From OnBoard - Newsletter of the BCG

Kathleen W. Hinckley, "The Social Security Death [Benefits] Index," OnBoard 5 (January 1999): 8.

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is one of the most valuable twentieth-century sources because of its size (over 60 million names) and its availability (at libraries, over the Internet, and as part of various genealogical database-management programs).

ORIGIN AND NATURE OF DATA

The SSDI originates with the Death Master File (DMF) of the Social Security Administration (SSA). The DMF is available to the public through the federal Freedom of Information Act. Rights of privacy do not apply because the details relate only to deceased persons. Both the DMF and SSDI report Social Security numbers, birth and death dates, and places of residence at time of death.

Beyond this, users should be aware of three basics. Theoretically

• the entries date from 1962 forward, although some earlier years are included.
  
  
• the database is limited to individuals who collected Social Security benefits and/or those whose heirs collected; but there are exceptions.
  
  
• farmers, the self-employed, and government workers should not appear because they weren’t members of the general work force to whom Social Security numbers have been assigned. Yet many appear.
  In short, parameters were set for compiling the database, but most seem to have exceptions.
  
  

COMPARING COMMERCIAL VERSIONS

Vendors purchase the DMF and develop indexes that are similar—but not exactly the same. For example, the SSDI version in the Family History Library’s Family SearchTM database reports foreign death residences; none of the other versions found on the Internet by the present writer carry this detail. Some (but not all) versions allow first-name-only searches for use in problem cases—as when a woman’s remarried name is not known. Researchers who consult multiple versions are more likely to ensure thoroughness and accuracy in their work.

The basic data, however, is the same in all SSDI versions. This means that keypunching errors created by the Social Security Administration are repeated in all editions of the index. The SSA’s typographical errors occur in surnames, given names, and dates.

UNDERSTANDING ERROR TYPES

Errors vary tremendously. Sometimes the typist’s fingers moved to the wrong row of keys, creating names that make no sense whatsoever. In other cases, the clerk entered the zero instead of the letter o, causing the name to be misplaced alphabetically (for those who scroll the lists) and passed over by the search engine. Sometimes a keyboarder typed miscellaneous characters in place of letters or began the surname with a number.
Some of the surname errors suggest that the middle initial of the deceased was typed as the first character of the surname. For example, Felicia BBROWN and Maxine BBROWN may be Felicia B. Brown and Maxine B. Brown. Or the typist’s fingers may merely have stuttered on the capital letter.

If keypunching errors occur in names, we may be certain that errors occur in the dates. Some are obvious. For example, Oakley Agurs is said to have been born 20 January 1822 and to have died during October 1900; but he had a Social Security number. How could he—considering that he died prior to 1937, when numbers were first issued?
Several entries appear for persons born 17 January 1000. Comparisons of the various indexes indicate that the Social Security Administration did not list a birth date for the persons, but the software used by some vendors replaced the blank birth date with the year 1000.

If the error rate were even a “trivial” half of one percent (a complete guess), there would be 300,000 typographical errors in the SSDI. It is reasonable to assume that if we don’t find an individual in the index, the reason may be that there is a typographical error.

OVERCOMING ERRORS

Various techniques help to overcome these problems.

• Search by given name only, plus date of birth if the version allows. If it does not, then find a version that does.
  
  
• Search by Social Security number, if that number is known.
  
  
• Search by a combination of date and place, if both those details are known.
  
  
• Slow down. The fast-paced nature of electronic searches can be detrimental to our quest. Just as we slowly search handwritten indexes from earlier centuries, so should we also scrutinize the computerized indexes. The human error factor will always throw us curves in our research.
  
  

Should we find an error on a family member, the SSA will make corrections. We should contact our local Social Security office and provide proof of that error. On rare occasions, a living person will appear in the index, and, of course the SSA will correct those types of mistakes as well.

NOTES
The author’s web site <www.familydetective. com> offers a continually updated list of known SSDI errors.

Kathleen W. Hinckley, CGRS

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