A recent addition to FamilySearch's raft of databases is the US Social Security Death Index. This index contains records of deaths reported to the Social Security Administration from 1937 on. Most entries are from 1962 or later, but the index encompasses some people born as early as the late 19th century. The SSDI can be a useful tool to find birth and death dates as well as a last place of residence. This information is useful in helping you find a death certificate or obituary.

Searching the SSDI is extremely flexible. Even if you're not sure of an ancestor's last name, to use an extreme example, you can enter just a first name and find, say, all the people named John born in 1895 whose Social Security number was issued in Iowa. Or just enter a last name and a death date to find, for example, everyone with a Social Security card and the surname Graham who died in 1942. The search will even ferret out similar spellings. The SSDI also lists the place where the death benefit payment was sent, which is a potential lead to living relatives. Because the SSDI also lists where your ancestor was living when issued a Social Security number, you may be able to trace that person to his or her state of birth. Also, once you locate a Social Security number, you can write to get even more information from the Social Security Administration. If you can't find your relative in the SSDI, keep checkingthe database is updated periodically. And other versions of the SSDI are available at ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com, www.ancestry.com and familytreemaker.genealogy.com.