Free Social Security Death Index Now Available from GenealogyBank

The following announcement was written by GenealogyBank:

Providing the Genealogy Community a Comprehensive, Up-To-Date Resource Essential
for Family History Research

September 10, 2008 (NAPLES, FL) – GenealogyBank, a leading provider of historical and recent newspapers for family history research, announced today that the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) will now be offered free of charge at GenealogyBank.com.

With more than 82 million death records from 1937 to the present, the SSDI is an essential foundation for anyone interested in their family’s past. Best of all, it can be cross-searched with the thousands of newspapers and government documents available through GenealogyBank, offering researchers unsurpassed firsthand perspectives of the triumphs, struggles and daily lives of their American ancestors.

“GenealogyBank’s Social Security Death Index is unique with weekly updates, easy-to-use format and comprehensive coverage,” says Tom Kemp, Genealogy Director for NewsBank, inc. “It’s simply the most comprehensive index online. Making it available for free is our way of giving back to the genealogy community.”

The SSDI has long been valued by genealogists as the basis for family history research. The SSDI contains over 82 million death records from all 50 states, plus Guam, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories; as well as the records of over 17 million Americans born in the 19th century and more than 200,000 who died overseas.

Exclusive features include the full date of death (including day of the week) and the deceased’s age (expressed in years, months and days).

“GenealogyBank’s convenient format saves users time, money and countless headaches,” adds Kemp.

Genealogy sites and blogs are welcome to link to GenealogyBank’s Social Security Death Index.  And for users looking to take their research to the next level, GenealogyBank is the ideal resource for discovering the stories behind your family’s past. It provides access to millions of newspapers articles, obituaries, government documents and more spanning four centuries. Each of these original images can be printed and preserved for family scrapbooks.

Comments

[Leslie McVay]

I think that GenealogyBank is a bit misleading when they state that you can find family names in the recently released SSDI. Persons who died previous to 1963 are not listed as SS did not computerize their records until then. Also persons working for the railroad and professional people will not show up previous to 1963.

[Val]

There are over 1 million names of people who died between 1937-1962 shown in the SSDI. Don't make the mistake of NOT searching for someone because they died prior to 1963. One of the things I like about the SSDI on GenealogyBank is that you can search a span of years.

[JimmyDaGeek]

I found GenealogyBank's "easy-to-use format" not so easy because of their 2-click display and that I have to page & scroll a lot more to find anything. It seems their "comprehensive" version is marketing hype. They don't display anything more than Rootsweb, except a latitude/longitude and calculated age. I'll stick with Rootsweb, thank you.

[Jackie]

I agree with JimmyDaGeek. I've used Rootsweb for many years now in my search for SSNs and have always been successful.