Social Security was not available to all in the begining. One got a card if one was employed or about to be employed in a covered job. Farmers, military, self-employed, and government workers were a few of those not initially covered. They were added in over time. It was also possible (and often happened) that people got new cards and numbers each time they changed their job. The SSDI lists only those people for whom a claim for death benefits was made. When one dies, the party responsible for the payment of the funeral applies to SS for the benefit (usually thru the funeral home) and SS send a check for $250 or $255 - can't remember which - to you or to the funeral home. If no claim is made, the name is not on the list whether one has a card & number or not. Railroads had their own system. Check out the SS website for catagories of workers and dates of inclusion in the system. (it is written in Acrobat which doesn't print well on my dot matrix) krschafer@worldnet.att.net