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Re: Delayed births



I think the boom in delayed births has little to do with WWII, and almost
everything to do with the amendments to the Social Security Act in 1939 and
the beginning of monthly payments in 1940. Why I think this is that every
reference I see to delayed births mentions that they start multiplying in
1940 -- before our involvement in the war.

As the Social Security History website states:

"The original Act provided only retirement benefits, and only to the worker.
The 1939 Amendments made a fundamental change in the Social Security
program. The Amendments added two new categories of benefits: payments to
the spouse and minor children of a retired worker (so-called dependents
benefits) and survivors benefits paid to the family in the event of the
premature death of a covered worker. This change transformed Social Security
from a retirement program for workers into a family-based economic security
program."

The 1939 Amendments also increased benefit amounts and accelerated the start
of monthly benefit payments to 1940."

(see http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html )

When SS began offering survivors' and dependents' benefits, its scope was
greatly widened, and people of a variety of ages began obtaining proof of
their birth, not merely seniors.

Looking at the first volume of Sangamon County, Illinois delayed births
(which begins in -- you guessed it -- 1940), the ages of the last 10
applicants in the book are:

40, 41, 48, 69, 41, 56, 41, 44, 47, 49.

Most of the applicants were NOT elderly.


Thomas J. Wood
Archivist
Archives/Special Collections LIB 144
University of Illinois at Springfield
P.O. Box 19243
Springfield IL 62794-9243
217-206-6520 | wood@uis.edu | http://www.uis.edu/library/lib-arch


-----Original Message-----
From: John Howard Fowler [mailto:johnhowardfowler@JUNO.COM]
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 8:08 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject:


While this seems an obvious answer, it may not be the correct one.  The fact
that 1942 & 1943 were the first years of the war seems relevant.

Anyone filing for social security in 1942 would have to have been born in
1887 or before.  When my father, born in 1911, tried to get his for a
passport in 1967, he was required to get evidence of at least one person who
knew him from birth or early infancy.  Did 400,000 seniors find persons
elder than they to attest to their Arkansas birth in 1942/43?

I wonder if Russell has numbers on the year of birth that was being claimed
by these applicants?

John Fowler

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