George: I have a friend who has helped design what is contained in the various databases at the SSA and, as you might expect, it goes far beyond what is made available in the Death Master File. What usually surprises most folks involved in genealogical research is that we are only small-time users of the information. Contrary to what a lot of people worry about (that the numbers in the SSDI will be used to create false identities), the most prevalent use of the information is by financial institutions. They check the index to see if someone is giving them information that is about a deceased person. This is why the SSA so quickly releases the data in its death file. Richard ----- Original Message ----- From: "George & Shiela Irwin" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 8:14 AM Subject: Re: [ILLOGAN] Social Security Death Index > Richard Pence: > > Thanks for all the helpful hints on the SSDI. I expect there are others who > will also appreciate that you have shared your expertise. > > Right now, I am embedded in tracing family during the 1700s and 1800s, and > looking at County land deed transfer records for farmers. But I could not > miss the opportunity to learn something about the more recent data from > Social Security. > > From my experience in Federal service, database development is always a > compromise between the content users would like and the cost others insist > you do not exceed! But sloppy data entry sure is not very helpful to either > point of view. > > George > > > > ==== ILLOGAN Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Logan County List if you are in mail mode, send to [email protected] If you are receiving messages in the digest mode, send to [email protected] >