Internet Resources

Social Security Sleuthing
An on-line article by Pamela Boyer Porter, CGRS
http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/79_pamela.html

Social Security Administration
The Web site of the Social Security Administration provides copious amounts of information about Social Security’s history and benefits, including an on-line SSA manual.
http://www.ssa.gov/

National Archives and Records Administration
NARA’s web site contains some useful information about Social Security records for the genealogist or historian.
http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/socsec.html

Railroad Retirement Board
Visit RRB’s site to learn the history of railroad retirement and how it is affected by Social Security.
http://www.rrb.gov/

Family Detective
This web page provides a frequently updated compilation of Social Security death master file data entry errors.
http://www.familydetective.com/ssdierrors.html

Social Security Death Index
The following Internet sites offer free on-line searches of the SSDI:

Ancestry
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/ssdi/main.htm

Family Tree Maker™
http://www.familytreemaker.com/fto_ssdisearch.html

Kindred Konnections Family History Research Center
http://www.kindredkonnections.com/

Lineages, Inc.
http://www.lineages.com/vault/SSDI.asp

Rootsweb
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/

Selected Readings

Allen, Desmond Walls and Carolyn E. Billingsley. Social Security Applications: A Genealogical Resource. Conway, Arkansas: Research Associates, 1995.

Family History SourceGuide™ — U.S. Social Security Death Index. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1990. Available online at <http://www.familysearch.org/sg> or at Family History Centers.

Gehring, Jake. “Social Security Death Master File: A Much Misunderstood Index.” Online <http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/ssdi/article.htm>. Printout dated 11 May 2000.

Hinckley, Kathleen W. Locating Lost Family Members & Friends. Cincinnati, Ohio: Betterway Books, 1999. Chapter 7, “Social Security Administration,” pages 55-72.

Hinckley, Kathleen W. “Skillbuilding: The Social Security Death [Benefits] Index.” OnBoard, Newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, vol. 5, no. 1 (January 1999).

Szucs, Loretto Dennis and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, The Source, A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, Inc., 1997. Chapter 18, “Tracking Twentieth-Century Ancestors,” pages 636-639, by Kathleen W. Hinckley, contains helpful information about Social Security records.

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© 1999 Pamela Boyer Porter, CGRS, CGL.  Used with Permission.