Find Living Relatives

Im currently and have been searching, mainly for my long lost uncle Andrew. He is (as far as i know) still alive but where and by what name nobody knows. He had a fall out with my (now ex-communicated) Maternal Grandmother some 25 years ago whilst he was home from college...he went back to college and never returned. Needless to say, he doesn't want to be found so he has moved around alot and been known by many names...some variations of his original name and some just plucked from the dictionary..this makes tracking him down very difficult so i was wondering if anyone could advise me on how to find him, im not very good at the geneology stuff, i found his birth record but as he changed his name after college he then dissapears...
Please don't reply if your advise is simply stop looking, its pointless...because to me its not, to my mother (his youngest, baby sister) its not, he doesn't even know i exist! i NEED to find him! please help.

Welcome to the boards, Melitta.

If he ever does want to get in touch, have you put your family on here so that he could find you through genes? (Or a child of his shows curiosity as to ancestors).
You need to make sure your email address is updated if you ever change it, also.

It is a long term plan, but better than nothing.

Thankyou,
yes i keep all the family details upto date on here and my e-mail has been the same since....school lol

I tried social networking like facebook and twitter, found someone who thinks she knows him from the picture i posted but its from his school day and he would be 49 now so difficult one to judge.

if anything, im looking for help with what to do after you find the birth register. i know he was born, where he was registered etc now what?

Do you know where he went to school/college? (Do you mean university?).
Assuming this is the UK, have you tried Friends Reunited - there is a school/college/uni search facility.
Just thinking there might be an old friend who still knows him.
Jan

I think there are other people on here who show him on their tree.
Are you in contact with them incase they have more recent information?

Have you looked for a marriage in his original name? He might well have used that for official records.

Gwyn

wow...ok this is good...
well, Jan
i know he wnt to farnham college for art and design in surrey, i contacted them already...it was looking good there for a while, they had him listed by name, in the year i said he attended...they were going to write to him (privacy laws) and last question to make sure 'whens his birthdate?' i told her...didnt match :(
i will try friendsreunited though thankyou.

and gwyn
i havent managed to find anyone with him specifically in their tree...name match but wrong birth place or place match but wrong date etc
marriage in orig name i will try thankyou

Melitta,

I notice you don't have his birthplace listed on your tree. With several people with that name born that year, you might want to add it.

Rose

Melitta
Don't dismiss an 'almost' match if other things add up.

Sometimes people don't know an exact year of birth or place.

Gwyn

If there was an Andrew Gorton at that college at the right time, I would be very surprised if it was someone else. Did you give up at that point? If so I would try again.

thankyou rose and gwyn...helpful facts to learn from :)

yes jan i did...i didnt want to push it, the lady on the phone was adamant our conversation was done at that point :(
i happen to know he had a close friend by the name of Kirsten whilst at college, there is a kirsten in the 3 other people that list andrew gorton (deedee is my mum) and the other 2 are pointless as they are wales and london.

would i have to go to todmorden to find his name on the electrol register there? i need to do something to find him now...geneology is great for information about ancestors but he could still be alive out there and im wasting precious years :(

When are you looking at exactly? Not sure how recently they are available - and you do have to go in person, or email the staff to see if they will look for you.
Unless you have an exact address it isn't feasible to search for him in any case.
Jan

i dont know exactly...i wont lie jan, i have been bumbling through this search for years. im getting very impatient...ten years hunting for him is ten years more i didnt get to spend with him. I have rough guesses and bit and bats of information, im aware its not much to go on and it makes it harder to find him but its all i have, besides blind faith i will find him!

Hi Melitta,

Have you tried looking at professional and social networking sites under his name and other aliases that he has adopted (that you know of)?

Some people post a photo to their profile, and if you read any matching profiles you may find references to his college, or places of work near where he lived at a point in time (that you know of).

You may have to join the sites in order to view other peoples profiles, but I guess you would be prepared to do that.

Professional networking webites like:
Linked In.... www.linkedin.com
XING.......... www.xing.com
Plaxo.......... www.plaxo.com
Viadeo........ www.viadeo.com
Yahoo Groups.. www.yahoogroups.com

Social networking sites:
Facebook... www.facebook.com
Flickr.......... www.flickr.com
Google+..... plus.google.com
Yahoo........ uk.yahoo.com
Myspace.... myspace.com
Pinterest.... pinterest.com
Twitter........ twitter.com
and of course Friends Reunited...www.friendsreunited.co.uk
Here are links for further suggestions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_network_service
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

Another good source is 192.com. You get better results if you search Google for a name in double quotes and "192.com", then click on the 192 result listings, and go through them one-by-one.

Try searching for anyone assocaited with your uncle, for example, if you know (or find) the surname of Kirsten - if you can find their Facebook account (for example), take a look at their friends list.

Other genealogy websites have a wealth of information too - particularly forums and family trees that have been made public, such as:
Ancestry Public Member Trees:
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search
Rootschat:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/
Familysearch public trees:
https://familysearch.org/family-trees

Have you considered that he may have gone abroad (either now or previously)?
If you have any clues as to his profession, you can search expat websites - use Google to find them, such as:
http://www.expat-blog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2399

One piece of advice, document the sources of all the information you find, so that you can go back to it in a week, month, 6 months, and know where you found that link.

When you consider how much time, effort and anxiety you are going through to try and trace him, it may be worth paying a private investigator to help you - give them every bit of information that you know - solid facts, and tentative information (but make sure it is identified as tentative). I have not used them myself, so I cannot point you in the right direction, but try Google and look for references and reviews.

Good luck in your search.

thankyou so very much for all of that... i wont shoot all your suggestions down in flames, i have tried quite a few of those suggestions but i will try again and document it...a private investigator is something im currently looking into.

Have you looked at old electoral rolls to see who he was living with in Farnham?

Rose

Assistance given by personal mail.

Sufficiently answered - for now.

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/living_relatives/thread/1331723

Don't be put off by wrong birthdays - may be done in order to blur a trail - I know one of my children wanted to access Facebook but changed his birthday & other odd details so as to avoid unwanted reunions!

Concider Andy Gorton on FB.or other social net working.