Tracking down family members can be an exciting challenge and can shed light on forgotten branches of your family tree.You could be searching for family members on a whim, researching a family tree, or looking for medical history information for someone in your family.There are tricks that can help you find family members, saving you time and effort.
Step 1: Consider the consequences of finding this person.
Why do you want to find a family member?If other family members know that you are looking for that person, there may be turmoil in the family.Is it possible for other members of your family to help you?If other family members react negatively to the idea, it will cause hurt feelings.Adoption situations can be difficult to search for.If you are looking for birth parents or children that were given up for adoption, make sure that you don't stir up a taboo subject or cause unrest in your family.
Step 2: You can ask other family members to help.
Interview any family members who are willing to give you more information.To get all of the information you need, you may have to speak to multiple people.The more people you can ask about your family member's past, the more you will find out.If your family is supportive of your quest, divide up the tasks so that you can cover more ground in a shorter amount of time.One person should search social media, another should visit the local public record archives, and a third should contact your family member's old acquaintances.
Step 3: Public records can be checked.
You can check available public records if you visit the person's hometown or the town where you think the family member lives.Marriage, birth, and death certificates can be included in these records.You can ask around at the local courthouse for public archives.
Step 4: You should record your findings.
Keep a record of everything you learn.Write down facts and rumors, phone numbers and addresses, and contacts who might be able to give you more information.You have to piece together everything you know.Consider what information might be missing.You can mark a map with your family member's location.It might be easier for you to guess at their next step if you can visualize their journey.
Step 5: Follow your leads.
Call, email, or send a letter to confirm the location of your family member if you uncover any contact information.If you can't find an address, you should visit that address to see if the lost person is living there.Be persistent and thorough.You don't know when a lead will work out.Do not make assumptions if you call.Is Theresa there?Explain why you are looking for her.Do not push the person on the other end of the line if they don't seem to know anything.
Step 6: Consider hiring a private investigator.
Turn the case over to a professional who can find people for a living.Provide the investigator with all of the background information that you have compiled, and let them do the leg work for you.You can search for "private investigator lost family member".There are a lot of websites that can help you find friends and family.There are a lot of scam sites on the Internet.
Step 7: You can use people-search web services.
Marriage, employment, and legal histories can be found through a number of web services.Some websites are free, while others charge a fee.Find something that suits your purposes by comparing low cost and no cost search options.If you have a phone number that's connected to a family member, you can run a reverse phone search.Use commercial websites such as US Search orancestry.com.You have to pay a service charge to use these websites, but they give you more information than free sites.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides free people-search websites.There are free resources at myheritage.com.
Step 8: Social media can be used to find family members.
You can search for people on most networks, but you may need to look through long lists of people with the same name.If you know the person's email address, you can refine your search.If you're looking for a specific person, look for his or her full name.Try to find variations of full legal names.If you want to find Bob Shovels, try searching for "Robert" and "Bobby" in addition to "Bob".You can search for variations that a person has used.If you're trying to find a friend on Facebook, you might want to look through their friend list.Even if you can't find your family member through a basic search on Facebook, it's possible to remove your profile from the site.
Step 9: Follow up with a call or message.
If you are certain that you have found your family member, try to find a way to contact her.Look for a street address, email, phone number, or social media profile.Reach out to the person with a message explaining who you are, or call the number that you found and ask for someone by her name.If you can't find your family member online, that's a sign that he or she has left the grid.If you aren't " friends" with someone on Facebook, private messages will go to a separate inbox.The person may eventually see your message, but he or she won't notice it right away.
Step 10: Work your way into the past by starting with living relatives.
Ask questions and get as much information as possible: full names and maiden names, date of birth, death, marriage, divorce, and places they may have lived.Family bibles often have information recorded in them, and old personal notes or letters may be helpful as well.If you only have a photo of your family member, ask other family members if they recognize him or her.Try to figure out who is in the family photo albums.If you don't know when a photo was taken, look at the back of the photo.
Step 11: Use genealogy websites.
You can use the Internet to gather information.Some websites offer free trials, which is a good starting point.US census records, birth, marriage, death certificates, and other family trees can be found on these sites.You can find out where family members are buried if you have a name to search for.Many people have the same names.Immigrants from the same background tend to congregate in a certain region or neighborhood.You can find many different versions of the same name and date in older records.Follow up with the local governments to verify any information you find.Ancestral search sites allow you to look at international archives.It is possible to piece together the journey that your ancestors took from their homeland if they are from another country.
Step 12: Consider hiring a professional genealogist.
Professional genealogists can be found on ancestral search websites if you don't make as much progress or need a language translator.Your mother's maiden name is often used as a security question for your financial information.Sharing personal information can be dangerous.Professional genealogists need to be researched thoroughly.Before you decide who to trust with your information, read reviews and references.