Using the Social Security Index
by Richard Eastman
Newsletter dated: July 30, 2001
The Social Security Death Index is a great tool for genealogists.
An awareness of its limitations can help a researcher to focus on
what the index can provide and to set reasonable expectations. The
SSDI works best for finding information about individuals who died
in the mid-1960s or later. This index is compiled by the Social
Security Administration and is available at no charge on a number
of Web sites. The database presently contains more than 66 million
names and is growing as the Social Security Administration
releases more information. You can read articles about effective
use of the SSDI in articles written by Vince Summers at
http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/news/tip/3764.asp" and by George G. Morgan at
http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/george/895.asp.
Keep in mind that not all deaths were recorded in the earlier
years. While the Social Security Administration was created by the
Social Security Act of 1935, the SSA did not start computerizing
their records until the mid-1960s. You may occasionally find an
earlier death listed in the database because someone filed a claim
in the mid-60s or later, seeking benefits from the earlier death
of a Social Security recipient. The SSA computers recorded the new
claim, along with pertinent information about the earlier death.
This death information eventually ended up in the Social Security
Death Index. However, the majority of deaths prior to the mid-
1960s were never recorded in the computerized database.
Also remember that not all Americans were covered under the Social
Security Act in its earlier days. Railroad workers, teachers, and
other municipal employees often were covered by other retirement
systems; therefore, the Social Security Administration did not
record their information.
Next, in the earlier days of the computerized records, the only
records tracked were for claims filed. If a person was not
receiving benefits and no claim for death benefits was ever filed,
there was no reason to enter that record into the computerized
database. This would be true for many people who died before their
retirement years; no claims were ever filed.
In the past decade or so, there have been numerous changes to
these procedures. All known deaths of Americans are now recorded,
regardless of the person's age, Social Security status, or death
benefits paid. For instance, if you scan through the Social
Security Death Index nowadays, you will occasionally see deaths of
children listed. These children most likely were not receiving
Social Security benefits, and no death benefits were ever paid.
However, the Social Security Administration now automatically
captures information about deaths. As a result, you may find death
records for many people within the last ten years even though
there are no comparable death records for twenty years ago. You
should also note that there are no plans to record such deaths
from earlier decades.
Finally, you might want to pay attention to the date of last
update of the particular Web site's database that you are viewing.
While the Social Security Death Index is available on a number of
Web sites, not all the sites update their copy of the database
regularly. The recent updates obviously have recent deaths, but
these updates also occasionally include information about earlier
deaths as well. Always check the date of the last update.
When writing this article in July 2001, I noticed the following:
* Ancestry.com's copy of the Social Security Death Index
includes the May 2001 updates and all the earlier updates at
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/ssdi/main.htm
* FamilySearch.org apparently doesn't mention the date of their
last update. However, I did a search for SMITH deaths and
could not find any listed after August 2000, so I assume that
is their latest update at
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=ssdi/search_ssdi.asp
* MyTrees.com also does not mention the date of last update.
However, I could not find any deaths after 1997 at
http://www.mytrees.com/cgi-bin/genealogy/navf?-1+0+S+English
In short, keep in mind that there are several versions of the
Social Security Death Index online, and not all of them are the
same. You might want to check several of them when looking for
information about your ancestors. Also, you can expect the SSDI to
provide more information about recent deaths than what you can
find in its earlier records.
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