« Reply #7 on: Saturday 22 November 08 16:18 GMT (UK) »
If a person died before 1955 I don't believe they will be in the SSDI as well it should be remembered that someone who was born in the 1920s could still be alive.
Searching with a middle initial might limit the number of hits you receive as most people did not included it when they applied, in my experience.
Also, sometimes people did not apply for their SSN using their full name. For example, I've seen Archibald's whose SSN is in the name Archie and William's listed as Bill, etc.
One other thing I have seen results where a person's birth date has been off - some by a day or two but also some where the day/month have been correct but the year has been a different by a year or two.
If you have an exact date of birth for the person you are searching for, Ancestry's SSDI database allows you to search by that so you might get lucky although you have to keep in mind what I said above.
Canada: Patterson, Brown, Haidenger/Heidinger, Meyer, Johnston(e), Gorsuch, Kitchin/Kitchen
United States: Patterson, Smith, Brown, Vance, Bower(s), Newberry, Best, Love, Gorsuch
England (Northumberland): Brown, Whitfield, Henderson
Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, East Lothian): Johnston(e), Bell, Galloway, Campbell, Robertson, Williamson, Thomson, Crawford
Germans from Russia: Haidenger/Heidinger, Meyer, Meach, Lorenz