Online genealogy has one free resource available where just about everyone can expect to find an ancestor or two. That’s the Social Security Death Index, available at Rootsweb.

At last count, it contained nearly 80 million names of Americans who received Social Security benefits from the 1930’s until the present.

The greatest benefit the SSDI offers the genealogist is that it pinpoints the death date and place of an ancestor, along with a last place of residence. This information can help find possible obituaries and death notices, funeral home records and cemetery records. In many cases, the individual’s birth date is also given, and the state in which they received their social security card.

Since not all deaths are reported to the Social Security Administration, not everyone who had a social security number will be listed. The records were computerized in 1962, so individuals who died before then will also not be included.

The SSDI can be found here: http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/