Are you missing one or more people in your life and curious where they got to?
Where a distant relative, one you went to school with or shared a job with back in the day, chances are they are out there.
So, what are your best options for trying to track them down?
Where Can You Turn to Find Someone?
In trying to find one or more people you’ve crossed paths with in life, keep these ideas in mind:
- Internet – One of your best resources when trying to find someone is the Internet. Pre-Internet, most people looking to locate someone relied on phone books and word-of-mouth. Fast-forward to today and the Internet is the main source of finding someone. That said you may even be looking to track someone you knew who has done some time in jail over the years. If so, you can go online and do a federal inmate search. Such a search allows you to move closer to finding the individual when they are in trouble with the law. If you know the last state they were located in, this can make it easier to find them. While you are likely not happy they are in prison, at least knowing where they are and alive is important. You should also try social media sites when trying to find someone from your past. Many people are on sites such as Facebook and others. As a result, you could be a click away from reconnecting with them. Given the Internet can be your best friend, give it a shot.
- Word-of-mouth – It is not uncommon for people to track down others they know via word-of-mouth. You may well be looking for someone that another individual in your life knows. As such, you can be a step closer to tracking them down. Give that person a call/text or email and see if they can point you in the right direction. Before you know it, you may be in contact with the individual you have been searching for.
- Newspapers – Yes, even in the Internet age, newspapers still exist. That said you may look up a paper in the hometown of the person you are trying to find and where their last address was. You may come across everything from a sale of a house or newsworthy achievement to their obit. Much of this info can be found online. If you can’t find it online, look to see if the paper in the person’s town where they were last located is still publishing. If so, you might make a call to them to see if they know of the individual. The same can be true of any local realtors. A last-ditch effort may be to contact law enforcement. That is if you think the person you are searching for may be in trouble.
In trying to find someone you may want to reconnect with or only get an update on, you do have options.
So, how will you go about tracking down someone from your past no matter how far back it goes?
