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Why can’t I find my grandfather in the Social Security Death Index?

November 16th, 2011 Leave a comment Go to comments

Hi, I have many details about my grandfather but I can’t find him in any sort of records at all. His name was Charles Michael "Skippy" Hopper Jr. He was born on April 26, 1951 Bronx, NYC and he died on June 20, 1980 in New York. He was in the U.S. Army after Vietnam and trained at Fort Dix. He was stationed in Germany in the mid 1970s’. His younger siblings were Robert Hopper and Marion Hopper (Dovico). I have records on both of his parents, Charles Hopper 1925-1987 and Marion Cerone (Serone or Ceroni) 1928- He married my grandmother Linda Fuchs on July 4, 1970. My mom (their only child) was later adopted and she never knew her dad. He was also an award winning runner. He committed suicide on June 20th 1980. I can’t find any thing on him. Can someone please help?

The SSDI can be incomplete. In general people are always in it if they received a SS benefit. Since your grandfather was young he may not have every received a benefit and his death cert may not have been forwarded and attached properly. If his wife didn’t claim a death benefit I wouldn’t automatically expect him to be in it. If no benefit was ever collected they may or may not be in it. Also, it’s an index compiled by private companies based on information they receive from the SS office and not compiled by the SS office, so there’s room for human error in transcribing the data.

If you know where he died, ordering his death certificate from the jurisdiction is your surest way to get the information you want. It will be in both a state and county agency, usually with vital statistics, health, or registrar in the name. The cert will cost around $12-25.

Add: New York state doesn’t keep certs for the 5 burroughs, so if he died in the Bronx go here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vr/vrbappl.shtml

  1. cpcii
    November 16th, 2011 at 07:31 | #1

    Have you been able to obtain Birth, Marriage & Death certificates from him? If he was in the military you should be able to contact the DOD for any of his records that are available.

    Good luck in your research.
    References :
    Birth: http://www.health.state.ny.us/vital_records/birth.htm
    Death: http://www.health.state.ny.us/vital_records/genealogy.htm
    Marriage: http://www.health.state.ny.us/vital_records/marriage.htm
    Adoption: http://www.health.state.ny.us/vital_records/adoption.htm

  2. shortgilly
    November 16th, 2011 at 08:14 | #2

    The SSDI can be incomplete. In general people are always in it if they received a SS benefit. Since your grandfather was young he may not have every received a benefit and his death cert may not have been forwarded and attached properly. If his wife didn’t claim a death benefit I wouldn’t automatically expect him to be in it. If no benefit was ever collected they may or may not be in it. Also, it’s an index compiled by private companies based on information they receive from the SS office and not compiled by the SS office, so there’s room for human error in transcribing the data.

    If you know where he died, ordering his death certificate from the jurisdiction is your surest way to get the information you want. It will be in both a state and county agency, usually with vital statistics, health, or registrar in the name. The cert will cost around $12-25.

    Add: New York state doesn’t keep certs for the 5 burroughs, so if he died in the Bronx go here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vr/vrbappl.shtml
    References :

  3. Barry
    November 16th, 2011 at 08:34 | #3

    Nick,

    I just spent almost an hour in an attempt to help you out and I’m stumped as well. I can find NO official record of him except the New York Public Record, volume 2 that just gives his birth and death dates. He is also included in the Edmonds Family Tree, (reference Ancerstry.com). I thought that he may not have applied for a SSN but, if he did in fact joint the military in the 1970’s, he would have to have one.

    Good luck..
    References :

  4. wendy c
    November 16th, 2011 at 09:07 | #4

    It sure isn’t like others haven’t looked as well. I don’t have the answer…there is one, I am sure.
    Since mom was adopted.. it might block being able to get the death record. You do understand, of course, that more recent records can be harder to access.
    I don’t see that the siblings are deceased, and perhaps, not his mother. About now, I would be heading for facebook, to see if you can open any lines of communication. Dovico is a rare enough name in NY that it may be easier to search…hint.
    edit
    Yahoo does not allow posting certain info on living persons on the board.
    your email is not enabled, so cannot send you a private message.
    References :

  5. Shirley T
    November 16th, 2011 at 09:41 | #5

    Was he drawing social security at the time of death? Up until past several years people who were not drawing social security at time of death did not get on the SSDI. Also they have to be drawing on their own social security number. My mother died in 1976. She had a social security number and actually put into social security in the 1940s. However, she was drawing off my father’s social security. She is not on the SSDI. I have a couple of uncles that died before drawing social security and they are not on it.
    References :

  6. Juanaquena
    November 16th, 2011 at 10:02 | #6

    Someone else asked a similar question about the same person a few days ago. You may wish to connect with each other and share notes:
    http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhYh9iHVTslPe2cOWHqmXz7ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20110830182911AAZgX1V

    Best wishes
    References :

  7. Nothingusefullearnedinschool
    November 16th, 2011 at 10:19 | #7

    All military records are kept in St. Louis. http://www.military.com/benefits/resources/military-records/getting-records-of-military-personnel-or-others If you know where he registered for the draft, contact the county veteran’s service officer there. Local offices are usually much more helpful than State, which is generally more helpful than Federal.

    http://www.familysearch.org may have something on him.
    References :
    life; genealogical research. I was stationed at Ft. Dix….

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