The Social Security Administration's Death Index (SSDI) can be a boon to beginning genealogists. The Social Security number is the most valuable piece of information when seeking a number of other documents. It is essential for ordering paper copies of original death records, obituaries, and more. The SSDI is the first step in obtaining this information.

The Social Security Death Records information has not been updated for several years. However, the majority of genealogists are looking for information about people who passed away several years ago so that lack of current entries is usually not a huge drawback.

If you can only trace your U.S. ancestry back to your grandparents or possibly great-grandparents, the Social Security Administration can help you find where they were born, the names of their parents, and more. The SSDI can be especially helpful for those researching immigrants as the data often shows where the individual was born in "the old country." Sometimes it will show the exact location of the town or a country that no longer exists, although that is not guaranteed.

The Social Security Administration was created by an act of law in 1935 as part of President Roosevelt's New Deal program. The act laid out a retirement system for many Americans, although not all. The act also created a new governmental agency to manage the program. The Social Security Administration has since become one of the largest agencies in the U.S. Federal Government.

The Social Security Administration's Death Index (SSDI) originally was a database of deceased persons who received Social Security Benefits. The Social Security Administration started computerizing records in 1962. This made it possible to produce an index of people who had Social Security numbers and are deceased. Most death records prior to 1962 were never computerized and therefore do not appear in the SSDI although a few exceptions do exist. Some online Web sites advertise that the data they possess will contain information about deaths "as early as 1937," but that claim is a bit misleading; 99.9% of the information is for 1962 and later.

Initially, the Social Security Administration only recorded the deaths of individuals who were receiving retirement benefits from the Administration. Those who died before reaching retirement age were not listed. Neither were those who had different retirement systems, such as railroad workers, school teachers, and other municipal, state, and federal employees. In the 1970s the railroad and many other retirement systems were merged into the Social Security system. Deaths of those retirees then started appearing in the SSDI.

In the late 1980s and after, all deaths in the U.S. were reported to the Social Security Administration and recorded in the SSDI. You can find deaths of children and non-retired adults listed for the 1990s and later, but not for earlier years.

Because legal aliens in the U.S. can obtain a Social Security card, their names may appear in the SSDI if their deaths were reported, even if the death occurred overseas.

The online SSDI databases contain the following information fields:

Social Security number

Surname

Given Name

Date of Death

Date of Birth

Last Known Residence

Location of Last Benefit

Date and Place of Issuance

You can access the Social Security Death Index at no charge on a number of Web sites, including the following:

New England Historic Genealogical Society https://www.americanancestors.org/search/category-search/344/vital-records-incl-bible-cemetery-church-and-ssdi

Ancestry.com: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) offer the Social Security Death Index on their popular Family Search site at https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535

Keep in mind, however, that the online SSDI database is only an index -- an abbreviated listing. The Social Security Administration holds additional information that can be a genealogical jackpot. The index listing of an ancestor is merely your ticket to this jackpot.

From 1936 on, anyone who has applied for a Social Security Card filled out an application form (SS-5) that the U.S. Government keeps on file. This application form (SS-5) contains the following information:

Full name

*Full name at birth (including maiden name)

*Present mailing address

Age at last birthday

Date of birth

*Place of birth (city, county, state)

*Father's full name "regardless of whether living or dead"

*Mother's full name, including maiden name, "regardless of whether living or dead"

*Sex and race

*Ever applied for SS number/Railroad Retirement before? Yes/No

*Current employer's name and address

*Date signed

*Applicant's signature

The items marked with an asterisk are not available in the online SSDI database but are available in the original SS-5 applications.

The SS-5 form is obviously much more valuable to the genealogist than the limited information shown in the online death index. The Social Security Administration can supply photocopies of the original Social Security application form (the SS-5) to anyone who requests information on a deceased individual. You can obtain a photocopy of the SS-5 form by writing to the Social Security Administration.

The SSA charges $21 for each individual SS-5 copy if you can provide the Social Security number of the deceased person, $29 if you cannot provide the number. (A computer extract is available for $16, but those extracts do not include the names of the individual's parents nor the place of birth.) The SSA is not in the business of doing genealogical research and cannot, by law, expend Social Security Trust Fund money for purposes not related to the operation of the Social Security program. The $21 fee is intended to offset the cost to the government whenever SSA provides information from its files for non-program purposes.

