Frank A. Todd Social Security Application for Account Number (SS5) Transcribed by Alex J. Conrad from photocopy of original
Employee’s Name: Frank Alexander Todd Business: Baldwin-Southwark Corp., Paschall Station, Philadelphia, Pa. Age at last birthday: 43 Date of Birth: April 16, 1893 Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pa. Father’s Full Name: John Alexander Todd Mother’s Full Maiden Name: Olivia Rush Moore Sex: Male Color: White Date signed: December 3, 1936
Citation for this post:
Conrad, Alex J. “Frank A. Todd – SS5†Alex’s Family History Blog (17 April 2013). http://www.ctgcgenealogy.com/frank-a-todd-ss5/ .
Original Source Citation:
Frank Alexander Todd, 166-07-6022, 3 December 1936, Application for Account Numbers (Form SS-5), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.
My great-uncle, Frank Alexander Todd, was born 120 years ago this week in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was my grandmother Susan L. Todd’s oldest sibling. Even though according to the Social Security Death index he passed away in 1981, I don’t remember him. My grandmother came from a large family and there were 11 years between her and her brother. He was born April 16, 1893.
I have two pieces of evidence for his birth. The first is his application for a social security number. The second is his World War I Draft Card. According to the draft card he was a machinist, an occupation he shared with his father, John Alexander Todd.
I have not found him in the Philadelphia Births 1860-1906 index on FamilySearch. In fact, I have found very few of the Todds there.
This is the first in a series about my preparations for the release of the 1940 census on April 2, 2012.
With no index available at release date, the 1940 census presents some challenges for the genealogist. My great-grandparents, the Todds, will hopefully be the easiest of my ancestors to find. I have an exact street address for them and there is a high likelihood that they were living at that address in 1940.
1930 census
John A. and Olivia R. Todd were living at 2075 E Tioga street in Philadelphia in 1930 according to the census of that year. They were also living there in 1920.
1942 draft registration
In 1942, John A. Todd, Jr. lists his mother as the “person who will always know your address” on his draft registration card for World War II. She is still at 2075 E. Tioga street.
With an exact address, how do I narrow down my search to one or two enumeration districts for the 1940 census?
Steve Morse has a tool for Obtaining EDs for the 1940 census in one step (Large Cities). Â First, I select the state, city and street. That leads to over 40 enumeration districts. I must add cross streets to narrow it down, but I am not that familiar with Philadelphia, so I head over to google maps:
I add Frankford and Amber and narrow it down to two enumeration districts: 51-1881 and 51-1884. If I add Atlantic, only one enumeration district is returned: 51-1884. I’ve decided to start with that one and if I can’t find them I’ll search for them in the other as well. Further research on their children revealed their eldest, Frank A. Todd, should be in ED 51-1881 so I will be searching that one anyway.
With an exact address and a helpful tool on the internet I was able to narrow my search from a city as large as Philadelphia to a single enumeration district. My other ancestors won’t be as easy and I will detail my preparations for a few of those in later posts.
