This was just a 'test' for me since I have all of the paperwork (birth certificate - death certificate - autopsy - etc.) I had to fill out after he died - all his military records in papers he kept - and even cancelled checks. Of course I knew his parents and siblings... and I have even traced the family (McConnell) back to the first immigrant - they were of Scottish descent living in N. Ireland and immigrated through Charleston or Wilmington N.C. The four older brothers fought in the Rev. war for he colonists, but my husband's direct ancestor was the 'baby' and sat it out - or so I have been told. He married the daughter (McCurdy) of a Rev. War veteran so I pick up my husband's link to a soldier - and since we had two children, I pretty much have most of his family documented - some work to do but my family is the one twisting me like a pretzel!


    If a person who was not collecting Social Security or was not on 
  Medicare died, and no one (e.g., funeral home) notified SS, then the 
  person did not make it into the SSDI. It pays to search for the younger 
  person's SS# in private papers and other records before ordering a copy 
  of the application for SS card, especially if the person had a common name.

  On short notice the SSA may require us to send a copy of a death 
  certificate if there is none on file, before they will continue to 
  process a request. This happens even if the person would be well over 
  100 years old at the time our request is made. If we do not respond 
  within a few days with a copy of the death certificate, SSA will cancel 
  the request and keep the money for performing the search.

  Housewives who never worked outside the home may turn up in the SSDI 
  because they lived into the age of Medicare or collected on a late 
  husband's account.

  One of the biggest boons of sending for the SS application is that the 
  names of the applicant's parents, including mother's maiden name, are 
  usually listed.

  Immigrant applicants often Americanized the names of their parents, even 
  though the parents didn't emigrate.

  --Ida Skarson McCormick, [log in to unmask], Seattle

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