SSDI (Social Security Death Index) started in the 1930s, when the first Social Security numbers were first issued.  Besides one's death, in order to get one into the Social Security Death index, somebody has to notify the Social Security Administration and to make a claim for survivors benefits.

The SSDI is created from the Social Security Master Death Index which is sold to companies who then place it on line for researchers to use.   If you found a person in the SSDI, the associated document one would usually send for is called an SS-5. It is the application the person filled out when he applied for a Social Security number.  It will not provide the information you are asking about, but could be helpful if you don't know anything about the US location of this person. The SSDI lists the state in which the SS# was issued.

It can be very helpful if the person filled it out completely -parents' names, and sometimes exact places of birth.  Name of spouse if married, home & work address. It can also be very incomplete, especially if the only record they still have is the barest of information entered into their files.  It is also one of the more costly records $27.00 US funds

If you don't know where in the US your person was located, at least it will give you a place to start.  However, you can at least figure out where he applied for his number, by looking at the chart here
http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/geocard.html

The Social Security Administration has a web site
http://www.ssa.gov/
Click on the link for history, research & data - on the right side of the page.

Social Security E-News - a free monthly newsletter.  You can sign up for updates on disability, retirement, survivors, laws and regulations and more
http://www.ssa.gov/enews/

To view prior issues in HTML format visit
http://www.ssa.gov/enews/prior.htm

My Family
Commercial site that offers Social Security information for a modest fee
Access the Social Security Index | CD or Online

Steve Morse's site at
http://www.stevemorse.org/ssdi/ssdi.html
allows you to conduct searches on 4 different sites offering SSDI databases with different search options.

FAQ: Obtaining a copy of a Social Security Number Application - http://members.aol.com/reginamari/ancestry/ssnfaq.html  
 Also JewishGen FAQ's - Document regarding Social Security info -
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/faq.html   )

Social Security is automatically available to any legal resident of the united States who is employed in this country.  One is not required to be a U.S. citizen to pay into the system.  Therefore, citizenship information would not be pertinent on the application.

Note: not everyone who has, or had, a Social Security card will appear on the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).  The SSDI lists only those persons for whom a lump sum death benefit was paid.  Many other enrolled individuals are not listed either because their death was not reported, or they are still living.  If you haven't found your deceased ancestor on the SSDI, but he/she was likely enrolled with the Social Security system, it still may be possible to get a photocopy of his/her original SS-5 form.

You may be able to find the Social Security number in: personal papers; death certificate; funeral home records; records held by financial institutions; voter registration rolls at county courthouse; former employers, etc.  If that doesn't prove of value, the Social Security Administration will provide a research service for $16.50 by contacting them with the full name, date of birth and date of birth to:  Freedom of Information Officer,  4-H-8 Annex Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235.

SSDI - upgrade with 'middle name' data is available, and includes both middle names and name suffixes of some 21 million people, almost a third of the entire index.  The vast majority of these entries are middle initials only.  The benefit to genealogists is to see extra information about an ancestor that would allow us to discriminate between two potential records.  The site is free of charge and available at
http://www.ancestry.com/ssdi 

Social Security Database - this index apparently contains the majority of people who died after 1964.  After you get your information, you can write to the Social Security Administration, cite the "Freedom of Information Act", and receive a copy of the individual's application for a Social Security card.  The cost is $30.00
http://www.familytreelegends.com/ssdi

US Social Security Death Index Records
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/us-ssa.txt

Information,
Applications  
and Forms 

http://www.scruz.net/~elias/hnoh/OTHERRESOURCES8.html             
Some of the information and links include: Application for a Search and/or Certified Copy of a Marriage Record (Pre 1938) NYC; Census Forms; Tax Photos Order Form/New York City Department of Records; Standard Form 180 - Request Pertaining to Military Records;  Library of Congress Catalogs; County Online Tax Roll Links; Freedom of Information Guide; GOVBOT - Government search engine; Locations of State Vital Statistics Offices and hundreds more of vital links.  If nothing else, this is a veritable goldmine of links.

Freedom of Information Form - you can request a form G639 by calling the INS at 1 800 870 3676.  If you need further help, call the INS help line at 1 800 375 5283.  Press 1 for the English option, then wait through the first set of six options and press 9 to talk to an agent.

For a sample Application for Social Security Account, you can also go to
http://www.familytreemaker.com/

Form SSA-L997 - request for Social Security information of a deceased relative.  The charge for this information is $27.00 You may send requests to:

If a person knew where he or she was on a Federal Census year they can petition the Census Bureau for a proof of age at the time of the census.  This has been most helpful in the early days of Social Security and Medicare.

http://www.ancestry.com 
Click on the SSDI and select ANY name (or search any of yours!).  To the right of the name, will be a hotlink to create a letter.

