SSDI / Numident Exact-Date Sweep + Albert G. California Candidate Test

Run 2026-10-25. Free public records only, no fees, no accounts, deceased people only. Sources: SortedByName (its surname files transcribe the SSA Numident file, the Social Security Death Index / Death Master File, and the VA BIRLS file), AncientFaces SSDI-derived listings, PeopleLegacy, VA-derived interment lists, and the SJCPL Obituary Index pull already on file (sjcpl-cochran-index-full.md). Rule followed: no full SSNs anywhere in this report. Last four digits only, where a source prints them and they help matching. Labels: VERIFIED = a record states it. CANDIDATE = fits but no record names the link. NOT PINNED = the sweep could not fix the exact day.

Part 1 - Exact death dates

Leora Belle (Etter) Cochran - VERIFIED: died May 3, 1989

• Numident entry (SortedByName, Cochran file): Leora B. Cochran, born 29 April 1898, died 3 May 1989. SSN issued in Indiana (last four 5341). A claim was received at the South Bend, IN field office on 25 January 1966.
• Source: https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_478.html
• This replaces the earlier inference of "about May 1-2, 1989" drawn from the Tribune notice dates (May 3, p. C6 and May 4, p. D15, SJCPL rec/402809). The death itself was May 3, 1989.

Benjamin Thomas Cochran Jr. - VERIFIED: died July 12, 1981; U.S. Army 1953-1955 (new fact)

• Numident entry (SortedByName): born 13 April 1933 in South Bend, son of Benjamin T Cochran (father) and Leora Etter (mother), SSN issued in Indiana (last four 5571), died July 1981 (month only in Numident).
• VA BIRLS entry on the same page gives the exact day and his service: U.S. Army, 6 August 1953 to 9 June 1955; died 12 July 1981.
• Source: https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_59.html
• The July 12, 1981 day matches the SJCPL index (Tribune July 13, 1981, p. 26) and Joel's confirmation. The Army service dates are new to the tree.

Benjamin Thomas Cochran Sr. - NOT PINNED by SSDI (expected; he died before SSDI coverage)

• Numident entry exists (SortedByName): born 23 December 1892, SSN issued in Indiana (last four 5933). It carries NO death date. A Social Security claim was received at the South Bend, IN field office on 29 May 1957.
• Source: https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_59.html
• The SSDI / Death Master File covers deaths from 1962 onward, so his February 1959 death cannot be pinned this way. His exact day still rests on his Indiana death certificate or the Tribune text of Feb 9-10, 1959 (SJCPL rec/320762), both outside the free routes used here. Tree keeps: d. February 1959, South Bend, exact day open.

Samuel S. Cochran - NOT PINNED by SSDI (died 1960, before coverage)

• No SSDI or Numident entry for the South Bend Samuel S. Cochran exists in the SortedByName Cochran file. The Samuel S. entries that do appear (index_706.html and index_707.html) belong to a different man: Samuel S. Cochran of Pennsylvania / West Virginia, born 14 September 1894 in Penn Run, PA, son of Joseph S. Cochran. Ruled out, not merged.
• Sources: https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_706.html and https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_707.html
• His death stays as the SJCPL index has it: about late November 1960, South Bend, 1717 McKinley Ave., Tribune item Nov 30, 1960 (rec/323025). Exact day open.

Vallerie L. Cochran (wife of Samuel S.) - VERIFIED: died September 16, 1990; identity and parents NEW

• Numident entry (SortedByName): "Vallerie L. Cochran, also known as Vallerie Lucille Cochran and Vallerie Niles Honer, born 11 May 1900 in Elkhart, Indiana, daughter of Claude Niles (father) and Neva Weybright, SSN issued in Indiana (last four 6068), died 16 September 1990."
• Source: https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_766.html
• So her maiden name is NILES: Vallerie Lucille (Niles) Cochran, of Elkhart birth, daughter of Claude Niles and Neva Weybright. The alias "Vallerie Niles Honer" is recorded as printed; it may reflect a later marriage after Samuel's 1960 death, but no record read here proves that, so it is noted, not interpreted.
• One SSDI-derived mirror (AncientFaces) gives her birth as May 11, 1899 instead of 1900. The one-year conflict is kept open; the Numident reading (1900) is the primary source. The death date, September 16, 1990, agrees with the SJCPL entry for Vallerie L. Cochran (1990, same 1717 E. McKinley Ave. address, named as Samuel S.'s spouse).
• Match confidence: high. The SJCPL index independently ties a Vallerie L. Cochran to Samuel S. Cochran at the same address, and no other Vallerie Cochran appears in the Indiana records swept.

Walter E. Cochran - SSDI sweep NEGATIVE; SJCPL date stands alone

• No SSDI or Numident entry matching Walter E. Cochran of South Bend (d. 1965) appears in the SortedByName Cochran file, checked across both the Walter E. page and the plain Walter page. The Walter E. entries present are other men (born 1882 MA, 1890 FL claim, 1895 CA claim, 1918 IL, 1926 CO, 1933 KY). One Fold3 SSDI hit found by web search (Walter Cochran, b. Aug 1, 1891, d. Aug 1964, SSN issued Illinois) is a different man and was not merged.
• Sources: https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_786.html and https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_785.html
• His exact date therefore rests on the SJCPL Obituary Index alone: died June 20, 1965, 2645 Tamarac Place, South Bend (Tribune and Mishawaka Times, June 22, 1965; rec/335065). Labeled single-source, not SSDI-confirmed.

