How to Find Missing Relatives for Free

You can use free Internet tools to look for a missing relative.

Even in close-knit families, an immediate family member or a relative can go missing. People sometimes lose touch, become estranged, go off the grid, neglect to write or phone or otherwise disappear for an extended period of time. If you want to find a long-lost sibling, cousin, uncle or other family relation there are free online tools and offline strategies that can help in your search.

Instructions

1. Compile what you know. Write down the details of the person for whom you are searching. The most important information is the person's actual name, which may be different from the name used by your family. Details like the person's age, occupation, prior addresses and phone numbers are all useful in helping to zero in on a relative's current whereabouts.

2. Reach out to the family. Check with your relations who may know something about the person's current whereabouts. It's especially important to contact relatives you haven't been in touch with for a while or if you think they are likely points of contact for the missing relative.

3. Search the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) to make sure your relative hasn't passed away. SSDI is a record of almost all deaths in the United States for the past few decades. Enter the first and last name of your relative in the relevant fields to search. If you find results, check the age and location information to make sure it is a record for the person you're seeking.

4. Search for your relative's name at Superpages.com. This online white pages is a true national phone book, as you can search all states at once (unlike many other phone books, which only allow searches one state at a time). Enter the first and last names in the relevant fields, leave the city/zip code field blank and set the "State" pull-down menu to "All States."

5. Search Google News Archives for your relative's name. Newspapers carry information in birth, engagement, marriage and death notices as well as articles about sports, business, crime, arts or other areas where your relative's name might be mentioned. Be sure to search all probable name variations, such as "Bob" and "Robert."

6. Search for your relative's name at Jigsaw.com. This business contacts database carries names, address and contact information for millions of employees at thousands of companies in the United States, and elsewhere in the world. Preliminary search results are free, though Jigsaw charges a fee for a complete listing.

References

• Superpages: People Search
• Google News Archive
• Jigsaw