If you have the Social Security Number, you can use

Access the Social Security Index | CD or Online
www.ancestry.com
(visit the site my clicking on my link at the top of this page) and their 'Letter Form Option' which generates a form letter to the Social Security Administration with all of the necessary information.  Be sure that the name which appears on the original SSN application, and the one used, are one and the same and include possible variations, including maiden name, all married surnames and nicknames.  Requests for assistance from the Social Security Administration generally take about 6 weeks.

Social Security Administration Office of Central Records Operations, FOIA Workgroup, PO Box 17772, 300 North Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21235.  Request Form SS-5 to obtain a Social Security Number.  (Note that one cannot do all their research on the Internet).  The database called the "Social Security Death Index, SSDI" is incomplete and inappropriately named.

Social Security Death Index (SSDI) - latest information is available at http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/us-ssa.txt
or via e-mail to us-ssa@mail.jewishgen.org

Social Security Death Index - also offered by Ancestry.com at Access the Social Security Index | CD or Online
http://www.ancestry.com/searchelp.htm 

if you find the person you are looking for, from the ancestry site; you will find on the right hand side of the page, a box designated "Write Letter".  Click on that and a form letter, with your individual information already imprinted will pop up.  Follow the further instructions.  There is a $7.00 charge per request - if multiple checks, note the check number on each request.  Be aware, when using this form letter, that the letter will indicate the applicant's name as it appeared on the original SSN application, especially true in the case of women who were married more than once.  Include, in your letter, all possible variations of the applicant's name, including maiden name, married surnames and nicknames. 
http://ssdi.ancestry.com/
and then follow the instructions.

Answers to questions (FAQ's) regarding the SSDI may be found at
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/ssdi/faq.htm

SS-5 Application

The Social Security Administration makes copies of the original Social Security application form available to third parties who request information on a deceased individual.  The 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"

To write for a copy of this form, contact
Social Security Administration
4 M 5 South Block Street
Baltimore, MD 21201 

or
Social Security Administration
Office of Earnings Operations
FOIA Workgroup
300 N. Greene Street
PO Box 33022
Baltimore, Maryland 21290

Phone: 410 965 1727. 
Request Form SS-5 (SSA Application For A Social Security Number), or send a letter with a copy of a death certificate or date of death, with your check or money order to Social Security Freedom of Information Office
4H8 Annex Building
6401 Security Blvd.
Baltimore, MD. 

If you know the date, enclose $7.00 or your credit card number and expiration date;  if you do not know the number, enclose $16.50 or your credit card number and expiration date.  Some local SS offices will do a quick computer search at no charge.  You can also obtain a copy from the LDS Family History Center at 
http://www.familytreemaker.com/

Why you may not find someone in SSDI - the individual did not have a Social Security card.  Before 1951, it is entirely possible that your ancestor did not have a Social Security Number.  The self-employed, farmers, military, government employees, some professional groups (doctors, lawyers), did not receive coverage until the 1950s and 1960s.  Certain members of the family may have never had the need to enroll in Social Security (retired individuals, housewives, etc.).

The individual had a Social Security card, but his/her death was not reported to the Social Security Administration.  The SSDI is not exhaustive.  It only contains those deaths reported to the SSA.

The individual is in the file, but original data was reported or recorded incorrectly.

Wife's Social Security - "A wife "never" is or was given the same Social Security number as her spouse.  However, a wife who receives Social Security benefits based on her husband's work would be given a Claim Number that is her husband's number with a "B" at the end.  That number would appear on her Medicare card (once Medicate started in the mid-1960s) and sometimes family members who survived her would think it was her Social Security number and put it on her death certificate as such. A woman who never worked and paid into Social Security would probably never have applied for a Social Security number of her own - at least not until about the 1970s.  Or the 1960s if she was applying to get Medicare under a special program based on her age.  It was not required that a person getting benefits on another person's record have their own number until about the 1970s."

"A man born in 1873 who died in 1950, probably never had a Social Security number unless he was still working in 1937, in a job covered under Social Security.  But keep in mind that by that point, he was at least 63 years old, and in those days that was towards the end of the average lifespan.  And self-employed people were not covered under Social Security until 1951.  If husband and wife applied for Social Security numbers at the same time, they would sometimes get consecutive numbers"  From a posting by Lynne Shapiro

Note:  Please let me know if there is a favorite link of yours that is not included in my site and I will be happy to add it to Jewish Web Index