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Landing the records

Arkansas documents its lands The one thing the New World had in abundance that the Old World didn’t was running room. Land in abundance was the siren call of the New World, promising ownership to thousands who couldn’t have dreamed of owning land in the...

Getting that SSN

A timely question about getting the SSN Reader Amy Jacobsen asks a great question that just happens to be very timely. “I am having trouble understanding my Grandmother’s Social Security number on her death certificate,” she writes. “I would like to know the...

SSDI access now limited

Budget bill bans public access for three years Yes, the budget bill was signed into law. No, there wasn’t any Christmas miracle. Yes, the language that eliminates public access to the Social Security Death Master File — also known as the Social Security...

SSDI: The fat lady sings

SSDI to be closed for three years They say it isn’t over until the Fat Lady sings. Well, the Fat Lady of the 113th Congress belted out the last bitter off-key note in the song of public access to the Social Security Death Index at 4:28 p.m. yesterday....

One last chance

House adopts SSDI limit At 6:26 p.m. EST yesterday, the United States House of Representatives did the wrong thing. Oh, The Legal Genealogist will grant that the lower house of Congress may have acted for the right reasons — wanting to avoid the uncertainty and...

Vote looms on SSDI closure

SSDI access part of budget bill NOTE: The fight in the House is already over — they voted last night (Thursday, 12 December) and we lost (see today’s blog post, Friday, 13 December). Please turn your attention now to your Senators! The genealogical...

Getting involved on the SSDI

A simple two-step plan Reader Bill Williams responded almost immediately to yesterday’s blog post about yet another bill being introduced to limit, and eventually end, public access to the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). “And what is the thing that is...

Ordering the SS-5

Ordering applications from the SSA NOTE: This post is outdated. Please head over to Ordering the SS-5: 2020 style. Reader Janet Buchanan is helping a friend, now in her 80s, with a major conundrum: wading through too many names for her paternal grandparents. The...