My Go-To Genealogy Trick for Relatives Who “Disappear”

Every genealogist eventually hits the same wall. A person who is solidly documented suddenly vanishes. No death record. No obvious move. No explanation. Just silence.

Sometimes the reason is ordinary. A job change. A divorce. A quiet relocation. Other times, the reason is very much not ordinary. People walked away. They reinvented themselves. Some were hiding.

Twice now, I have cracked these cases using one of the most overlooked records in U.S. genealogy: the Social Security number application.

This approach only works for people who lived long enough to apply for a Social Security number after 1936. When it applies, it is one of the strongest identity-bridging tools we have.

Why the SS-5 Form Is Genealogical Gold

When the Social Security program launched in the mid-1930s, applicants were required to complete an SS-5 form. This was not a casual document. It asked for detailed personal information, including:

• Full name

• Date and place of birth

• Mother’s full maiden name

• Father’s first and last name

• Sex and race

• Current address

• Employer name and address

From a genealogical perspective, the parents’ names matter most.

Here is the pattern I see again and again. Even when someone reinvented themselves under a new name, they usually told the truth about who their parents were. Not always perfectly, but close enough to expose the trail.

What changes is subtle and consistent:

• The mother’s first name and maiden name are usually correct

• The father’s first name is often correct or close

• The father’s last name quietly shifts to match the alias the applicant is living under

That tiny inconsistency is the breadcrumb.

A Criminal Reinvention: Edward Lee Copeland

While researching my book The Solomon Gang: Outlaws by Any Name, I ran into this exact pattern with Edward Lee Copeland.

Edward did not simply drift away from his family. He lived a criminal life. He ran with his brother during a violent outlaw period in Colorado, was involved in serious crimes, and had every reason to disappear once law enforcement pressure closed in.

Around 1908, he vanished from Colorado entirely. Decades later, he surfaced in California as a man called Lee Edwards. To his descendants, the connection was lost. No one knew how the outlaw brother and the California family man could be the same person.

But the answer was sitting quietly on his 1937 Social Security application.

He listed:

• Mother: Lucinda Anderson

• Father: Alfred J. Edwards

Lucinda Anderson was correct, aside from a transcription error in the index. “Alfred” was not quite right, but close enough. His father was Alpheus.

The surname was the giveaway.

“Edwards” was not his father’s surname at all. It was Edward’s alias. He had simply rewritten his father’s last name to match the identity he was now living under.

The moment those details were read together, the entire paper trail locked back into place. The outlaw had not disappeared. He had cleaned himself up, changed his name, crossed state lines, and kept just enough truth on a government form to betray himself decades later.

Lee Edwards (Edwards is the alias last name)

Mother’s name is accurate except for a transcription error

Father’s last name is now the alias last name

A Second Case, Same Pattern

I encountered the same trick in a more recent case.

This man left behind a wife and two small children in the early 1920s. He reappeared states away under a new name so he could remarry. The family believed he had vanished forever.

His SS-5 told a different story.

• His mother’s maiden name was accurate

• His father’s first name was correct

• His father’s last name had been altered to match the alias

The assumed surname had been grafted onto the father’s name, creating a false consistency that only works if you are not looking closely.

Once you are looking for it, the truth is obvious.

Rose is the alias last name (the individual also changed their first name completely).

Thomas is the father’s real first name, and Laura Copelan is the mother’s real maiden name

Rose has been added to the father’s name to match the alias

Why This Works So Well

People can lie about themselves. They can change their names. They can run from spouses, crimes, debts, or reputations.

But when asked about their parents, most people answered from memory and belief. Those answers anchored them to their original family, even while everything else shifted.

That honesty, partial as it may be, becomes a gift to genealogists generations later.

One important caution. The assumed surname does not have to come from the father. It may come from a mother, stepfather, friend, or completely unrelated person. Always think broadly.

When to Use This Strategy

If someone in your tree seems to vanish and lived long enough to apply for Social Security, look for:

• The original SS-5 application

• Early Social Security claims

• Any amendments or corrections

You may discover that your missing relative did not disappear at all. They were hiding in plain sight.

Need Help Untangling a Disappearance?

These are the cases I love most. Criminal pasts, second lives, and identities that fracture and rejoin through records.

If you need help with a disappearance in your own tree, I offer professional genealogy and DNA analysis services.