| My brother left home in 1986. I am 5 years his | | | | Internet is by looking at Government Records: birth |
| younger and at the time he was then only 15 years | | | | certificates, marriage licenses, driver's license, even |
| old. Both my mother and father went through a | | | | Census records.You may be asked for a small fee to |
| terrible torment. They searched the streets, they | | | | search personal records but it will be very small and |
| went to the Police, they trawled every avenue. | | | | well worth it if you find who you are looking for. |
| Finally they discovered that he had gone to live in | | | | The more information on a person that you have, |
| Sacramento, California. Eventually after a couple of | | | | the easier it will be to find them. Don't be put off by |
| years my brother rang home, he was destitute and | | | | sites that are not forthcoming with the information |
| asking for help. My parents left the very next day to | | | | you need. You will have to be patient and find the |
| bring him home. | | | | right ones, but they are there if you look. |
| These days there are many ways of finding | | | | Make a list of everything that you know about the |
| someone online. Most are free services. By far the | | | | person you are looking for, name, last known |
| fastest way to find a friend or relative is by putting | | | | address, telephone number, friends, relatives, work |
| what information you have into one of the social | | | | place, hobbies, interests, characteristics, likes, dislikes |
| networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, | | | | and sit at your computer till you find a clue. |
| Twitter or Friendster. You may know others. | | | | If my parents had been able to call on these services |
| If the person who you are looking for is not | | | | in 1986 they would have very soon found out from |
| registered there,then maybe his or her friends are | | | | some of my brother's old friends exactly where he |
| and they may be able to help you. Try putting the | | | | was and saved the whole family a lot of heartache. |
| name of the missing person into one of the people | | | | Today, only 25 years later, the advent of the |
| search engines which you will find on Google. Maybe | | | | internet and all the information that is stored online |
| you have a phone number but no address, there are | | | | has made searching for old friends and lost or missing |
| directories that may help. | | | | relatives a whole lot faster, easier and in a lot of |
| One other method to search for people on the | | | | cases, completely free. |