This may help any researcher answering the question:
According to the Social Security Death Index there were 7 deaths of
Frederick Thies' in the United States since 1935. There is only one
Frederick Thies who died within 2 years of 1964 (you said circa, so I
automatically thought of 2 years on either side), and who died in
Southern California (Los Angeles often being a generic term for folks
outside the region). I found only one man who died in that time frame
and who died in Southern California:
Frederick Thies (no middle name or initial listed) born Sept. 17,
1888. He applied for his Social Security number sometime prior to 1951
in Michigan. He died August 1966 (no day given) in San Diego, and his
last residence was in San Diego.
I then ran his name through the California Death Index. I
cross-referenced the Social Security number and came up with:
Frederic H. Thies (note truncated first name, common with some
databases)
born Sept. 17 1888. It lists Georgia as his place of birth and the
mother's maiden name was Schonefe.
It also list the date of death as August 10, 1966 and the place of
death as Los Angeles (as opposed to the SS Index which listed it as
San Diego)
This almost seems like our guy, except for the middle initial being
off. This can be due to a mis-reading of the 'R' as an 'H', another
common error I've seen in my many years of research. Or, it could be
the wrong guy all together. Hopefully the other details I supplied
(birthdate, birthplace, mother's maiden name) will allow you to
confirm the identity. Now the fact that this man's last residence was
in San Diego, it's entirely possible he died in Los Angeles County,
but the person who filled out the paperwork assumed the last known
address and the county of death were the same (very very common error)
While I was at it, I searched for another Frederick Thies in the
California Death Index. You see, even if they don't show up on the SS
Index, they may still show up in the individual state's index because
their next of kin may not have informed the Social Security offices of
the death ( I see this frequently with woman, who only in the last 40
years or so have entered the workforce with any type of substantial
numbers. Many times woman did not even have their own SS#, they merely
'borrowed' their husband's if they needed it). Anyway, this is what I
found:
Frederic N. Thies (there's that truncated first name, and the middle
initial doesn't match. "N" and "H" are pretty similar looking in
handwriting script, so again, there's a possibility this was a
clerical error)
born August 4, 1893 in Michigan
Died June 26, 1966 in Los Angeles
mother's maiden name Blexrod
So if the questioner can confirm either of these names is the one he
seeks, then another researcher may be able to dig up the obit.
Good luck. |