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The Social Security
Death Index was created from the "Death Master File" of the
Social Security Administration. This file was formed from the
records of those who had been issued social security numbers,
and whose death had been reported to the Social Security
Administration. Most often, these records were created when a
family member or the deceased applied for death benefits, or
when a family member reported the death in order to stop
Social Security Death Benefits to the deceased. There are, of
course, people who never received a social security number and
will not be listed here. Conversely, the absence of someone in
the Social Security Death Index does not mean the person is
alive. There is also the possibility that certain errors have
been made in a person's death records as this information was
added onto the Death Master File.
In August 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the
Social Security Act into law. Within the following two years,
over thirty million U.S. residents applied for and were given
Social Security numbers. On 1 January 1937, workers started to
accrue credit for "old-age insurance benefits," and FICA
(payroll tax) started to be withheld from the wages of
workers. The Social Security Administration first began using
computers to process requests for benefits in 1962
(approximately two percent of the records on the death index
are from as early as 1937, in addition to nearly 400,000
retired railroad employees.) When President Lyndon B. Johnson
signed the Medicare Law in 1965, many over age sixty-five
received Social Security cards.
By utilizing this
index, one can find the following information about the
deceased:
-
Last Name
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First Name
-
Social Security
Number
-
State Issued (the
state that issued the person's social security number)
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Birth Date
(usually the day, month and year, but sometimes only the
year)
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Death Date
-
Last Residence
(usually where the last S.S. benefits were received)
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Lump Sum Payment
There are various
online sources that make available said information:
Ancestry.com (registration required)
FamilyTreeMaker
NewEnglandAncestors.org
RootsWeb.com |