Railroad parts. Baldwin Locomotive Works. Blacksmith and helper forging and hammering tools, March 1937. National Archives and Records Administration. Flickr the Commons.

Each  individual  researcher’s  quest  to  understand  their  ancestor’s  “life’s work”  will  have  its  own  twists  and  turns. There  is not  one  record  or  one repository  that  will  give  you  all  the  answers. Before you begin your  research using a specific record, have a general idea what might be found in that record.

For  example:  If  you  are  working  in  county  land  records  what  type  of information  would  you  expect  to  find  about  a  person’s  occupation? Here are just a few examples:

• their stated occupation (i.e: blacksmith, yeoman, trader, etc).
• location   of   where   they   practiced   this   occupation   (where  they purchased or rented their land).
• location  of  where  they  last  practiced  their  occupation  (statement  of  a location other than the current county of residence).
• any partnerships or corporations.
• where they learned their trade.
• where they might have acquired their tools.
• any business difficulties, bankruptcy, sheriff sales, etc.
• did  they  buy  and  sell  land  repeatedly,  possibly  as  a  means  of  an income (land speculator).

A land record has more to tell than the description of the land, and names of   the  grantee/grantor. You  must  evaluate it  with  a critical eye.

Repositories  are  numerous  and  the following  is  a  short list  of  repositories that you should  be using:

• Family History Library and the local Family History Center
• Genealogy Libraries (Allen County Public Library; Midwest Genealogy Center; Sutro Library; DAR Library;  Clayton Library)
• Local library and the interlibrary loan system
• National Archives and its regional branches
• Library of Congress
• State Libraries and Archives
• County Courthouses
• University Libraries
• Internet (not as a repository but for the vast amount of social histories and access to public and university library catalogs).

And where are you going to find an occupation listed in these repositories?Just  about  anywhere.  The   following   is   a   list   of   record   types   that   may   be found   in   these repositories:

• census records
• vital records
• land records
• military records
• pension records
• naturalization records
• directories
• local histories
• biographical sketches
• church records
• company records
• social histories
• correspondence
• images

At  each  repository,  reference  book,  website  or  record  the  researcher  will often be directed to another repository, reference book, website or record, that  can  offer  more  and  different  information.  The clues,  if  not  stated directly,  are  often  found  in  the  footnotes  and  bibliographical  sections. These new sources can lead you deeper and deeper into a subject. As in all aspects  of  genealogical  research  it  is  important  not  to  overlook  a  clue, resource or opportunity for more information.

To learn more about researching occupations in the United States, please consult our course, US: Occupational Records.

Barclay Railroad, Locomotive 2 with Tender and Cars. SMU Central University Library. Flickr the Commons. https://flic.kr/p/jXucRF

Spending this Labor Day holiday weekend researching your family tree? Good! Consider learning more about  the occupations of your ancestors. For many, railroad jobs figure prominently in their  family’s story. Here’s a few tips for researching railroad employees from our course US: Occupational Records.

The development of the railroad system in the United States opened up new frontiers. It employed people in all aspects from surveying and construction to the porter, conductor and engineer. Some of these individuals worked directly for a specific rail line while others worked for companies that contracted with the rail lines.

The first place to begin research for a railroad employee that was employed after 1937 is the Railroad Retirement Board.

The Railroad Retirement Board was formed in the mid-1930s, under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1935  and began maintaining records in 1936. Until 1964, Railroad workers received a special Social Security number, numbers starting with 700 to 728, and a separate pension plan. The Board’s primary function is the administration and payment of railroad pension funds.

The Railroad Retirement Board maintains a genealogy web page with helpful information for researching railroad employees. They will perform a search of their records for a fee. For more information about what is available and how to request a search, see their website. Please note: the Railroad Retirement Act did not include street, interurban, or suburban electric railways.

If your family member worked for a railroad before 1936 the Board does not have those records. To locate a record before the inception of the Railroad Retirement Board you will need to know the name of the rail line and the current company name. This is necessary before the researcher can access the proper archived records. To find archival collections, use the online catalog ArchiveGrid.

The mobility of these employees makes placing the individual in a time and place more difficult. Railroad employees moved with the work. In addition, the records might indicate that they were changing companies, when in reality there was a company name change or merger.

There are several tools that will assist the researcher in locating rail lines that employed a specific individual before 1937.

First, you can search  directories of railroad employees. The directories, such as the Biographical Directory of Railway Officials of America  that was issued between 1885 and 1922, gave a listing of mid to senior employees in the railroad industry. This was followed by  Who’s Who in Railroading. These books include short biographical sketches.

Second, determine what rail lines were active in the area that the individual lived. This is easily done with the use of maps. Because of the continuous growth changes in the rail lines it is important that the map you use is of the same time period that you are researching. Many of these maps are available online, including a  large collection from the Library of Congress  based on Railroad Maps of the United States: A Selective Annotated Bibliography of Original  19th-century  Maps in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress.

Lastly,  search US Federal Census records which may list the person’s occupation  as “railroad” or possibly something more specific like, conductor . In  later years, the name of the railroad company may also appear in the occupation columns.