Thanks so much for all the responses. My guess is that she never had a SSN--she was not born in the US and though her husband naturalized and did apply for social security, she may never have needed to. I did search for her with many different name variations. She does have a probate file in Chicago, but I was trying to find a date of death so that I could request the death certificate by mail. The SSDI is so handy for that! (I live in California so it's not something I can investigate in person.) On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 8:07 AM, Genealogy Guide via < [email protected]> wrote: > In response to the "why no listing in the SSDI" part of Eva's question, > not all U.S. citizens have Social Security numbers, even today. Laws for > registration and collection have changed over the years. Some categories of > workers used to be exempt. Some who have never been employed might not have > had reason for an SSN. This includes my aged mentally ill uncle who died in > 2012. > Charlene M. Pipkin, Accredited Genealogist® > The ICAPGenSM service mark and the Accredited Genealogist® and AG® > certification marks are > the sole property of the International Commission for the Accreditation of > Professional Genealogists. All Rights Reserved. > > On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 6:57 PM, Eva Goodwin via < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > A question for the hive-mind: > > Aside from the possibility that an individual was out of the country at the > time of death, is there any reason why a U.S. resident who died in 2009 > would not have a death certificate or be in the Social Security death > index? > > Thanks for sharing thoughts! > Eva > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Did you order the probate file? My experience has been that some document within the file, if not the d/c itself, gives the death date, or the date declared deceased if the actual date was not known. Dee > On December 10, 2014 at 3:35 PM Eva Goodwin via > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Thanks so much for all the responses. My guess is that she never had a > SSN--she was not born in the US and though her husband naturalized and did > apply for social security, she may never have needed to. I did search for > her with many different name variations. She does have a probate file in > Chicago, but I was trying to find a date of death so that I could request > the death certificate by mail. The SSDI is so handy for that! (I live in > California so it's not something I can investigate in person.) > > > On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 8:07 AM, Genealogy Guide via < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > In response to the "why no listing in the SSDI" part of Eva's question, > > not all U.S. citizens have Social Security numbers, even today. Laws for > > registration and collection have changed over the years. Some categories of > > workers used to be exempt. Some who have never been employed might not have > > had reason for an SSN. This includes my aged mentally ill uncle who died in > > 2012. > > Charlene M. Pipkin, Accredited Genealogist® > > The ICAPGenSM service mark and the Accredited Genealogist® and AG® > > certification marks are > > the sole property of the International Commission for the Accreditation of > > Professional Genealogists. All Rights Reserved. > > > > On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 6:57 PM, Eva Goodwin via < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > A question for the hive-mind: > > > > Aside from the possibility that an individual was out of the country at the > > time of death, is there any reason why a U.S. resident who died in 2009 > > would not have a death certificate or be in the Social Security death > > index? > > > > Thanks for sharing thoughts! > > Eva > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word > > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word > > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- Dee Dee King, Certified Genealogist (sm), Certificate 903 Contract Genealogist, US Navy POW/MIA Branch Mail address - PO Box 1085, Manvel TX 77578 Telephone/fax 281-595-3090 www.forensicgenealogyservices.com www.facebook.com/forensicgenealogist Certified Genealogist (CG) is a service mark (sm) of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, conferred to associates who consistently meet ethical and competency standards in accord with peer-reviewed evaluations every five years, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.

