I do no know where to start and would appreciate a direction. I'm trying to find the family of an Aunt that passed in the 1960's. I found a portrait of her in my mother's attic and I think it should be with her family, but I have no clue how to locate anyone who might have known her.
any suggestions that don't involve joining Ancestry. com?
thanks!
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
Go to Genforum.com and poke around. Find the query board for the county she lived in and her maiden and married surnames. Post a good query on all 3. Someone may know one of her relatives.
Read half a dozen queries before you post. You'll get a feel for what works and what doesn't.
Maxi
"joining Ancestry. com? " is not the magic way of 'finding anyone' espeically living people............
Depends on where you are looking in what country...... an aunt means she has siblings or married into a family, all of which that you know needs to be spoken to, if she is your aunt you have cousins, if you know where she lived there are neighbours...this is the best and easiest way to find someone from the1960s as no connecting records exist that you can look at that will find people who are alive ( unless you are an experienced FH researcher and go to the church and look at the PRs and research her family, even then it is not easy)
By looking at electoral rolls, and it helps if you also know the husbands name, looking at old directories in the library and even on the online phone books checking surnames and areas and making contact and asking directly if they know of an ancestor by that name. some weblinks that 'might' help http://familytimeline.webs.com/adoptionlivingrelations.htm
Ashley
If you know when and where she died, you could look for her obituary from her local newspaper. Obituaries often list surviving children or siblings, and sometimes even include the town where they live. Depending on when/where she died, you might possibly find the obituary online. If not, the local library may have the old newspapers on microfilm. If you don't mind posting her name and date/place of death, some of the volunteers here will search for the obituary or other info on the pay sites they subscribe to. It's kind of you to return the portrait to her family, and I'm sure they'll really appreciate having it.
wendy c
start with posting a name, date of death and location (even just the location and approx date), and let us start looking her up. www.familysearch.org is one free site..but there may be many others, depending on the situation.
Since she was an AUNT.. it is clear she must have been a sibling to someone you know.. either your parents or grandparents. Otherwise, you would not identify her to be an aunt.