GENEALOGY 101 - Using the Social Security Death Index

BY BOB SPEARING

HOW TO USE THE SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX

INTRODUCTION

I'm Bob Spearing of FCBOUTIQUE,a New Jersey-New York based genealogy records searching service doing business on EBAY with a 100% positive feedback rating back to August 1999!! If you're looking for genealogical records anywhere in New Jersey or in New York City, our auctions are a much cheaper alternative to writing to the State.

If your genealogical journey excludes N.J. & N.Y. we still like to help people anyway and hopefully this guide will help you!

This is the first of my Genealogy guides to help you understand how to accrue the most information available about your ancestors before bidding on one of my genealogical record finding auctions or pursuing an outside genealogist.

Genealogy is an expensive hobby so you want to gain the most knowledge you can on your own and free whenever possible so that the money you do eventually spend is for those brick walls where you REALLY need help.

One great free aid that will lead you to all sorts of other records is the Social Security Death Index.

WHAT IS THE SSDI?

It is a database of deceased individuals who had United States Social Security Numbers attached to them when they died.

Social Security began in the 1930s and almost everybody since the 1940s has had this number assigned to them when they applied or their parents applied for it on their behalf at some point prior to their entering the workplace.

It is your unique identifier in the workplace and later when you or your spouse or a survivor collect retirement or other benefits.

WHY CAN IT HELP ME DISCOVER ANCESTORS IN MY FAMILY TREE?

 If you search this index using an individual's name you can determine:

a. if they died sometime before 2006 and after 1940.

b. find the birth year and sometimes even the full birth date of the individual.

c. find the state where the Social Security Number was issued. Many times this is the state of birth.

d. find the death year or even the exact date of death.

e. find their last known city, county and state of residence when they died. Sometimes you can  even find a series of cities in chronological order backwards in time where the individual lived if they received retirement or other SS benefits at different addresses prior to dying.

WHERE DO I FIND THE SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX?

There are several places on the internet where you can find this searchable index. There are genealogy pay sites like Ancestry and of course the United States Government.

HOWEVER THE EASIEST FREE PLACE to go find it and use it free is the website of the Church of Latter Day Saints also known as The Mormons.

EBAY doesn't allow links here but a simple Yahoo or Google search for Latter Day Saints Church would get you to their website.

The Mormons are a family tree researcher's best friend. You can use their site to search a number of databases for free including the United States 1880 Census.

Once on the Mormon's homepage there will be a blue menu on the left of the screen. Click on FAMILY HISTORY.  

This will bring you to their ancestor search page where you can search the various databases they have. To save time however, click on the words Advanced  Search and on the following page you can search the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) exclusively.

The SSDI database is very easy to use. Try different combinations in the search fields when searching. Putting too much info into the search fields could lead to zero hits. For example, if you are looking for James Smith born in Montana in 1888 and you can't find him maybe he died in another state or he was really born in 1885. Try looking at your search results from where he died instead. Perhaps Mr. Smith was born in Iowa not Montana but only died in Montana. Also, extending the time frame for a birth or death by 2, 5, 10 or 20 years may lead you also to a person whereas putting 1888 will give you zero results if the person was really born 3 years later and the date your grandmother gave you was wrong.

WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS INFORMATION IF I FIND MY ANCESTOR IN THE SSDI?

Let's start with an SSDI indexed person and what you would see if you found their record:

______________________________________

James SMITH

Birth Date: 8 Mar 1881

Death Date: Dec 1976

Social Security Number: 094-10-7654

State or Territory Where Number Issued: Montana

Zip Code: 07034

Localities:

East Missoula, Missoula, Montana

Evaro, Missoula, Montana

Missoula, Missoula, Montana

Southgate, Missoula, Montana

____________________________________

 Now how do you use this information?

To begin, remember the First Rule of Genealogy is ALWAYS WORK BACKWARDS!! This avoids gaps and lost trails!

Start with Mr. Smith's death.

Knowing he died in Southgate Missoula Montana in December 1976 allows you to send to the State of Montana for his death certificate.

His death certificate will (most likely)list his birth date and place and...most importantly.. HIS PARENTS NAMES!!!! including a mother's maiden name.

It will tell you what was the cause of death, what his address was when he died, his occupation, if he was widowed, never married or married which can lead you to his wife possibly. It will also have a relative as an informant usually signing off on the certificate. If Mr. Smith's informant was, for example,  Mrs. Daniel Brown, if could be a sister or a daughter.  Finally, his death certificate will tell you WHERE HE IS BURIED!!!!

This information will lead you to more.

Since he died in December 1976, you would write to the library nearest to Missoula Montana and request the obit for a donation. They will gladly oblige as small town libraries depend on contributions.

The obit will also give you an address, place where a wake was held, perhaps a short bio of James, relatives that survived or predeceased him such as "Mr. Smith is survived by one sister, Mrs. Daniel Brown, of Butte and seven neices. His wife Sarah died in 1960".

All this leads to even more info.

Writing a cemetery for his grave record can tell you what previously unknown ancestors may be buried with him. The grave record will also list the plot owner's address and name.

If Missoula had old city directories which are the books that preceeded telephone books, you could have the library trace Mr. Smith back from his address at death to possibly decades before.

Knowing various addresses historically can help you trace an individual back to when the U.S. Censuses become available beginning in 1930 and going backwards every ten years from then on (except for 1890 which was destroyed in a fire).

Since James was born in 1887, he won't show up until the 1900 Census. Lets say when you found his death certificate it listed his parents as Caleb and Agnes. So finding a Caleb, Agnes & James Smith in Montana in the 1900 census would be easy then !!

If he is still with his parents in the1920 census but married and living with his wife Sarah in the 1930 census in Missoula then you can again write to the State and pay a bit more for a 10 year search for a marriage record that will tell you his wife's maiden name and lead you to more research leads.

I like to tell people that finding one person always leads to 10 more.

When you find the 1920 census, you may find James Smith had 5 sisters and 3 brothers! The census will tell you their dates of birth!!! and it's back you go to the SSDI to find them too!

 Now lets say you find no obituary, and the death certificate says his parents names are unknown.DON'T DESPAIR! You still have one more option. You know his birth date and the state where the Social Security Number was issued. Many times that is the state of birth.

So send to Montana one more time for the birth record and you may fill in gaps a census, a death certificate or cemetery records may not help you with.

CONCLUSION

It gets better and better and you started for free with the SSDI!So much information is in the public record. You need to just know where to look!Hopefully I helped!

Thank you for reading. Good Reviews are appreciated and if you ever need our services you will find us at FCBOUTIQUE to be pleasant, fast, inexpensive and well versed in NJ& NYC records.

Please check out our EBAY "Me" page too!

BOB SPEARING