To obtain the photocopy of the original SS-5, you must fill out Form SSA-711, the "Request for Deceased Individual's Social Security Record," available at https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-711.pdf.

There is a fee of $21.00 U.S. for most records requests. Send your request and check to:

Social Security Administration

OEO DEBS FOIA

P.O. Box 33022

Baltimore, Maryland 21290-3022

If you want to obtain the SS-5 forms for more than one person, it is suggested that you mail multiple forms individually (in different envelopes) and include separate checks. Be patient. You may have to wait several months for the response to your request(s).

Social Security Numbers

It is interesting to note that you can tell where a Social Security Number was issued simply by looking at the first few digits of the number. This does not tell where the person was born, only where he or she was living when the number was issued. Nonetheless, it can be a valuable clue as to where to look for additional information.

The Social Security Account Number (SSAN) is divided into three sets of digits. For example, let’s take 123-45-6789. The 3 digits in the first group indicate the state or territory in which the number was originally issued. The second group of 2 numbers is used to define the people within the state. The third group of 4 digits is simply issued in numerical sequence.

The following list shows the area indicated by first 3 digits:

001-003 New Hampshire

004-007 Maine

008-009 Vermont

010-034 Massachusetts

035-039 Rhode Island

040-049 Connecticut

050-134 New York

135-158 New Jersey

159-211 Pennsylvania

212-220 Maryland

221-222 Delaware

223-231 Virginia

232-236 West Virginia

237-246 North Carolina

247-251 South Carolina

252-260 Georgia

261-267 Florida

268-302 Ohio

303-317 Indiana

318-361 Illinois

362-386 Michigan

387-399 Wisconsin

400-407 Kentucky

408-415 Tennessee

416-424 Alabama

425-428 Mississippi

429-432 Arkansas

433-439 Louisiana

440-448 Oklahoma

449-467 Texas

468-477 Minnesota

478-485 Iowa

486-500 Missouri

501-502 North Dakota

503-504 South Dakota

505-508 Nebraska

509-515 Kansas

516-517 Montana

518-519 Idaho

520 Wyoming

521-524 Colorado

525 New Mexico (also 585 below)

526-527 Arizona

528-529 Utah

530 Nevada

531-539 Washington

540-544 Oregon

545-573 California

574 Alaska

575-576 Hawaii

577-579 District of Columbia

580 U.S. Virgin Islands

581-585 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa

585 New Mexico (some 585 numbers)

586-699 Unassigned

700-729 Railroad Retirement Board

730-899 Unassigned

A few Social Security Numbers beginning with a 9 have been issued, but these are very rare.

Whether you’re just getting starting on your family research or picking up on details of lines of descent, Social Security Death records can provide you with information and leads that speed and validate your findings.

Here is a tip for everyone who uses the World Wide Web: You can control font sizes.

I often receive e-mail messages from readers stating that the fonts on www.eogn.com or other web sites are too big or too small. As you surf the web, you will undoubtedly find some sites that have fonts too big or too small for your monitor.

Are you aware that YOU control the font sizes as displayed on your screen?

When I ask, I find that some people are using tablet computers with 5-inch display screens, others are using14-inch monitors, still others are using 32-inch monitors, and still others use everything in between as well. Resolution sizes vary from 800-by-600 pixels to very high resolutions. No wonder these folks have problems with fonts; there are so many different monitors and video cards in use.

Font sizes specified by web designers are only the default values. The default values are compromises as it is impossible to select one size of font that is appropriate for all sizes of monitors, all resolutions, and the vision preferences of all users. In all cases, YOU are the one who has the final control of the font sizes displayed on your monitor.

For the majority of Windows, Macintosh, Chromebook, Linux, and other computers, to INCREASE the font size, hold down the CONTROL key (Macintosh users hold down the COMMAND KEY) and then press the PLUS Key. Press the Plus key more than once to increase the font size more than once.

For the majority of computers, to DECREASE the font size, hold down the CONTROL key (Macintosh users hold down the COMMAND KEY) and then press the MINUS Key. Press the Minus key more than once to decrease the font size more than once.

This works on the majority of web browsers but it is always possible that the web browser installed in your computer might be an exception. Check the documentation (help files) to see what the keystrokes are for your web browser.

