After a long day of work, I'm most anxious to get home to browse the internet and to open the mail--especially after sending for any information that would enlighten the ongoing genealogy research!  Well, today was no exception, there was something in the mail. In a previous post, it was noted that the trek was for finding more about Rebecca Thomas--married name could have been Fitzpatrick.  I bypassed the bills (will tackle them later) to see an extraordinary find--a reponse from the Social Security Administration.  I sat down with my thoughts and began to open the letter and realized the first name matched.  However, it was downhill from there.  When trying to trace an ancestor through the Social Security Administration, most folks use Ancestry.com as a "lead" in the right direction.  Sometimes this can be tricky (like what happened to me)!  Firstly, the cost of these applications, up until July 1, 2001, maybe 2002, was only $7.00.  Before the June 30th deadline, I did a mad dash to obtain about 7 at a total cost of $49.  On July 1st, the cost increased by 400% to $27 per request!!  Now, what if the application you receive is not what you wanted!  SSA says it's your problem!  Well, this is exactly what happened with this newly arrived SS data.  The application SS# matched the name for Rebecca Fitzpatrick found in the Ancestry database.  But, this was not the name on the SS Application!  This application is for a Rebecca Williams Gates whose parents were Bryant Williams and Clara Sanders of Chelsea, Macon County, Alabama.  This is just a few of the disappoints of genealogy research.  Well, all is not lost -- I still have Hattie Harris' possible death certificate to wait on.