski. The collection is searchable by keyword, geographic location, creator of the map, title index, and railroad lines. These historical maps can help you identify the names and locations of railroad lines at specific times. Remember, too, that all of the maps reside in the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division in Washington, D.C. Reproductions of the digitized maps can be ordered for a fee for your personal reference.
• Performing a search for “railroad” in the Family History Library Catalog www.familysearch.org will also present you with a number of railroad-related documents and images including maps and other historical information.

Also check the “Railroads in the United States since 1826” database, created by M. C. Hallberg and available at www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/m/c/mch/railroad/, which can be helpful in determining the acquisitions and/or mergers of the different companies. The database is DOS-based and will run with Windows. To access it, set up a separate directory called “Railroad” on your computer’s hard drive, then go to the website and download the four files there. Save or move them to the Railroad folder. The “Railroad.exe” file is the actual database program that will allow you to search for railroads by name. The “Railroad.doc” file is a Microsoft Word document that contains a great deal of historical information, a railroad timeline, and a bibliography of additional reading and reference sources.“W&H Main Yards: The Family Tree of North American Railroads” site, created by Christopher Coleman, presents a graphic representation of the mergers of a number of major railroads in the United States by region, in a family tree format. The “Railroad Document Archive” at also contains a wealth of detailed information about railroad-related topics—including a compendium of railroad songs and railroad jokes.Use the information you already know about your ancestor’s employment with a railroad, as well as the dates and locations. Be creative with your Internet searches to help you locate more details and to make contact with associations and clubs that share an enthusiasm with railroad history. You may stumble upon the one person who can help you find just the employment records and other materials you’re looking for.You may also find more information in railroad publications. Stockholder reports may provide details about operations. Employee newsletters and trade union publications are a great source for information about employees and may include information on your ancestor. Awards, service anniversaries, promotions, and obituaries are not uncommon content in these periodicals.Twentieth-century Railroad Records
The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) can help you locate information about deceased people who collected Social Security benefits. But if your ancestor worked for the railroad, you can find specific information about these individuals through the Railroad Retirement Board. At about the same time as The Social Security Act of 1935 established the U.S. Social Security system, the Railroad Retirement Act was also passed by Congress. It made provisions to maintain a similar but separate program for employees of the nation’s railroads. A separate block of beginning numbers (700–728) was set aside for assignment to these employees. The Railroad Retirement Board therefore, is the administrator of a federal retirement program covering the nation’s railroad workers who were employed by the railroads from 1937 on.The Railroad Retirement Board will release information on deceased persons for genealogical research; however, it will not release any information for living individuals without that person’s written consent. Additionally, files for railroad employees are found only at the headquarters of the Railroad Retirement Board. Among the records that may be included for an employee are:

• Application for participation in Railroad Retirement
• Statement(s) of railroad service
• Application for employee annuity
• Description and certification of eligibility
• Record of service for which no records are available
• Designation of beneficiary form and subsequent update forms
• Certificate of termination of service
• Death certificate of employee
• Notice of Death and Stat ement of Benefits or Compensation

In the late 1960s, the Railroad Retirement Board approved a policy allowing for the destruction of records thirty years after the last payment was made to the claimant or to the last beneficiary. This policy was made in accordance with the federal records retention schedule policy and was not a decision made arbitrarily by the Railroad Retirement Board. Family historians objected strenuously and the policy was put on hold. Some records were destroyed, however, and no microfilming of records was ever undertaken prior to destruction. Also, since 2001, availability of some Railroad Retirement records may have become limited. Therefore, it is important to be able to submit with your request some form or proof of your direct kinship with the person whose records you are requesting.The Railroad Retirement Board will perform searches for employee records for genealogical purposes. You will be charged a nonrefundable fee ($27 per record at press time), payable in advance. Contact the Railroad Retirement Board to find out further information about the current rate:U.S. Railroad Retirement Board
Office of Public Affairs
844 N. Rush Street
Chicago, IL 60611-2092Since records are kept by the employee’s unique number, this is the best way to request information. You may find the Social Security or Railroad Retirement number on the person’s death certificate or in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). In order for the Railroad Retirement Board to perform its search, provide the Railroad Retirement number (the one beginning with 700 to 726) and the p erson’s full name. In some cases, it may be possible to locate records using only the full name, address, and birth and death dates of the person, but it is usually not possible to locate records for people with relatively common surnames unless a number is included.You may learn more about your ancestor and his or her employment history through this route than you might otherwise have been able to ferret out on your own. Remember that railroad records are scattered throughout various archives and repositories, and that many have been lost or destroyed. In these cases, the Railroad Retirement Board’s records may be the only viable place to gather information about your railroader.For more information about the Railroad Retirement Board, visit www.rrb.gov. You will find a special link on the main screen labeled “Genealogical Inquiries” that will provide details about the office. In addition, there is a link to “Genealogical Research Before 1936” at www.rrb.gov/geneal2.html that will give you a partial list of depositories with railroad records. It’s not complete, but it’s a good resource.It’s Not Impossible
Railroad research provides a fascinating glimpse into our country’s history and can yield important clues to an ancestor’s livelihood. While it takes additional effort to track down the employee records for a railroad employee, the information found in the multiple types of records in an employee’s files may open new genealogical research doors and put you on the fast track to success.

George G. Morgan is the president of Aha! Seminars, Inc., in Tampa whose company focuses on continuing education for both library personnel and genealogists. He also is president of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors, a director for the Genealogical Speakers Guild, a director for the Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa), and a member of both the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Society of Genealogists (UK).

In 1830, there were twenty-three miles of railroad track in the United States. By 1916, the track system reached 250,000 miles.Over 90 percent of the Central Pacific railroad workers were Chinese immigrants during the building of the Transcontinental Ra ilroad. Irish immigrants and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also played a large role in connecting east to west.