University of New Orleans history professor Mary Niall Mitchell is collaborating with New Orleans public school teachers, museum directors and other community leaders to develop a K-12 curriculum using Freedom on the Move’s (FOTM) database of advertisements seeking runaway enslaved people.

University of New Orleans history professor Mary Niall Mitchell is a lead historian for the digital database Freedom on the Move and director of the Midlo Center for New Orleans Study at UNO.

The digital database, which Mitchell is a lead historian, is the largest digital collection of newspaper advertisements for people escaping from North American slavery. Culled from 18th- and 19th-century U.S. newspapers, the ads, placed by enslavers, are used to document the lives of people escaping bondage.

The goal of the public engagement history pilot program, according to FOTM historians, is to take learning “into the streets, to help students engage with the histories of enslaved people that can be tied to both the environment and the particular topography of the city of New Orleans and its environs.”

Following classroom instruction students will explore New Orleans and the region to visualize the social, spatial and cultural histories of enslaved people and then develop their own public-facing projects, including maps, visual art, spoken word, digital and video pieces.

FOTM received a nearly $150,000 grant in May from The National Historical Publications and Records Commission, an arm of The National Archives, to create a pilot program that could be replicated nationally.

With cost sharing from UNO and its partners, the pilot engagement program is a $300,000 project, said Mitchell, who is also director of the Midlo Center for New Orleans Study at UNO. The Midlo Center is administering the grant.

The pilot program is expected start in the fall of 2021 with professional development training.

The collaboration brings together historians, curriculum innovators, teachers, museum professionals and urban planners with the support of the Midlo Center, community spaces and artists.

Each of the groups will play a vital role in helping students engage with the advertisements in the FOTM databases and the stories of enslaved people that it contains.

You can read more in an announcement published in the University of New Orleans web site at: https://bit.ly/3zmS5lr.

Several times a year for almost three decades, D.C. resident Calvin Osborne has suited up in a Civil War uniform to reenact the stories of Black soldiers who fought for the abolition of slavery.

Ever since he saw the 1989 movie “Glory,” about one of the Union Army’s first Black regiments, Osborne said he has felt a calling to honor Civil War troops of color.

“That movie shook my soul,” said Osborne, 59, who is the associate director of the D.C. Office of Federal and Regional Affairs. “Until that time, I didn’t know that Black soldiers had fought for their own freedom.”

Osborne joined the District’s Black Civil War reenactment group, Company B, and is now president of the volunteer organization. He said he has found purpose in researching the lives of Black Civil War soldiers, most of whom were once enslaved.

But then last year, he found out about an even more personal connection to the Civil War: He learned his great-great-grandfather, William Lacy, had escaped slavery at age 14, then fought in the Civil War.

You can read more in an article by Cathy Free published in the Washington Post at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/07/21/civil-war-black-soldier-grandfather/.

The following announcement was written by the North of Ireland Family History Society:

This September sees the return of the popular DNA School run by the North of Ireland Family History Society and this time it is online. Previously it was held in-person at the society’s research library near Belfast and the society frequently got comments from people living overseas wishing they could attend. The society hopes that the new online DNA School will attract the Irish and Scots-Irish diaspora or indeed anyone wanting to make the most of the opportunities that DNA research allows. There is huge interest these days in using DNA to help with genealogy research and the aim of the school is to make the whole subject more understandable by helping attendees improve their skills and knowledge.

A spokesperson said that the society is very pleased that Jonny Perl, the developer behind the popular DNA Painter tool, will be a speaker this year. Jonny has family roots in Northern Ireland where the society is based so he is an ideal instructor. American genealogist David Allen Lambert recently said:

“What Jonny has done for genealogy and DNA analysis never ceases to amaze me”.

Classes will last for around 90 minutes – usually a one-hour talk followed by a question and answer session. All four types of DNA will be covered (X, Y, mitochondrial and autosomal). Classes will provide practical advice to allow concepts to be understood and new skills to be learned. There will be a focus on making progress on DNA research within Ireland, however, classes are suitable for anyone using DNA research to trace their roots. There are two sessions each day, at 3pm and at 7pm BST, so 10am and 2pm ET for anyone wishing to “zoom” across the Atlantic.

