Author Archives: Site Admin

SSDI Entries Not Always Precise

Remember that not all entries in the SSDI are created equally. My grandfather’s SSDI entry only indicates a year and month of death.

Consequently if I enter his date of death-7 December 1968 in the search box, he will not be located as the “7” is not one of the fields in his entry.

Always consider making your searches less specific and keep in mind the reality of how many matches you are going to get. There won’t be many Cecil Neills in the database to begin with. A death year of 1968 is most likely precise enough.

Search for the Ladies at the BLM Site

Don’t forget to search for your female ancestors at the BLM site http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/. They may have applied for bounty land as a widow or filed a federal land claim in their own name. Don’t forget the female half of your ancestry.

County Boundary Changes–Newberry Library

The Newberry Library has a website, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/, which has maps and detailed bibliographic information on county boundary changes.

Might be worth a look.

Iowa Counties Historical Atlases

The Iowa Digital Library has digital images online free of county plat maps for several Iowa Counties. The browse page can be viewed by clicking on this link.

A Different Take on the Social Security Master Death File

This website has the Social Security Master Death File in a slightly different format. You can click on the year, then click on the day of the month and it will pull up a list (give it some time) of everyone in the Social Security Master Death File who was born on that date.

Of course the Master Death File is not perfect but this is an interesting way to search it.

Go here: http://www.ssdmf.info/

scroll down to the years and choose your year. Then choose the date within that year. I easily got a list of everyone in the Social Security Master Death File born on 27 January 1917.