----- Original Message ----- From: "Cheryl Rothwell" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 12:52 PM Subject: [IL-CENTRAL] New SSDI > The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is > copyright 2003 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the > permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at > http://www.RootsForum.com. > > New SSDI Search Engine > > Another free Social Security Death Index online database has been announced. > This might appear to be "ho-hum news" as there are already several such > databases available. However, a closer examination shows that this one is > different. > > Family Tree Legends is a genealogy program for Windows that I reviewed in > the November 11, 2002 edition of this newsletter. You can read that article > at: http://www.rootsforum.com/archives/news0245.htm. Cliff Shaw, one of the > developers of Family Tree legends, has now announced the newest and most > powerful SSDI search engine yet. It has all the features of every other SSDI > search engine, plus 4 entirely unique ones: > > Name Prefix Search - Enter from 3 to 5 characters for the last name and > select the Prefix option... it will search on that last name prefix. > Year Range Searches - For both the Death Year and Birth Year, you can select > to search a range of years instead of the year needing to be exactly right. > Age at Death Search - You can enter the age at which the person died. This > is really effective if you don't have any idea what year they were born or > died but you do know their age at death. > You can click on the places that are returned in the results and get > latitude and longitude, region information, aerial photos, maps, and more. > > I tried the new database and can confirm that it works well. I really liked > the feature that will automatically generate a letter to the Social Security > Administration asking for a copy of the deceased person's Form SS-5, an > application for a Social Security number. You can directly print the letter, > stuff it into an envelope, along with a check, and mail it to the address > indicated. In a few weeks you will receive the copy of the original SS-5. > > The Family Tree Legends Social Security Death Index will also automatically > search the millions of records on GenCircles, looking for any records of the > same individual. > > Cliff also states, "I want it to be known that this SSDI search engine will > ALWAYS be free." That is an important statement in this day and age of > formerly-free services disappearing into for-pay sites. > > You can access the free Family Tree Legends Social Security Death Index > database at: http://www.familytreelegends.com/ssdi > > >