Shirley:

Here are some things you can do.

(1) It was only a few years later that people began applying for 
Social Security numbers. She may or may not be hiding in the Social 
Security Death Index (SSDI) <http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com>. 
However, if you can write up a letter to Social Security (following 
the SS-5 letter example on any deceased person in the SSDI) and if 
you are willing to risk losing the $29 when they can't find her, you 
may be able to find out more about her. She was of the right age to 
be applying for a Social Security number in the 1930s or 1940s. This 
application could have been made in Virginia or another state.

In the letter you write to Social Security, list what you know about 
Ruth and where you found it. Do not give extraneous details. Estimate 
her birth year as 1894-5 or 1899-1900. It is most likely 1894 or 
1899, unless she was born in January 1895 or January 1900. Specify 
that Mansfield was probably her maiden name. Give her place of 
residence as probably Hoadly, Prince William Co., Virginia, as of January 1933.

Some of the great pieces of information usually on the application 
are the applicant's maiden name and the names of her parents, 
including her mother's maiden name. Such items are much more apt to 
be accurate than say the ones listed on Ruth's death certificate.

If you should hit it lucky, you could then go ahead and order her 
complete Social Security file, which could provide you with possible 
name changes and other information.

Since she would be over 110 years old now, there should not be a 
problem getting a copy of her Social Security application. However, 
several years ago I was required to fax Social Security a copy of a 
death certificate on someone born in 1894 before they would send me a 
copy of his Social Security application.

(2) Ask the school district that includes Hoadly where their school 
archives are kept, then request the Hoadly school census records for 
the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s. If you are lucky, the records exist, and 
your older siblings will be listed.

(3) It may be worth tracking down high school annuals, but they were 
not necessarily published for all years, particularly during the 
Depression and WWII. Ask the school district or the local historical 
society.for that area if any exist. Some genealogists also have 
collections of thousands of annuals.

(4) Obtain the newspaper on microfilm that covered Hoadly news, 
especially one that had a gossip column. Arrange interlibrary loan of 
the microfilm through your local public library. According to 
Wikipedia this is an unincorporated community in Prince William Co. 
One of the newspapers listed here 
<http://www.allyoucanread.com/prince-william-county-newspaper-va/> or 
a weekly newspaper that is defunct but microfilmed may have an 
obituary or news article on the death of Ruth's husband. Did the 
hospital record specify that she was a widow or separated or 
divorced? The more "small town" the newspaper is the better.

(5) I would try again to get a copy of the hospital record, at least 
the face sheet. It is ridiculous to withhold it from you when the 
person would be over 110 years old. It may have Ruth's birthplace and 
parents' names. Did you try the hospital itself? If you need to, 
remind them that the deceased have no privacy rights. The hospital 
face sheet potentially includes information that would be needed for 
the death certificate if a patient should die while hospitalized.

(6) If you are able to determine her husband's name through a 
newspaper item, you could look for him in the WWI draft registration 
and WWII "old men's" draft registration on Ancestry.com. These 
provide great information, including full names and full dates of 
birth. They may also list a relative.

(7) Ruth may be her middle name.

Hope this helps.

--Ida Skarson McCormick, [log in to unmask], Seattle

At 08:16 AM 2/27/2010, Shirley Lawrence Reilly 
<[log in to unmask]>  wrote:
><snip>
>
>I am looking for information about a lady who had a baby girl in the 
>Alexandria Virginia hospital on the 27th of January 1933.  I know 
>that her name is listed as Ruth Mansfield Clark.  I know that she 
>could not keep the baby and gave her to a couple who lived in 
>Alexandria, Virginia who wanted a child.
>
>I have found that this child was never issued a birth certificate 
>and the only notation of the name the child was given was found in 
>the records at a church in Alexandria for her christening.
>
>This child was me and I was not told about this until I was 62 years 
>old.  I am now 77.  Of course the couple (Margaret and Lloyd 
>Lawrence) had both passed on by that time.  No one still living new 
>any thing more then that she brought me to the house on South Lee 
>street and a neighbor, who by the time I found out had also died, 
>took her to Hoadly Virginia which is in Prince William County.
>
>I have looked at the 1930 census and some prior, checked lots of 
>records of near by County's, talked to lots of people and have not 
>found one avenue that ends in the truth.  I have been to the 
>registrar's office in Virginia and they will not let me look at her 
>hospital record, but they finally read the information to me only 
>after a special request.  Her record says that she was 33 or 38 
>years old at the time. I was told that the 3 or 8 is very hard to 
>read. No husband was listed.
>
>If any of you who are researching the Mansfield (I think this is her 
>birth name) and/or Clark name come up with any little fact please let me know.
>
>I know that she had at least seven or eight children and could not 
>keep me. It was the depression and she did what she had to.  I bless 
>her as she but me into the hands of two very lovely people.
>
>I so very much would like to know something about her, my birth 
>father and sibling.
<snip>  

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