Thinking Out Loud, Gathering my Thoughts

Today I decided to try to organize my thoughts, via the blog, by answering a few of my geneafrineds questions from this past Thursday's Trying to Build a Case.

This post will try to answer questions posed by geneafriend Michael Hait.

• Do you have death certificates and SS applications for your grandmother and ALL of her siblings?

Here is the breakdown of information for grandmom and her siblings. Grandmom and 2 of her sisters didn't work.
Grandmom's death cert - granddad was informant. Fannie's surname, Henry, is listed there, which matches what mom says grandmom told her and what I've been told all these years.
Grandmom's youngest sister, Ossie, no. The informants for her death certificate would have been one of her children. From this branch of the family is how I learned of the White surname for Fannie. Had never heard it prior to this year.
Grandmom's older half sister Mattie, no death cert. She died right on the cusp of Georgia beginning to keep death records. Have not been able to locate a death cert. for her. However, due to there also being some confusion about Mattie's surname, yesterday, I ordered the SS application of her daughter Sallie to see what it has for Mattie's surname. Should say that I'm not sure that Mattie is great grandmom Fannie's child but based on the census records, unaccounted for children, I believe that Mattie is ggrandmom's child. My grandmother didn't pass on which parent Mattie belonged to just that Matt was the oldest and a 1/2 sibling. Mattie is the sibling that none of the rest of the branches of the tree seem to know about.
Roy, grandmom's youngest brother - only the SS app, which was in previous post and indicates Fannie's surname as White. Did not obtain his death cert.
Evelina, grandmom's oldest full blooded sibling, death cert - informant her husband, indicates White. It was Evelina's death cert. that made me finally start paying attention to the White surname.
Effie, has been ordered and waiting on it's arrival. The informant will probably be her husband.
Brothers Claude and Willie Felton - don't know what happened to either one. Nobody in the family even knows of Claude. Mom remembers Felton visiting grandmom when mom was young and remembers seeing pics of him in WWI uniform. Outside of that nothing. Have tried checking online military records for him and come up empty.

• For death certificates, investigate the informants of each one. Who were they? Did any of them provide info on more than one of the certificates? Did any of the informants have first-hand knowledge?

The ggrandparents were already dead when her children started dying. Of the death certs obtained, all of the informants were the spouses, who were from the same area as their mates. For aunt Ossie, her husband was already deceased when she died so, more than likely, one of her children would have been the informant. For Roy, the informant more than likely was his wife. They had no children and she was still living at the time. Also, Aunt Ossie would have still be living when Roy died.

• Also, have you obtained SS apps for anyone not listed in the SSDI? SS numbers also appear on many death certificates and some military service files

Grandmom didn't work and was buried under granddad's SS benefits (granddad's SSN is what appears on grandmom's death cert). 2 of her sisters died before there was a SS system plus they didn't work. Sister Effie didn't work. Uncle Felton might have been in WWI but I haven't been able to locate any military records on him. Are there other places I should be trying to find WWI records?

• Do marriage records provide parents' names in Georgia, like they do in some other states? If so, get marriage records for your grandparents & all of her siblings - esp. if any were married more than once

No, at least not during the time period I'm looking at.

• Have you checked for birth records? (Not sure when Georgia started recording births.) But don't forget delayed birth certificates - many people recorded these in the 1930s so they would qualify for SS benefits

Georgia didn't start recording births until 1919. Grandparents and their siblings were all in the late 1800s. That being said, some counties have prior records. Oconee is one (started recording births in 1875). Since the great uncles indicated on their WWI draft cards, they were born in Watkinsville, I am planning to check there.

• Check for obituaries for all siblings

Have the one's for grandmom (1966), uncle Roy (1971), and aunt Ossie (1991). Will ask the cousins if they have one for Aunt Effie (died in 1951). Other 2 sisters died early 1900s and I've not come across any. The other 2 brothers, don't know when or where they died.

• (This one is obvious.) Check for all federal census records for grandmother & siblings, with her parents. Were there any families living nearby (within a few pages before & after) bearing the same surnames as those provided for your grandmother's mother in any of the other sources

Have checked and rechecked. 1900 and 1910 censuses for Walton County, GA - Unless I've missed them, there are no families in the neighborhood with any of the surnames I have for ggrandmom Fannie. Ggranddad, I can trace back to Greene County, GA and I've even checked there and have come up with nothing.
Based on everything my mother's told me over the years, grandmom never mentioned any aunts or uncles on her mother's side. She talked about her uncle Lon, ggranddad's brother, who also migrated to Walton county and lived beside them. Grandmom mentioned the ethnicity of her grandmothers or at least one of them but there were never names attached to the her grandparents, so I don't know if grandmom met her grandparents or if that was what was told to her.