SweetMissMagnolia Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 OK we all know that we are such a diverse group of people that if we have a question about something,usually someone will have an answer or at least tips or pointers......here goes long story short--hubby's mom/dad split when he was under 3yrs old--his dad was injured at work about 20yrs ago and had memory loss (he even forgot how to get in touch with his family)--back last year the mom called out of the blue and asked if her son wanted to know anything about her :confused: 40 years and not so much as a phone call and now this!?--it shocked us and dh said NO and hung up the phone....I got to thinking that maybe this woman is on her death bed and trying to make amends or something....I mention that to him and as I"m working on ancestry on family tree stuff another day,dh mentions that he wants me to see if I can find her-he mainly wants to know if he has any siblings out there and he wants to know why she left him.....I'm hoping if I find her he will talk to her this time-I will of course talk to her first and "feel things out" and see what's going on....in my ancestry.com research (if I have the right person),I have her mom and dad's ss#....I've looked online many many many times and come up short handed-I had a friend call a number that had the same initials as hers but we don't think it was her.....anyone ever had any luck finding missing relatives? I'm thinking of maybe running an ad in the paper of that city and seeing if I get any hits......I really want to find her for my hubby..... Anyone around Florence,South Carolina??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 We have found some info on my Dad's dad (WW2 oopsie). It is harder with recent people. Information opens up a lot after 100 years, but that doesn't really help. Someone told me to try one of the Mormon churches family history centers. That is my next step. Best of luck in your quest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 (edited) I'm hoping if I find her he will talk to her this time-I will of course talk to her first and "feel things out" and see what's going on....in my ancestry.com research (if I have the right person),I have her mom and dad's ss#.... Can you politely contact people with her last name? You might get some hang-ups, but you might get some leads. When I was looking for a childhood friend, I talked to many pleasant people. A co-worker has been all over ancestory.com and found MANY relatives also looking for info. Her GF had been a Pullman porter with "wives" all over the route, and he cast a huge net of children. Turns out she's related to the woman working on another ward at work! Edited April 14, 2012 by kalanamak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMissMagnolia Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 I have one more online lead I'm going to contact-I found info on ancestry where her mother married another guy after divorcing her father and I found one of his daughters is still alive and on FB (of all places LOL)-I'm going to see if she knows anything....just haven't checked yet--and then I'm going to do the ad in the paper deal and then see if I can get a list of people with the same last name in Florence,SC as a last resort..... I've used the mormon site a little and they have good "older" information....thanks for the replies...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 I have one more online lead I'm going to contact-I found info on ancestry where her mother married another guy after divorcing her father and I found one of his daughters is still alive and on FB (of all places LOL)-I'm going to see if she knows anything....just haven't checked yet--and then I'm going to do the ad in the paper deal and then see if I can get a list of people with the same last name in Florence,SC as a last resort..... I've used the mormon site a little and they have good "older" information....thanks for the replies...... My husband is a European immigrant. His grandfather went to South America for extended work trips (2-4 years at a time) several times over the course of two decades. I just knew there was a SA branch of the family ;) I found some information on the internet, but not much. Enough, though. Their last name is uncommon enough that I located 23 people with that last name living in the region Grandfather frequented. I wrote them all. I heard back from 15 (half of whom were related!) and got more leads. Then a dead-end and five months of nothing. Either he didn't have a SA family or they didn't wish to be found. But my MIL was convinced, so we pressed on. I hired a private investigator for a few hundred bucks. He found them in less than a week, and gave them my contact information. They called not too long after, and remain friendly and intouch. My MIL and FIL have made trips down there to visit, and everyone considers each other long-lost family. (Grandfather ended up with 4 kids in Europe and 6 in South America). It's very do-able! I sure hope it works out for you! I know that 15 years ago when I worked in the library we had microfiche of every state's telephone books. Do they still even use microfiche? :lol: I bet it's not hard to track down the last name you need in Florence, SC from the comfort of your own home (or library!) I sure hope you're able to track down your family! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scuff Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 My dad's parents never married and he never knew his dad. When I was 12ish he tried to find him. He called down a list of every person in the state with that name. He called quite a few people and eventually did find him. He had gotten married and my dad had 5 half brothers and sisters. We met them a little later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Anyone around Florence,South Carolina??? Go to ZABAsearch and plug in the name and city/state. It will give you addresses for the past 20 years. You mentioned Florence. Florence County has an easy search through their tax assessor, so you might also get a current address here (provided they are living in property they own). You can also run the name on veromi.net to find "associates," usually other family members. If the name is uncommon enough, you can often find these associates on Facebook and get more info there. (People will often post how they are related to other Facebookers, may have photos up with names, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezrabean2005 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Go to ZABAsearch and plug in the name and city/state. It will give you addresses for the past 20 years. You mentioned Florence. Florence County has an easy search through their tax assessor, so you might also get a current address here (provided they are living in property they own). You can also run the name on veromi.net to find "associates," usually other family members. If the name is uncommon enough, you can often find these associates on Facebook and get more info there. (People will often post how they are related to other Facebookers, may have photos up with names, etc.) Thank you for this! I met my bio dad once when I was 13 and my mom made it impossible for me to know him then. I knew he drove taxi back then (now 17 years ago). I had no way of reaching him and I don't even have one photo of him (gee thanks mom). I don't know if I'll find him this way, but I now have 16 leads to try. Sorry, OP for the hijack. I just had to say thanks. I've wanted to find him for years. I've looked in every taxi that has driven past for 