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ToreL
Advanced member
Norway
842 Posts |
 Posted - 24/01/2022 : 17:55:41
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I have a general question about the reliability of this source. A relative of mine was born in Brooklyn in 1916 and lived there with his parents until 1940. In the census of that year he is listed as unemployed, and that is also his status in a World War II Draft Card issued to him in October of that year. After that I can find nothing. When his parents died in 1963 and 1969, his two brothers and two sisters were mentioned in the obituaries, but he not. Searches at findagrave also yield nil return.
There is one exception, however; when searching at Ancestry.com I get a match at a source called the U.S. Social Security Death Index 1935-2014, saying that he died in 2007. Now I wonder how reliable this is? Does anyone know how the data in this source are generated? Does 2007 really mean that he died that year, or could it just refer to the year when somebody at the appropriate office determined that he was no longer around, or something like that?
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Edited by - ToreL on 24/01/2022 19:40:52 |
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9303 Posts |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7794 Posts |
Posted - 27/01/2022 : 06:23:48
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Why don't you put in the name and we'll take a look?
Social Security is one of the crowning achievements of President Franklin D Roosevelt dating from 1935. It was started as an old age pension program as a result of seeing many old people suffering greatly during the Great Depression and to prevent that from happening to other future generations.
One part of the program was the payment of a death benefit, a flat $250. The index you mention records those card holders whose estate collected the death benefit. Not every card holder collected particularly in the early days.
I got my Social Security Number SSN in 1972 or so. I went down to the office and filled out an application and collected my card. I think I supplied my birth certificate. So the original source for the information on file was the person filing and their documents. Now I understand that SSN are issued for infants, so the source for the information on the file is likely to be the parents along with the documents.
Social Security fraud is a crime, trying to get benefits without meeting criteria, so unlikely an individual will do that just for the death benefit.
My paternal grandparents, who had no issued at the time birth certificates, submitted several records which included vital information about themselves. They each got affidavits from persons who knew when they were born, an uncle in the case of Grandpa and her father in the case of Grandma. Other records they submitted were hospital records which gave their ages, school records and the like.
But humans are messy and I have heard of situations wherein people had lost or forgotten their SSN and applied for and gotten another card number, or that they changed their names due to marriage and other situations and notified SSA that that had been done etc. So information connected with the file can change as well. |
Edited by - jkmarler on 05/02/2022 11:18:27 |
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ToreL
Advanced member
Norway
842 Posts |
Posted - 05/02/2022 : 19:38:06
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| Thank you both for interesting background info. Although I am a Norwegian citizen, I have an American SSN myself, from when I lived a few years in the States in the 1980ies. Maybe I should tell my family to claim the $250 when I'm gone... |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7794 Posts |
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Hopkins
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3351 Posts |
Posted - 08/02/2022 : 18:14:45
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I have consulted the SS Death Index for many years. I have found it to be dependable as to whether someone is actually deceased (unless misreading for someone of the same name). BUT a few times I've found some minor disagreement with other sources such as actual county death register as to the the accurate date - usually just a one or two date difference. The location given can also be misleading in that the SS index will often list the address that the death benefit was to be sent to the survivor rather than where the subject actually died or resided before death.
I've never had to file a notification of death to the Social Security Administration for a family member so I do not know what documentation might be required OR even how confusing that process might be. |
Edited by - Hopkins on 08/02/2022 18:15:51 |
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halvelm1
Medium member
USA
90 Posts |
Posted - 24/02/2022 : 19:20:49
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| I believe the SS index is fairly accurate. Funeral director's generally submit the information. They generally are involved with getting copies of the death certificate for the family of deceased, so date of death would be known to them. |
Larry H |
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U.S. Social Security Death Index 1935-2014
