Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak has a column on Ancestry.com here that vividly illustrates the potential pitfalls of using the data in the Social Security Death Index.
Megan's mother died recently, and while all the data in the SSDI entry is correct, a researcher following the leads in the index might not recognize the entry or might be very frustrated by it. Read the column for the details.
I have not had an experience like this - my parents SSDI entries were logical and correct with no surprises.
If you are unable to find someone in the SSDI, consider that the first name you knew them by may be a middle name, that a divorcee might use her maiden name, that a widow might have married again, that they might have died in another state, etc.
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