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Archiver > IRL-SLIGO > 2000-08 > 0965753493


From: "D & A Chernow" <>
Subject: Re: [IRL-SLIGO] SSDI & Isabella Brown
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 11:51:33 -0500
References: <85256935.00511C58.00@nthhqsmtp.hud.gov>


Jim and list,
What Kevin has told you is right on target. But perhaps this will help
too....
This is a very informative FAQ about the U.S. Social Security Death Index
that should answer some of your questions:
http://ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/ssdi/faq.htm

..An important bit, I have copied and pasted below:
"Who is listed in the SSDI?
This database is an index to basic information about persons with Social
Security numbers whose deaths have been reported to the Social Security
Administration. The death may have been reported by a survivor requesting
benefits. It may have been reported in order to stop Social Security
Benefits to the deceased. Funeral homes often report deaths to the SSA as a
service to family members. Beginning in 1962, the SSA began to use a
computer database for processing requests for benefits. About 98% percent of
the people in the SSDI died after 1962, but a few death dates go back as far
as 1937. Because legal Aliens in the U.S. can obtain a Social Security card,
their names may appear in the SSDI if their deaths were reported. Some
400,000 railroad retirees are also included in the SSDI.

The Social Security Death Index is not an index to all deceased individuals
who have held Social Security Numbers. It is not a database of all deceased
individuals who have received Social Security Benefits, or whose families
have received survivor benefits."

Also, Jim, for general information on how to research for someone who lived
in the state of New Jersey, go to
http://www.cyndislist.com/nj.htm. There are many many connections there and
solid, basic information that might help you approach this New Jersey
research problem. This page gives you links to all sorts of resources you
might tap into. (If you have any fragment of an address, or the like, for
Isabella, that would greatly help. In the US, access to so much of our
information seems to be related to the county the person lived in, or the
city. Even to use the census indexes, you need a more specific location..or
some other way to narrow your search...or else it is quite difficult to sort
through it all. Particularly hard with a frequently found name, such as
Brown.)

Best of luck,
Ann

----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin J. Crean <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 9:37 AM
Subject: Re: [IRL-SLIGO] SSDI & Isabella Brown


> I am not on an expert on this topic either, but, here in the U.S. in order
to
> obtain any type of employment a person is required to obtain a social
security
> card with a number. This number is used to track the person's earnings
for tax
> purposes and credit history. Social security taxes are withheld from
paychecks.
> After reaching a certain age social security checks are issued to retired
> workers. It is not a welfare program that only poor people pay into or
take
> advantage of. This is, of course, an overly simplified explanation of an
> extremely complicated system. However, since the Social Security system
was
> developed in response to the Great Depression of the 1930's, a person may
not
> appear on the SSDI for many reasons, as I understand it. He or she may
have
> died before the system was implemented. Like most benefits, it may not
have
> covered all workers at the beginning but expanded overtime as government
> programs do. Many women and men did not work outside the home and so may
not
> have applied for a social security card of their own. Today, all newborn
babies
> are immediately registered and receive a social security number.
>
> Lastly, I believe that the SSDI website itself indicates that far less
than 100%
> of those people who should appear in the datbase are in fact included.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Jim McDonald" <> on 08/08/2000 09:09:05 AM
>
> Please respond to "Jim McDonald" <>
>
> To:
> cc: (bcc: Kevin J. Crean/CPD/NYN/HUD)
> Subject: Re: [IRL-SLIGO] Isabella Brown
>
>
>
> Paul,
> The information is for a friend in Sligo. Thanks for replying. I'm still
> unsure about SSDI. Apart from being dead how does one qualify to be on it?
> Is this only a list of people who were not well off and in receipt of some
> sort of benefit?
> Jim
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul Burns" <>
> To: "Jim McDonald" <>
> Cc: <>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 11:06 AM
> Subject: Re: [IRL-SLIGO] Isabella Brown
>
>
> > Jim,
> > When people reply privately to public queries, the rest of us don't
> know
> > what they said. I am answering on the assumption that nobody has
> responded,
> > although I am no expert on research in the USA.
> > The SSDI began sometime in the 1930s (1937 maybe), but even if a
> person died
> > after it began they would not be registered with it unless they were
> members of
> > SS or a related program. Or the subject of your query died earlier. If
she
> died
> > in New Jersey, I believe the death would be listed not only with the
> county
> > officials but with the state as well.
> > As to retrieving this information without an approximate date,
surely
> > someone else on the list can comment. I have no experience.
> > Paul Burns
> >
> > Jim McDonald wrote:
> >
> > > Born in Sligo the year 1874 Isabella DYKES emigrated to New Jersey
where
> she
> > > married ? BROWN. She doesn't appear on the SSDI. Would she be recorded
> > > somewhere else?
> > >
> > > Jim McDonald
> > >
> > >
> > > ==== IRL-SLIGO Mailing List ====
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> > >
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>
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