The Internet has a wealth of resources for finding people. Here are some tips and tidbits for completing successful online searches.
Whenever possible, include the first, last, and middle name (or initial) of the owner.
Include a city and/or state even if it's old. Even with today's "mobile society" most people tend to live within 50 or 100 miles of the town where they were born.
If you know an owner bought a car in one state, then sold it in another, check for name listings in both states.
If you've got an old phone number, check it in an online database--and with all the new area codes, you'll want to do an area code lookup then check the same phone number paired with new area codes.
Online databases get their information from a variety of different offline resources. You may need to check several before you find a match--and don't hesitate to re-check the databases every few months.
Here are some resources you may find helpful.
Online Resources |
|
| Database America's People Finder | Excellent and easy to use. Lookups by name, city, state, or phone number. |
| Four11 | Basic white-page type search. |
| Internet Address Finder | Search to see if the owner has an Internet e-mail address. |
| Area Code Lookup | Type in an area code and see where it's from. |
| 555-1212 | Basic white-page type search. |
| Zip Code Lookup | Got a zip code? Need a zip code? This USPS site can help you either way. |
| Trackem | You want all your search options in one place? Well, here's a great place to start. Includes options for people in the US and Canada, reverse phone number lookup, military, relatives, and bunches of others. |
| Social Security Death Index (SSDI) | Only contains records since 1937 and only records for individuals for whom a lump sum payment was made from Social Security. |
All works contained herein are considered copyrighted subject matter and
cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the original author or the Yankee
Lady .
Copyright Barbara Spear 1996, 1997, January 1998