Max A. Reeder - VERIFIED: died May 24, 2009 (day confirmed)

• SSDI-derived listing (AncientFaces aggregation of the Social Security Death Index): "Reeder, Max (Feb 21, 1926 - May 24, 2009)."
• The VA-derived interment list for St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park (Interment.net) gives the same dates, Feb 21, 1926 - May 24, 2009, U.S. Navy, WWII. PeopleLegacy independently shows 1926-2009, born South Bend, IN.
• The Tribune obituary ran May 25, 2009, p. B4 (SJCPL rec/480039), consistent with a May 24 death. The day in the tree (May 24, 2009) is confirmed.

Part 2 - The Albert G. Cochran California candidate

The claim under test: Albert G. Cochran, listed in Samuel E. Cochran's 1910 household with no outcome found, went to California, married Emma Jane Vanlue, and had a son Albert G. Cochran Jr. (b. Dec 17, 1919, South Bend; d. Jul 8, 1998, Lucerne Valley, CA) and a daughter Joan Lea (1932-2008).

What the records prove about the younger generation - VERIFIED

• Albert G. Cochran Jr. is real and matches the claim exactly. Numident entry (SortedByName): "Albert G. Cochran, born 17 December 1919 in South Bend, Indiana, son of Albert Cochran (father) and Emma Vaulue [Vanlue], SSN issued in California (last four 7996), died 8 July 1998, while residing in Zip Code 92356-8698." ZIP 92356 is Lucerne Valley, San Bernardino County, CA. An AncientFaces SSDI-derived listing independently shows "Cochran, Albert (Dec 17, 1919 - Jul 8, 1998)."
• Source: https://sortedbyname.com/letter_c/cochran/index_10.html
• TWO MORE SONS of the same couple, new to the tree (Numident father-references, same page):
  • Ted G. Cochran (also Ted Guy Cochran, Teddy Guy Cochran), son of Albert G. Cochran and Emma J. Van Lue, born 14 April 1915 in South Bend, Indiana, SSN issued in California (last four 0973), died 1 July 2000, residing ZIP 89040 (Pahrump, NV).
  • Darrell D. Cochran (Darrell Dean Cochran), son of Albert G. Cochran and Emma J. Vanlue, born 25 December 1929 in South Bend, Indiana (SSN last four 0635), died 31 August 1997, residing ZIP 89502 (Reno, NV).
• So a South Bend couple, Albert G. Cochran and Emma (Vanlue) Cochran, had sons born in South Bend in 1915, 1919, and 1929, and the family was in California by the time the sons took Social Security numbers. The candidate daughter Joan Lea (b. Nov 17, 1932, Los Angeles, per the unverified claim) fits a move west between 1929 and 1932, but Joan herself was not verified here: her Numident entry would sit under an unknown married name.

The test for the elder Albert's link to Samuel - NO NAMING RECORD FOUND; stays CANDIDATE

• No Numident or SSDI entry for the elder Albert G. Cochran himself was found in the SortedByName Cochran file (the Albert G. page was read in full). A different Albert G. Cochran on the same page (wife Annie I. Wilkins; son William Gaines Cochran, b. 1914, Prichard, Alabama) was ruled out.
• No child of Samuel E. Cochran and Florence (Carpenter) Cochran appears anywhere in the Numident file as a father-reference under Samuel E., so no sibling's SS-5 abstract names the family in a way that reaches Albert.
• The California Death Index test could not be completed through free text routes: the CDI (1940-1997) carries the deceased's mother's maiden name, which is exactly the field that would confirm (Carpenter) or kill this link, but every free access point is form-gated (FamilySearch requires a signed-in search; the RootsWeb userdb version is retired; vitalsearch is form and popup based). Web searches for a published CDI transcription naming an Albert Cochran's mother's maiden name returned nothing usable. The elder Albert's place and date of death are themselves unknown, and he may not have died in California at all (two of his sons ended in Nevada).
• Verdict: the California family is VERIFIED as a real South Bend family (Albert G. Cochran + Emma Vanlue, sons Ted, Albert Jr., and Darrell). The elder Albert's identity as Samuel E. Cochran's son remains CANDIDATE: strong circumstantial fit (right name, right city, right generation, and he is absent from the South Bend SJCPL index exactly as a man who left Indiana would be), but no record yet names his parents or his own South Bend origin. Do not merge as proven.
• Records that would settle it: his California (or Nevada) death certificate or CDI entry showing mother's maiden name; a WWI or WWII draft card giving his birth date and place; an obituary for Albert Jr., Ted, or Darrell naming grandparents; or Emma's death record naming her husband's origin.

Summary of changes folded into FAMILY-TREE-v1.md

• Leora: death fixed to May 3, 1989 (SSDI/Numident), replacing "about May 1-2."
• Ben Jr.: July 12, 1981 confirmed by VA BIRLS; U.S. Army service Aug 6, 1953 to Jun 9, 1955 added.
• Ben Sr.: Numident note added (claim at South Bend field office May 29, 1957); exact day still open, SSDI cannot cover a 1959 death.
• Samuel S.: SSDI negative noted (died 1960, pre-coverage); exact day still open.
• Vallerie L.: identified as Vallerie Lucille (Niles) Cochran, b. May 11, 1900, Elkhart, daughter of Claude Niles and Neva Weybright, d. September 16, 1990. Birth-year conflict (1899 in one mirror) flagged.
• Walter E.: SSDI negative noted; June 20, 1965 remains single-source (SJCPL).
• Max A. Reeder: May 24, 2009 confirmed against SSDI-derived and VA sources.
• Albert branch: Albert Jr., Ted Guy, and Darrell Dean Cochran added as the verified sons of Albert G. Cochran and Emma (Vanlue) Cochran of South Bend; the elder Albert stays CANDIDATE as Samuel E.'s son.