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Tracing living relatives

  • Thread starter Thread starter llamafarmer
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llamafarmer

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Whats the best way of tracing and tracking down living relatives. Ive found 5 of my grandads brothers and sisters that i never knew existed and im keen to see whether there are any living relatives. I have no idea who they married if indeed they did at all let alone whether they had kids. Whats the best way to go about this. :rolleyes:
 
It is easier to trace the family if they stayed put in a limited area, but as we all know, family have no such consideration!
1) Tracesmart. This looks good.
https://www.tracesmart.co.uk/
2) Find My Past . This looks overwhelming unless you know the area.
https://www.findmypast.com/home.jsp
3) Electoral registers if you know the area.
Years ago I was told that there was no alpha register, so a location search might be the only option.
4) Search for recent certificates, but this only works if the family are in the bmds phase of their lives.
5) Search for the land line or mobile no if you know the area, though I cannot recall the website for mobile nos.
6) Professional directories ie for lawyers, doctors etc.
 
Somebody on this site suggested 192.com (it might of been Bren) you have to pay a small fee but thats how I found the adress of an old college friend I hadn't seen for 35 years.

She had married but somebody (i think it was Bren) found her marriage on one of the sites, I knew the the date she got married which did help.

Helen
 
thanks for the suggestions but any ideas of how you would actually go about tracing living relatives?

My starting point is the birth certificates i have just received of my grandads brothers and sisters; i know absolutely nothing about them other than this info.

Is it a case of trawling the marriages gro and looking for the correct names and listing possible spouses then reference checking them for correct fathers names?

for example i know william was born in 1914... he would be in the frame to get married 18 years later therefore i start looking in the gro from 1932 onwards looking for all the william smiths that got married.

next i order the marriage certificate and ask the gro to reference check the list stopping at the first certificate that shows williams fathers name (ernest)

a bit like tracing family lines backwards only forwards instead

only problem i can see is if they didnt get married in birmingham

Is there an easier way or is this the only way?
 
i cant see there being an easy way in this... i know nothing about them, prior to last week i didnt even know they existed!
 
Hi Llamafarmer

Searching for living persons is always a bit hit-and-miss even with an unusual surname. But to search for a SMITH without a middle initial would be daunting to say the least.

If we look at the years 1932 - 1936, the most probable time that your William Smith married, there are 66 William Smiths (14 with no middle initial) listed as registered in Birmingham. Not having used the GRO or BRO search service, I don't know what depth of search they are willing to undertake - maybe indexes only which would be of little use to you without a spouse name. Best to give John Yates a ring at BRO and explain your requirements.

But don't despair - I've had some great successes in tracking down children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters for people on this and other sites. It is time-consuming but very rewarding if you are prepared to stick at it.

If any of your Smiths have middle names, then your chances of success are much greater.
 
None of the family im reseacrhing have middle names or initials - my grandad samuel arthur being the only notable exception, not sure why this is
 
on checking the gro marriages for the youngest and only girl Florence born in 1921 i was quite encouraged to see there were only 9 possibles between the years 1938 and 1946... fingers crossed :rolleyes:
 
Hi Llamafarmer

Was Florence still at home on the 1945 electoral roll? Knowing if she was or not would possibly reduce the search timescale.
 
not sure, cant find hide nor hair of the family... dad ernest smith died in 1935 so presumably florence would still be with her mother leah smith? Can any kind soul have a look at the rolls for me?
 
There are two cases in the electoral roll in 1945 and one in 1950, where a leah and a florence smith are listed on the rolls in the same street, but none are the same number and there is no reason to think they may be related, particularly because of the common surname.
Mike
 
she was born in 1921, havent checked whether she died in childhood but i was thinking she would have been 18 in 1939 and likely to get married in the next 10 years after this. There are 9 instances of florence smith marrying in this time period assuming she satyed in birmingham... was it law to be on the electoral rolls or was it a choice basis?
 
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