{"id":744,"date":"2012-01-06T12:13:04","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T19:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/?p=744"},"modified":"2012-01-06T12:58:13","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T19:58:13","slug":"was-your-ancestors-death-entry-removed-from-the-social-security-death-index","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/2012\/01\/06\/was-your-ancestors-death-entry-removed-from-the-social-security-death-index\/","title":{"rendered":"Was your Ancestor’s Death Entry Removed from the Social Security Death Index?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you thought the Social Security Death Index <\/strong><\/em>entries came from deaths reported directly to the Social Security Administration, your thoughts paralleled those of most genealogists.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So the announcement that the SSA would change their death date collection policy effective 1 Nov 2011, came as a surprise to the genealogy world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seems that death entries were taken from\u00a0reports of death from family members, funeral homes, hospitals, state bureaus of vital records, Federal agencies, the United States Post Office,\u00a0banks, and other financial institutions.\u00a0 [Changes in eligibility for Social Security, based on the death of a spouse or parent could also be reported by CPA firms and attorneys offices.]\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deaths from State death records are supposed to be protected [what does that really mean?]\u00a0 from public disclosure.\u00a0 And since 2002, state death records have supplied over 4 million entries to the Public Death Master File<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 This file is shared with agencies that pay federally-funded benefits–IRS, Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other Federal agencies–for a fee.<\/p>\n

What does this change in policy mean for your genealogy? <\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The whole Public Death Master File<\/strong><\/em>, upon which the Death Index\u00a0<\/em>is based,\u00a0is expected to decrease by 4.2 million\u00a0entries as these state death records are removed.\u00a0 And many\u00a0deaths will not be included in\u00a0future database updates.\u00a0 For these deaths, you will have to consult individual state bureaus of vital statistics.\u00a0 And pay the current fee to get a copy of the record.<\/p>\n

Historical death records from many states are currently available online–each state has its own rights of privacy policies that affect what is considered historical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sample entry from the\u00a0Social Security Death Index <\/strong><\/em>which falls into the “since 2002” time frame.\u00a0 Does this entry come from a state death record or a report to the SSA directly?\u00a0 There is no way to tell from the entry itself–the Death residence localities, however,\u00a0indicate more than one reporting source.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Alma EAKLE\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\nBirth Date:<\/strong><\/td>\n30 May 1934\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\nDeath Date:<\/strong><\/td>\n7 Dec 2004\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0State Where Number Was Issued<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\nDeath Residence Localities<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\nZIP Code:<\/strong><\/td>\n84337\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\nLocalities:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/td>\nBothwell, Box Elder, Utah<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\nElwood, Box Elder, Utah<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\nPenrose, Box Elder, Utah<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\nThatcher, Box Elder, Utah<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\nTremonton, Box Elder, Utah<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/arleneeakle.com<\/a><\/p>\n

PS\u00a0 Check the Index during the next months for those entries in your family that were reported since 2002 (and perhaps even earlier) for changes in the entries that have relevance for your genealogy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

PPS\u00a0 The above discussion demonstrates\u00a0these facts about databases:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Databases\u00a0may not be complete\u00a0.\u00a0 And those that approached completness, can be changed retroactively.<\/li>\n
  2. Databases are often compiled<\/span> sources–merging information from a variety of records.<\/li>\n
  3. Databases\u00a0can change the accuracy of your pedigree .<\/li>\n
  4. Databases don’t have to keep\u00a0you informed about changes– you need some vigilance in the records you use.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    PPS\u00a0 And remember, the Social Security Death Index <\/strong><\/em>is one of the best sources to find the complete birth date of people born in the 20th century.<\/p>\n

    UPDATE–<\/strong><\/p>\n

    A check of the updated Family Search.org site reveals some interesting changes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Middle initials have been added to names–Alma Eakle is now shown as Alma D.<\/span> Eakle.<\/li>\n
    2. Specific localities have been removed.\u00a0 Death residence is now shown as Box Elder County UT 84337 only.<\/li>\n
    3. Esitmated age at death is supplied.\u00a0 [This may be an add-on from FamilySearch.org–I don’t know.]<\/li>\n
    4. 17 entries under Alma Eakle, with other spellings included are reduced to 6 entries with other spellings included.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The Social Security Death Index <\/strong><\/em>is dated, 1875-2010.<\/p>\n

      Current as of 31 Oct 2011 with 90,732,247 entries added to http:\/\/FamilySearch.org<\/a> \u00a05 Nov 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      If you thought the Social Security Death Index entries came from deaths reported directly to the Social Security Administration, your thoughts paralleled those of most genealogists.\u00a0\u00a0 So the announcement that the SSA would change their death date collection policy effective … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":751,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions\/751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}