Saturday, March 25, 2000
I got the other three SS-5s I ordered from Social Security today (Friday). That was fast. They must bundle all the requests up and do them at a single time. Funny thing is all three forms raise as many questions as they answer.
First up is Aunt Zina. I now know her first husband’s last name, and probably his first initial, too, because she applied, aged 18, as Zina Brandi Hockensmith, and signed as "Mrs A C (or E) Hockensmith". She’s supposed to have the same mother as Grandpa, but her mother is listed as "Anne Davis". That’s curious, because I thought Grandpa’s mother’s name was Antonia Wisniewski, and Aunt Betty’s comment at his funeral that she told him that there was no shame in being half Polish would confirm that. There’s also a little comment after her name in parentheses that says "(dec)", which I assume stands for "deceased". So is Anne Davis Great-Grandpa’s second wife? What’s going on here? Also, she lists her father’s name as Ralph Albert Brandi. But then Grandpa wouldn’t be a Junior, would he? She applied on December 4, 1936, and was working at R. L. Polk & Co., living at 1571 Lillibridge in Detroit.
Second is Aunt Yola. I finally have the spelling of the unspellable name of her first husband: Guetschoff. She was living at 1535 Lycaste in Detroit and working for Zenith Cleaners on Harper. She also gives her father’s name as Ralph Albert Brandi. She gives her mother’s name as Antonina Wisniewski, which is roughly the name I have for Grandpa’s mother. But she was born in 1910; Zina was born in 1918 to Anne Davis, and Grandpa was born in 1919 to Antonia Wisniewski. After thinking about it, I guess that it’s possible that Aunt Yola still thought that she had the same mother as Grandpa when she filled out the form, but found out afterward that she had a different mother. I don’t know. And I’m not sure I’ll be able to get her birth certificate to find out, since I’m not directly descended from her. She applied for her number on July 20, 1938, a year and a half after Social Security began, so it would appear that maybe she wasn’t working before then. She was 28 at the time.
The third SS-5 was for Grandpa (Vincent) Sobol, who I understand to be my Grandma Horbal’s uncle. Now I’m not so sure what their relationship was. When I talked to Grandma in 1996, she said that her mother Mary’s father was Frank Sobol, and that Mary was Vincent’s brother, I think. But on his SS-5, Sobol says his father’s name was Bartolommeo Sobol. That doesn’t seem much like "Frank". But Grandma also mentioned a Barko somewhere in there, although the connection isn’t really clear. If his father’s birth was registered in the Catholic church, presumably it would be in Latin, and Bartolommeo seems like it might be the Latin for the Ukrainian Barko. Or maybe not. This could clearly use more investigation. Sobol gives his mother’s name as Catherine Mikus, and his birthplace as Poland. I wish they would give a little better indication of where in Poland, although I would expect that Sobol was born somewhere near the same place Grandma was. Sobol applied for his number on November 30, 1936 at the same Chrysler plant where Great-Grandpa Horbal submitted his, which makes sense given that they were friends who met at work. His address at this time was 1955 Carpenter Ave. in Detroit.
I scanned these forms too:
- Yolanda Marie (Brandi) Guetschoff (McGuire) (great aunt)
- Vincenzina (Brandi) Hockensmith (Kleinstein) (great aunt)
- Vincent Sobol (great great uncle, maybe, or something similar)
Posted at 1:23:11 AM