17 years now hoping to see him again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMissMagnolia Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 Go to ZABAsearch and plug in the name and city/state. It will give you addresses for the past 20 years. You mentioned Florence. Florence County has an easy search through their tax assessor, so you might also get a current address here (provided they are living in property they own). You can also run the name on veromi.net to find "associates," usually other family members. If the name is uncommon enough, you can often find these associates on Facebook and get more info there. (People will often post how they are related to other Facebookers, may have photos up with names, etc.) thanks so much-I will definately check that out....I just gave my info to a girl I went to school with who does PI stuff....hoping she can help me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Years ago, my grandparents found my grandfather's long lost brother. He had been in some trouble when he was young, ended up leaving town and was never seen again. My grandmother heard on Sally (remember that show?) that the Salvation Army will help you find lost family members. They sent letters and didn't hear anything. They wouldn't put you directly in touch - just act as a go between. Then, at 4 am one morning, there's a knock on the door and he just showed up with his whole family in an RV - he had kids and grandkids and there was an impromptu reunion held right there. Turned out he had changed his name, gotten his life straight, had a country music career of minor success in Nashville (he used to play the Opry!) and started a contracting business. He had always wanted to reconnect but been afraid to. He and my grandfather were very close for many years after that, though they've both passed away now. It was very cool, but also very old school. I doubt that in the era of the internet if there are charity services that find people for you like that anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 do you have her full name? have you tried a google search? even if you don't have her current name, it's worth a search. there are entities that will come up with more recent information - phone, utilties, etc. since he has her age, it will help. even on ancestry - there are city directories. I have found people - children of my grandfather (he was married five times.) who are the same age as my dh. do also keep in mind, just because someone has the same name, doesn't mean it's them. I've had two people contact me thinking I was the person for whom they were looking. I had to tell the last one THREE times I've never lived in oregon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loving&Learning Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 If his dad is willing to help some and his phone records show the phone numbers for long distance calls, then could you look at those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMissMagnolia Posted April 15, 2012 Author Share Posted April 15, 2012 it's a long story about why he wants to keep it from his dad--his dad is kinda mentally unstable and he doesn't want to stress him out about it....I tried to pull up the phone records (since we are the ones who take care of fils bills) but it said you would need a subpoena to get a record of incoming calls....that was one of the first things I tried LOL.....yes I have her full name (at least what it was back then-and think we have another married name) so we have a little info.....thanks for all the tips-I will update as we go along this journey.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 OK we all know that we are such a diverse group of people that if we have a question about something,usually someone will have an answer or at least tips or pointers......here goes long story short--hubby's mom/dad split when he was under 3yrs old--his dad was injured at work about 20yrs ago and had memory loss (he even forgot how to get in touch with his family)--back last year the mom called out of the blue and asked if her son wanted to know anything about her :confused: 40 years and not so much as a phone call and now this!?--it shocked us and dh said NO and hung up the phone....I got to thinking that maybe this woman is on her death bed and trying to make amends or something....I mention that to him and as I"m working on ancestry on family tree stuff another day,dh mentions that he wants me to see if I can find her-he mainly wants to know if he has any siblings out there and he wants to know why she left him.....I'm hoping if I find her he will talk to her this time-I will of course talk to her first and "feel things out" and see what's going on....in my ancestry.com research (if I have the right person),I have her mom and dad's ss#....I've looked online many many many times and come up short handed-I had a friend call a number that had the same initials as hers but we don't think it was her.....anyone ever had any luck finding missing relatives? I'm thinking of maybe running an ad in the paper of that city and seeing if I get any hits......I really want to find her for my hubby..... Anyone around Florence,South Carolina??? I just posted about this a minute ago. My dh...in his Sherlock Holmsiness...finds my birth family in 5 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 We found dh's dad who took off when he was young. It took me a few evenings of googling, and I eventually found his grandmother's funeral announcement, and I got the name of another relative whom I could find, and she called the dad to give him our phone number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMissMagnolia Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 soooo excited/nervous LOL---I got to thinking that maybe I could find someone who knows the lady we're looking for if I went through relatives obits....I remembered I had her aunt's obit....so I pulled it out this morning and was able to find an address for the aunt's son and because their names were listed in the obit I found the son's daughter on facebook...so I sent a message and am waiting to find out...I think this is it...I just hope that they know how to get in touch with her or at least what her name is now if she's married again or whatever......shew....I need to be working on laundry but here I am checking my FB mail over and over LOL :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d.g. Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Wow! Just a quick thank you for the ZABAsearch link. I never knew my (supposed) father, and have started thinking about how to find him. It complicates things that I have THE most common last name in the country, and my birth state (the only clue to where he may have lived) is pretty dang big. On the other hand, I found the name and location of someone who was very dear to me and to my family when I was a child. Her last name is also a top-10 surname, and the only location I had previously was a state. Searches always came up with too many results, and no way to know for sure. Now, through a few minutes of searching and the online white pages, I have her phone number and address. I know it's her, because her MIL (who has an uncommon name) is apparently living with her now. :D Thanks so much! It will be such a joy to reconnect with this person, and I don't know that I'd ever have found her this easily without the free ZABAsearch link!!! Now to see if there's any way to track down my father... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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