A few months ago I received an email newsletter from Ancestry.com that discussed their record tool bar.  At the bottom, there was a link for requesting the original documents associated with a record.  The reason you would want to do this is that the originals often have information that is not recorded online.   Armed with this new information I went straight to the person in my family tree that I knew I wanted to try this out with first.  My great-grandfather Kirilo Cipko (aka. Mike Cipko aka. Mike Matulis) has been a huge brick wall that I have not been able to break through for as long as I have been doing family research.  With all his different aliases and his immigration from Russia, I had a problem finding information about his parents.  I did, however have many records for Kirilo saved to my tree.  I knew which one I wanted to look up.  He had a Social Security number and I found that there was an original application (SS-5) that I could send away for.  Using the toolbar to the left of the record, I clicked on “Request Copy of Original Application” and generated a letter to send to the Social Security Administration.  I mailed it off with the $27.00 fee they charge and crossed my fingers.  I was not sure what kind of information, if any, I would get back.

My great-grandfather is listed as Kirilo Cipko on the SSDI.  I knew that he also went by the name Mike…but was still shocked when I got my results back.  About six weeks after I mailed off my request, I found a letter from the Social Security Administration in my mailbox.  It had been so long, I forgot all about it and wondered what they could be sending me.  I was sent a form letter notifying me that under the Freedom of Information Act, I was entitled to a copy of the original application for a Social Security number for the individual, as requested.  Yes!!  Along with the letter was a very good photocopy of the application, signed by my ancestor.   The crazy thing is that he filled out and signed the application Mike Cipke.  And I almost cried when I saw that I now had the names of his parents – Nick and Anna Cypke.  Here it is in all its glory: