Hi Ingrid, Looking at a brochure I have, "U.S. Social Security Death Index," given to me by the Salt Lake Library, I find the following: "...an index of several million deceased people who had social security numbers and whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration... Mainly covers deaths since 1962... Some records are as early as 1937. You do not need your ancestor's social security number to use this index. ... "WHAT THE INDEX WILL NOT DO Search for a name using a social security number. Contain information about the person's spouse, parents, or children. Contain birthplace information. Contain the person's entire social security file. Contain information on living persons. Locate a name for a married woman when you know her maiden name only. Contain information on those who died whose deaths were not reported..." Good luck! --Carol ----- Original Message ----- From: by way of Tracey Converse <[email protected]> <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 1999 10:33 AM Subject: Finding parents name ZITTLAU On the death certificate it says "no" for > Social Security which I don't know if it means "not known" or "none". Does > anyone have any ideas of how to locate his mother's name? He is not listed on > the SS Death Index but does anyone know if you can request the SS for an > application if you do not know a SS#?