About Social Security Death Index

The United States Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is often one of the main starting points for online free genealogy research. The SSDI is used by the Social Security Administration for coordinating benefits. The Social Security Act was signed in 1935, and the Social Security Board started building the infrastructure for distributing benefits. Registration began in 1936 and 30 million individuals were registered and cards distributed by 1937. These cards were distributed through employers, who had employees fill out the information, and then returned the cards to the government. The SSDI provides the names of over 70 million individuals whose deaths have been reported to the Social Security Administration. The information that you will find in the SSDI includes: an individual’s Social Security Number, birth date, death date, where the last benefit was sent, and the original application state. The SSDI can be a great starting point for your ancestry search.

Source:

Source Citation: "Social Security Death Index" database online at Mocavo.com (Boulder, CO: 2013). Original Data: The United States Social Security Administration

Published on Mocavo:

October 9th, 2013 @ 12:00 AM