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Step 1
**Check the NARA Business Archives**
NARA--the National Archives and Records Administration -- has some gigantic databases on federal civilian contractors, military contractors, and securities trading, that cover millions of records from the 1970's onward. These can be easily searched for mention of your family name (surname), or for specific individuals if you have a full name to search for. -
Step 2
**Take a Look at EDGAR**
EDGAR is the SEC's cute name for its massive database of companies that have to file financial reports to the US government (a surprising number of foreign companies have to report as well).
These reports contain the names of millions of individuals, mostly senior executives and major shareholders. EDGAR reports go back to the 1990's, though full-text searching of the reports is only available for the past four years. -
Step 3
**Search at Jigsaw**
Jigsaw.com is probably the best resource available for searching current business contact information, with more than 16 million records on file. You won't find historical information on your family, but you very well might reconnect with distant relatives. -
Step 4
**Look for MissingMoney**
MissingMoney.com is another worthwhile source that can be easily searched for family names (or for your own name, for that matter!).
People sometimes have unclaimed assets like abandoned bank accounts, insurance policies, pensions, and the like. These find their way into state government and Canadian province databases, many of which can be searched at missingmoney.com.
Comments
amylaine said
on 10/7/2009 Great info to know when looking for ancestry information. thanks.