As a bonus, attendees will be invited to the NIFHS monthly DNA interest group, where a wide range of DNA topics are discussed. These meetings are a great way of keeping up to date with DNA developments throughout the year and are an opportunity to ask questions.

The DNA School will be held from Monday 6th to Friday 10th September. The full class list is:

· Achieving Success with DNA
· Using DNA Painter
· Using X Matches in your DNA Research
· The Advantages of Y-DNA
· The Advantages of mtDNA
· The Leeds Method
· The DNA Family Matching Tool
· Stories from the Ballycarry and Islandmagee DNA Projects
· Using the Chromosome Browser Effectively
· Ethnicity Estimates

The classes are £10 each or all 10 classes can be booked together at a discounted rate of £80.

To book online and to find more details, please visit www.nifhs.org/courses

Genealogists love scanners. I often get asked, which is the best scanner? Or the best portable portable scanner? Occasionally, I get asked which is the best scanner for use on photographs?

As a single person writing lots of articles daily, I find it impossible to answer that question. I would have to purchase a number of scanners and then spend hundreds of hours testing all of them. As a sole author, I find that to be impractical. HOWEVER, there are other sources of data that have done exactly that with their teams of employees.

I am always leery of may "reviews" published online proclaiming that one product or another is the best. Many of these so-called "reviews" are actually thinly-veiled advertisements, written by someone who is actually promoting his or her employer's product.

Two sources I do trust for publishing factual and accurate online reviews or PCMag.com and Wirecutter.com. They seem to always be impartial and describe things accurately. (Wirecutter is owned by the New York Times.)

To read about recommended portable scanners, take a look at https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-scanners, https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-photo-scanners, and at: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-portable-document-scanner/.

American schoolchildren always learn of the United States Declaration of Independence, printed July 4, 1776. They are also told that a copy (not the original) is on view at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

The same schoolchildren may or may not be told that 200 copies were printed on July 4, 1776. What they usually are not told is that at least 26 copies are known to still exist. What fascinates me is that three of those copies are held in one place: The National Archives in Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England.

Yes, The National Archives of Great Britain has more original 1776 copies than does the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

In 1776, one copy was officially entered into the Congressional Journal and the additional copies were distributed, some by horseback, throughout the colonies to be read aloud to colonists and the militia. In addition, one copy was sent to King George III. I guess the Colonials felt they should notify the King that his subjects in the 13 North American colonies were rebelling.

Two other copies came from senior officers of the British Army and Navy who were commanding troops in North America at the time. It isn’t clear if the documents were sent directly to the officers or if they obtained the copies from captured documents.

I saw the documents in Kew (a neighborhood of London) on a trip I made a few years ago. They certainly looked the same as the copy I had seen at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. a few years earlier!

You can read more in Wikipedia at 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_history_of_the_United_States_Declaration_of_Independence. 

If you love privacy, there's a lot to love about Signal. This is another "off-topic" article but one that every computer owner who cares about privacy should be aware of:

The secure messaging app Signal has been around for years. But thanks to heightened awareness of the need for privacy the app recently exploded with new users. 

Known for its end-to-end encryption and independent structure as a non-profit organization run by a foundation — not a big tech company — Signal has previously been the communication method of choice for activists, people in the hacker community, and others concerned about privacy.

In recent years, Signal has also been investing in more infrastructure and features to support its users. That's a good thing: Signal first saw an increase in users in the spring of 2020 as people participating in anti-racist protests around the murder of George Floyd realized how closely law enforcement was surveilling them and asking companies to hand over user data. It’s only become more popular since then.

So, thinking about joining Signal? Bottom line: If you care about privacy, it’s a good idea. Here’s what you need to know.

OK, so what is Signal?

Signal is a free, privacy-focused messaging and voice talk app you can use on Apple and Android smartphones and via desktop. All you need is a phone number to join. You can text or make voice or video calls with friends, either one-on-one or in groups, and use emoji reactions or stickers just like in other apps. But there’s one big difference: Signal is actually really private.

You can read all about Signal at: https://bit.ly/3iunprx.

NOTE: This article is "off topic." It has nothing to do with the normal topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, DNA, lifestyles of our ancestors, and similar topics. However, it does reflect interest in computing and other state-of-the-art technology and I suspect many readers of this newsletter are also interested in those topics so I am including it.