You can look at the online index for Cook County - http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/?section=CASEINFOPage&CASEINFOPage=4210 Give the office a call after finding the right file and order. Be careful on what you order copies of or it could be oodles of pages. Affidavit of death/record, letters of administration and list of heirs from start to finish. In Illinois the first page is $2.50, then it is 50c per page up to 25 copies (can't quite remember # here), then 25c per page after that amount.  Ann L. Wells From: Eva Goodwin via <[email protected]> To: Genealogy Guide <[email protected]> Cc: TGF <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 3:35 PM Subject: Re: [TGF] death certificates Thanks so much for all the responses. My guess is that she never had a SSN--she was not born in the US and though her husband naturalized and did apply for social security, she may never have needed to. I did search for her with many different name variations. She does have a probate file in Chicago, but I was trying to find a date of death so that I could request the death certificate by mail. The SSDI is so handy for that! (I live in California so it's not something I can investigate in person.) On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 8:07 AM, Genealogy Guide via < [email protected]> wrote: > In response to the "why no listing in the SSDI" part of Eva's question, > not all U.S. citizens have Social Security numbers, even today. Laws for > registration and collection have changed over the years. Some categories of > workers used to be exempt. Some who have never been employed might not have > had reason for an SSN. This includes my aged mentally ill uncle who died in > 2012. > Charlene M. Pipkin, Accredited Genealogist® > The ICAPGenSM service mark and the Accredited Genealogist® and AG® > certification marks are > the sole property of the International Commission for the Accreditation of > Professional Genealogists. All Rights Reserved. > >      On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 6:57 PM, Eva Goodwin via < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > >  A question for the hive-mind: > > Aside from the possibility that an individual was out of the country at the > time of death, is there any reason why a U.S. resident who died in 2009 > would not have a death certificate or be in the Social Security death > index? > > Thanks for sharing thoughts! > Eva > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks again for the additional suggestions. I'd already located this woman's probate case file number on the Cook County Clerk of Court website -- it lists the heirs on the docket and everything. I have in the past been able to order probate files directly from the court, but this particular case is time-sensitive and so I would rather have someone go in person. My experience has been that especially with big cities, processing record requests can take some weeks. But Dee - that is a good idea to call the court and ask for only pages that provide the needed information. I certainly don't need the entire file in this particular case, especially since the docket is available online and lists the claimants. Also: several people have suggested cookcountygenealogy.com - it's a great resource and I have used it for other records in this case, but unfortunately recent deaths are not available on the site! Pat: I just ran the search by her husband's SSN -- very interesting idea! I tried that quickly with a few different versions of the SSDI index and had no luck, but I will tuck that in my brain's filing cabinet for the future. Thanks all, Eva On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 3:31 PM, Ann L. Wells <[email protected]> wrote: > You can look at the online index for Cook County - > http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/?section=CASEINFOPage&CASEINFOPage=4210 > > Give the office a call after finding the right file and order. Be careful > on what you order copies of or it could be oodles of pages. Affidavit of > death/record, letters of administration and list of heirs from start to > finish. In Illinois the first page is $2.50, then it is 50c per page up to > 25 copies (can't quite remember # here), then 25c per page after that > amount. > > > > Ann L. Wells > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Eva Goodwin via <[email protected]> > *To:* Genealogy Guide <[email protected]> > *Cc:* TGF <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Wednesday, December 10, 2014 3:35 PM > *Subject:* Re: [TGF] death certificates > > Thanks so much for all the responses. My guess is that she never had a > SSN--she was not born in the US and though her husband naturalized and did > apply for social security, she may never have needed to. I did search for > her with many different name variations. She does have a probate file in > Chicago, but I was trying to find a date of death so that I could request > the death certificate by mail. The SSDI is so handy for that! (I live in > California so it's not something I can investigate in person.) > > > On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 8:07 AM, Genealogy Guide via < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > In response to the "why no listing in the SSDI" part of Eva's question, > > not all U.S. citizens have Social Security numbers, even today. Laws for > > registration and collection have changed over the years. Some categories > of > > workers used to be exempt. Some who have never been employed might not > have > > had reason for an SSN. This includes my aged mentally ill uncle who died > in > > 2012. > > Charlene M. Pipkin, Accredited Genealogist® > > The ICAPGenSM service mark and the Accredited Genealogist® and AG® > > certification marks are > > the sole property of the International Commission for the Accreditation > of > > Professional Genealogists. All Rights Reserved. > > > > On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 6:57 PM, Eva Goodwin via < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > A question for the hive-mind: > > > > Aside from the possibility that an individual was out of the country at > the > > time of death, is there any reason why a U.S. resident who died in 2009 > > would not have a death certificate or be in the Social Security death > > index? > > > > Thanks for sharing thoughts! > > Eva > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word > > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word > > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >