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How to Use Old Railroad Records to Research Your Ancestors

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Did your ancestor work for the railroad? If so, they may have a file with the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board.  

Why does this matter for your genealogy? The railroad pension files have genealogical details on spouses, children, parents, and more. Getting a copy may help you find a nugget of info that you can't find anywhere else. I once had trouble tracking down a marriage date but found it on a railroad pension application.

What are U.S. Railroad Retirement Board records? 

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board began in the mid-1930s to give retirement benefits to longtime railroad workers. The program boosted what employees received from the railroad companies' pension plans.

Although it started as a pension program, unemployment, sickness, disability, survivor, and spousal benefits were added over the years. The Railroad Retirement Board still exists today. 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board records are now at the National Archives. The records only exist for people who worked for the railroad after 1936 and for at least several years. If your ancestor worked for the railroad for a short time, they probably won’t have a file.  

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What can you find in Railroad Retirement Board records? 

A lot of what’s in the files is about benefits and claims, but there’s genealogy gold in them also! 

What might you find in your ancestor’s records?

  • Birth info

  • Parents’ names and where they were born

  • Marriage info, including former and deceased spouses

  • Death certificates

  • Funeral home records

  • Any children and where they lived

  • Their address

  • Military service info

  • Employment info – for the railroad and other employers

  • Affidavits to prove relationships

How to find if your ancestor has a Railroad Retirement Board record

There’s a couple of methods to see if your family member has a railroad pension record. 

Ancestry has an index of people with pension files from 1934-1987.

Or, you can write to the National Archives and they’ll look it up. It usually takes a couple of weeks to hear back.  

Other resources

There’s also railroad historical societies! There are societies for both the different railroad companies and general interest societies. Some, like the Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society, have archives, too.


Do you need help researching your ancestors?