Locate a Lost Friend or Relative

If you would like to locate a lost relative or friend, but don't have the money to use a search service, you can take steps on your own to find them. The first thing I recommend doing is a reverse e-mail check. It's easy, and it only takes a minute. Quite often your search will end by simply visiting one Website. Go to: http://www.whitepages.com/10592/email. Once there, enter the name of the person you're looking for. If there is an e-mail address for the person, a partial street address will display. You also have the option of sending them an e-mail through the WhitePages Website for .95 cents. However, if it is a common name, there will be a lot of results showing. Sending e-mails to everyone in the list could get very expensive.

At this point, you can try using an online phone directory, concentrating on the results that you received from your reverse e-mail search. One possible phone directory is http://www.superpages.com/. If you can locate a phone number, but no address, run a reverse phone search at: http://www.whitepages.com/10592/reverse_phone or http://www.411.com/10744/reverse_phone. You should be able to find the address this way.

If you didn't have any luck running a reverse e-mail check, you can still use an online phone directory if you have a general idea of what area they live in. If you don't know what area they are in, use sites like www.Public-records-now.com or www.usa-people-search.com. They do charge for the full service, but you can locate the area the person is in for free.

You can also try searching for your lost friend or relative by simply Googling their name. But don't just try finding them with Google, use different search engines -- such as Ask.com, Altavista, or Yahoo.

If you still haven't had any luck, you may have to get more creative. If you know where they went to high school or college, contact the school. Most schools have Websites. You can try using the forum for help. You could ask about their reunions, and try to find out if your relative or friend will be attending the next reunion. You could also try contacting the school's alumni association. Perhaps they're a member.

You can do something similar if you know what types of volunteer services, interest groups, hobbies, or professional associations they are affiliated with. Try contacting the church or synagogue they last attended to see if their membership has been transferred to another church or synagogue.

If your friend or relative is in the armed forces, you can try locating them through http://www.militaryconnections.com/relief_main.cfm.

If you have a social security number, the IRS can help you. They can forward a letter to a person whose address is unknown.

To find out if the person you are looking for is deceased, try searching the Social Security Death Index at: http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi. The death index will list not only a date of death and an address, but it can also lead you to descendants and other relatives.

You can find free resources for doing searches by name, phone number, SSN, or email addresses at http://www.cyndislist.com/finding.htm. This site is mostly for genealogy purposes, but there are resources for finding living people as well.

Some more helpful Websites are:

1. http://find.person.superpages.com/
2. http://zroots.com/locating.htm
3. http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/bib_guid/telephon.html

I hope the above information will help you find your lost friend or relative, and that your reunion will be a happy one.