User:RaymondRS/Sandbox

Suggested information to add to the FamilySearch NUMIDENT collection wiki article:

This record collection is taken from a National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) database titled "Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), created, 1936 - 2007." The NARA database consists of three different record entries:


 * 72,182,729 application record entries
 * 25,230,486 claim record entries
 * 49,459,293 death record entries

A person often has multiple entries in the NARA database. Utilizing the social security number, FamilySearch merged multiple entries into one, resulting in 63,700,494 records. The name note specifies, for each of the combined entries, the entry type, the name as it appears in that entry, and the date. While the date for death and claim entries specifies the death or claim date, respectively, dates for applications specify when the entry was added to the NUMIDENT database. Take for example, this name note:


 * Name and form dates: Application: DOROTHY ADELE CLAYTON (Aug 1949), Application: DOROTHY CLAYTON RAYMOND (Nov 1955), Application: DOROTHY ADELE CLAYTON (15 Aug 1990), Death: DOROTHY A CLAYTON (29 Feb 2004)

The note indicates the record on FamilySearch is a combination of these four entries from NARA:

All forms of the name can be found when searching.

After finding a record of interest, consult the records in the NARA database for further information. While the FamilySearch record collection is easier to search, the NARA database contains additional information. Take the Dorothy Adele Clayton record as an example. The 1949 record specifies parents' names as Anthony Jackson and Margaret Burgese, but the 1990 record specifies Anton Yukunsky and Margaret Pachesa. The latter values are not found in the FamilySearch record. The 1990 record states that Dorothy was also known as Dorothy Yukunsky. All the NARA records specify the social security number.

Once one record is found on the NARA website, use the social security number to find the other records.

The NARA database limits the length of some fields. If NARA truncated a field, FamilySearch indicates that with an asterisk (*). Examples:


 * The record for Ethel Christine Pappageorgeackoupoulos (1917-1987) specifies "Pappageorgeackoupoul*" as her lastname.
 * The record for Dayson Thomas Child (1993-2003) specifies "Washington T*, Utah, United States" as his birthplace. The actual value might have been Washington Terrace.

For technical information about NUMIDENT, consult the nine technical documents documenting the NARA database and the SSA Program Data User’s Manual by Constantijn Panis, et. al.