Finding Long Lost Relatives/Friends

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Finding Long Lost Relatives/Friends

Posted : 11/14/2006 10:57:12 AM

My sister and I had the most joyous experience awhile back. I finally located some cousins of mine after searching for them for several years. Admittedly, it was a half-hearted search...in that I didn't hire a private detective or anything like that, but I have plunked their names into different search engines and done some minor investigative work on my own. My problem was that they have very common first and last names and all I knew about their last known address was that it was somewhere in California. As you can imagine, online phone number searches returned thousands of possibilities...way too many to call or write to. Anyhoooo, I came across peoplefinders.com. Yes, there is a fee for receiving detailed information from them, and no I'm not affiliated with them in anyway. What made them so useful to me as opposed to some of the other online search sites, is that they gave me a list of possible relatives ... for free. Based on the list of names that came back as possible relatives, I was fairly certain that I had zeroed in on the correct people and I was then more willing to part with the money to receive the address and phone number information. I also received a list of previous known addresses which even further cemented in my mind that I had located the right people. I was shaking like a leaf when I made the call. The guy who I called was actually my mother's first cousin and he is now in his 80's. One of his daughters is my age and we were at one time very close. When he answered the phone I recognized his voice immediately even though it's been nearly 30 years since I last spoke with him. When I told him who I was, he started crying...said he had wondered for years what had become of us, and especially my Mom. Sadly I had to inform him that my parents had passed away. When I got off the phone with him I tried to call my sister...but he called her before I ever even got the chance (I had given him her number). Boy was she surprised! We're now in frequent contact and have exchanged old and new photos. My only regret is that I didn't find him sooner. My mother and he were once very close and I would have loved to put them in contact before she died. Also, just 4 years ago, he and his wife were on the east coast visiting some of her relatives and had actually been within 100 miles of my house! Bummer. Anyway, sorry for rambling on. I just thought I'd pass along the success story and the recommendation for using peoplefinders as a possible investigative tool.

Xerxes

Posted : 11/14/2006 11:26:41 AM

Wow, that's a great story Kelly. I'm glad you shared that site! Thanks.

ron2

Posted : 11/14/2006 9:17:09 PM

It turns out that I have an uncle that lives in the same state I do, though I had his email from my father's second spouse and surviving widow, but he has never replied, perhaps the email is no longer valid. I wish to contact him to find out the clan names in our ancestry. My father's family was a combo of english, irish, and scottish. If I knew the clan names, I would know what tartan to wear for a scottish kilt and which plaid to wear for an irish kilt. I know, any excuse to wear a skirt ...