FamilySearch’s Top 10 Most Searched Record Collections: #4

Collection 4—United States Social Security Death Index
Links to each of the 3 previous articles in this series of 10 are available below. 

We hope you are following each of these Collections. Doing so will increase your research skills. Be sure to try out the steps on how to locate these records in FamilySearch and leave us a comment if you like.
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By Alivia L. Whitaker -of  FamilySearch

One of the top collections of records that everyone should check when researching family history is the United States Social Security Death Index. This index is freely available at FamilySearch.org. It is the fourth most searched collection on the FamilySearch.org website.

The Social Security Death Index is helpful for those starting out with their own family history research because it lists the month and year of birth as well as the town and state where individuals . . .

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lived when they received their last Social Security benefit check. It also gives a death date for individuals who lived in the United States since 1962 whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration. If you have an approximate date and place of death for someone, this collection could help you find a birth date for that person and see where he or she lived when the person first signed up with the Social Security Administration.

According to the FamilySearch.org wiki, the Social Security Death Index is a “master index file of deaths reported to the Social Security Administration. It has been kept since 1962, when operations were computerized. The index includes about 50 percent of deceased persons from 1962 to 1971 and about 85 percent of deceased persons from 1972 to 2005. It also includes a few deaths from 1937 to 1961. [It is] current as of September 30, 2012.

“The Social Security Administration provides an extract from its file for distribution through the Department of Commerce’s National Technical Information Service. Because this extracted file deals with deceased persons, the information is considered to be in the public domain. Several organizations have purchased this file and posted it to their websites.”

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The Mocavo Genealogy Blog highlights how the Social Security Index can be helpful: “One of the major starting points for genealogical research is the Social Security Death Index. Used by the Social Security Administration for coordinating benefits, the SSDI contains a wealth of information about your family members who have died in the last forty years, including their first name, last name, age, address, and more.”

The SSDI typically has the following information on deceased individuals:

• The name of the individual
  
• The birth date
  
• The Social Security number
  
• In some cases, the state where the number was issued
  
• The date of the death.
  
• The place and zip code of the person’s last place of residence, which is usually at or near where the person died.
  

With all this information, the Social Security Death Index is especially helpful in finding key clues and bits of vital information for those relatives who have died in the past half century. Extensive use of this collection has placed the United States Social Security Death Index in a solid fourth place in our list of top 10 most searched collections on FamilySearch.org. You can search the Social Security Death Index for free at FamilySearch.org by clicking the United States Social Security Index link.

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How to Locate this article's "Collection Title," and others, 
in FamilySearch Again

To locate the "United States Social Security Index" ( a FamilySearch Collection Title), you can remember the title's link, OR learn how to find it, or any other Collection Title, any time you need it by using the following 5, easy steps.

1.  Click on "Search" at the top of a FamilySearch page as shown here: 

2.  A drop-down list will open. Click on "Records."  A new page will open.
3.   On the top left of the page. see the word "Records." It is highlighted in green. 
          Look lower and to the right to see these red words "Browse All Published Collections."              Click on those red words. A new page will open

4.  In the top left of the new page, locate the box below the words "Filter by collection name."         In this box, correctly type the title of the desired collection. Next move down to  "Place."           Locate the best description of the "place" of your collection and click on it. Next, scroll     
        down to "Collections," and select the closest description for your chosen collection.     
        The title of  your search should come up in the center column under the small blue word           "Title." Click on the red title to open it. However, before clicking on it, consider     
        taking a minute to look over some of the other collections listed near your selection for               possible future research. Doing this will help you to be more familiar with what is              
        available in this area.

5. You will need to know the title of the Collection you want, but if you cannot remember      it you can still get this far and then chose a "Place" and a type of "Collection." A    
     variety of collections that are in those parameters will then show. Scroll down    
     through the alphabetized records and see what else might be of interest for your research.    
     We  hope this has been helpful, and we welcome your comments.

The FamilySearch 10 Most popular Record Collections in FamilySearch. So far we have seen: 
#1.  U.S. Census Records
#2  England Births and Christening Records, 1538-1915
#3  United States Public Records - 1970 - 2009
#4  United States Social Security Index