Need To Find Someone You've Lost Track Of?

A few years ago, one of our family members disappeared from our lives. I don't mean this person was kidnapped or that foul play was suspected. No, this particular person just decided not to be a part of the family anymore and left.

When this happens, at first, you think they will eventually come to their senses and return after a few months, but, unfortunately, this doesn't always happen. Sometimes, the person who disappears wants to stay gone, and, in most cases, they have that right, as long as they are adults responsible for their own affairs.

In our case, a family member became ill and faced life-threatening surgery so we felt that it was necessary to intrude, or try to intrude on our missing relative's privacy, to let them know what was happening.

The person had covered their tracks well, but from things they had mentioned in the past, I was able to narrow their probable location to a particular state, and then, through a public records search in that state, located the person. As it turned out, the ill family member recovered, and, by the time we had located the missing relative, they decided not to make a visit back to our area and disappeared again.

For my own peace of mind, I again used public records to find the person, but have not written or called them for fear that they will disappear, completely this time. It is enough to know that they are safe and living the way they want to live. If I ever need to get in touch, I have the information I need to do so.

How about you? Have you ever wanted to locate a former school chum that has left the area, or a long lost sibling, or even a rebellious adult child who has taken themselves out of your life?

If so, there is a lot of research you can do for yourself online, like just Googling the person's name into a search engine to see what it brings up, or you can join organizations like Classmate.com for a fee. You can check out common blogsites like MySpace.com or Facebook.com.

I once tracked down where a German soldier was buried for his nephew who wished to visit his grave. I did this by finding a German War veteran's chat site online and asking how to go about my search. One gentleman who spoke English gave me the e-mail address for an organization which kept track of such things. I thanked him and e-mailed the organization which sent me all the information I needed down to the exact plot number of the gravesite as well as where the graveyard was located.

One of my favorite sites for searching for missing persons in the U.S. is an organization called Civil Records. They offer a free trial search when you go to their website, but if it actually turns up the person, you have to pay to get the complete report. Click Here! to check them out.

Their reports may include criminal files, property records, sex offender records, death and birth records, and even phone numbers. Who knows, your own missing person may live just around the corner from you.