If you are looking only for articles relating to genealogy and related topics, you might want to skip this article.

Quoting a new article on Microsoft's web site at https://bit.ly/3isPsaU:

"Today we’re excited to announce Windows 365, a cloud service that introduces a new way to experience Windows 10 or Windows 11 (when it’s generally available later this calendar year) for workers from interns and contractors to software developers and industrial designers. Windows 365 takes the operating system to the Microsoft Cloud, securely streaming the full Windows experience—including all your apps, data, and settings—to your personal or corporate devices. This approach creates a fully new personal computing category, specifically for the hybrid world: the Cloud PC."

Another quote from the same web site:

"Much like how we’ve embraced the cloud for other products, our vision for a Windows 365 Cloud PC is to deliver a new way to experience Windows through the power of the cloud—while solving both novel and traditional challenges for organizations. This new paradigm isn’t just about allowing and securing remote access. The user experience is more important than ever for attracting and retaining talent, improving productivity, and ensuring security.

"The Cloud PC draws on the power of the cloud and the capabilities of the device to provide a powerful, simple, and secure full Windows 10 or Windows 11 experience that you can use to empower your workforce, regardless of location or device. Windows 365 provides an instant-on boot experience that enables users to stream all their personalized applications, tools, data, and settings from the cloud across any device including your Mac, iPad, Linux device, and Android. The Windows experience is consistent, no matter the device. You can pick up right where you left off, because the state of your Cloud PC remains the same, even when you switch devices. You can get the same work done on a laptop in a hotel room, a tablet from their car between appointments, or your desktop while you’re in the office. Seasonal workers also can ramp on and off according to the needs of the business, allowing the organization to scale for busy periods without the complicated logistical and security challenges of issuing new hardware. Further, companies can be more targeted in how they outfit specialized workers in creative, analytics, engineering, or scientific roles who need greater compute power and access to critical applications."

The article goes on to describe Microsoft's latest release: the Windows 365 Cloud PC.

If you only have one computer and have no desire to add more or a newer computer, this new product won't interest you. However, if you are thinking of purchasing a new and more powerful Windows computer or perhaps an additional laptop, tablet, or perhaps a second computer for the office or for home, this article will explain how to gain a more powerful system at (perhaps) a cheaper price.

The Windows 365 Cloud PC is intended to be used as your only computer but available at multiple locations. This piece of magic is accomplished by having the customer rent a new, high-powered Windows system that is installed "in the cloud." That is, the new Windows system will be installed in (possibly multiple) data centers, possibly in different locations around the world, and being accessed via low-powered computers remotely through the Internet. This "remote computer" could be an older, lower-powered Windows computer or even a Macintosh, a Linux system, a laptop, an iPad, or even a (less than $100) Raspberry Pi. It also could be easily portable so that the user may access the Windows 365 Cloud PC from any location: from home, from the office, from on-board an airliner, or perhaps from a hotel room in a foreign county.

The Windows 365 Cloud PC has almost all the same capabilities as a standard Windows PC and can be used as the user's only computer (not counting the remote computer that simply provides a screen, keyboard, and mouse).

I travel a lot and would love to travel with a tiny laptop, iPad, or Android tablet computer and to still have access to all my files and to a high-powered computer from any location, even from Singapore or from Moscow. If you travel frequently, you may want the same thing.

If you do not travel much and have no need for a second, remote computer, this probably will not appeal to you.

To read more about this new Windows 365 Cloud PC, read the full introduction on Microsoft's web site at: https://bit.ly/3isPsaU.

This new device is generating a lot of publicity and you can find dozens of more articles, each describing the new product from a different author's viewpoint, by going to any internet search engine and performing a search for "Windows 365 Cloud PC".

I expect to write about my own "hands on" experience from a genealogist's viewpoint as soon as these things become available and I can get my hands on one (remotely, of course).

There is a Constitutional issue brewing in the United States concerning the use of genetic genealogy to solve major violent crimes. Which is greater: the constitutional guarantees of personal privacy or the need to find and apprehend the culprit?

An article by Dan Grossman published in the WTVR.COM web site summarizes both sides of these contradictory issues. You can find the article at: https://bit.ly/3xQqo44.