Many people set out to retrace their steps searching for ways to reconnect with their past- friends, school friends, acquaintances, or a lost love! It might seem easy in this era of the internet, but sadly, many fail.
You can find thousands of articles giving you the same advice every time. Here, you’ll read one of our stories to see how the case can progress and understand the process more thoroughly.
Do you believe in Miracles? We didn’t – but we definitely do now!
Starting the Search for a Person
Of course, we start by reviewing what we had to work on, which was virtually nothing. This case was the most challenging one we have overtaken. It took us to Calcutta, back to the UK, once again to Calcutta, and eventually ending in Perth, Western Australia. initially, we decided to decline the commission, but then decided to take it.
Reasons why we initially rejected this particular people trace
- Very low chance of success! Did not wish the client to waste his money.
- Amount of hours needed would negatively impact on our other clients.
However, we reconsidered, after seeing how disappointed our client was when given this news. Maybe perhaps against our better judgement, we decided to give it a go so to speak.
What Information We Had in the Beginning
Here is the initial Search Brief (redacted):
“This relates to a young lady I met in Calcutta, India, 60 years ago.
Her name was*** and she lived at *** Street, Calcutta. She was born in 1942 and had 3 sisters-**** , **** and ****.
They were all regular churchgoers and attended services at St. Xaviers R C Church, Park Street and St.Thomas’s R C Church, Middleton Row, Calcutta. Not seen any of them since 1955.”
So – we have their name, their old address, birth year, and their sisters’ names. This was everything we had to find our client’s lost friend!
Let’s Start with Birth Certificates
We began our quest/journey by trying to trace the birth records of the four sisters. When it comes to people finding this is the very first and most important thing to do with any task. It can reveal heaps/lots of helpful information.
The birth records usually provide us with precise full and middle name, as well as the parents’ full names. This is a real foundation block for the search!
Things don’t always go as planned.
Unfortunately, apart from one sister, there were no records of the others. But, we found out why! The oldest sister was born in 1933 well before the war. Whereas all the others were born during the war.
Apparently, during that period the authorities simply didn’t bother with such certificates due to it being wartime. On top of that the parents of the four sisters were also not locals, but foreign nationals, of UK origin.
Contact People with the Same Surname in the Area
The area in this situation was the UK. We had to contact every single person in the UK who shared the surname of the friend we were trying to find. Best case scenario – the surname is not that common and we were lucky to be in that scenario.
But.. No one answered our letters. No results and £30 in postage expenditure.
Let’s Go Online
When letters, birth certificates, and just general searches don’t work, it’s the best idea to just go online and search for them in different databases. Social media is a way to go.
We moved on to Facebook. We started searching “Calcutta/Kolkata ex-pats”.
This involved spending endless nights on the “Calcutta Memories” Facebook page. Those nights however were not spent in vain! A couple of people did in fact remember the girls from both their school days and attending the same church!
Beautifully attired, respectful and well-behaved. They also asked us to let them know if we were successful in finding find them!
Hired Local Freelancer
To further increase our chances, and reach, we also employed a local freelancer. They could help us by searching on the ground, so to speak. Unfortunately, our local researcher produced zero.
The Facebook group was quite astonished that us being 6000 miles away, had shown the initiative and resourcefulness to find what were four children not been seen since 1955!
We also “Facebooked” the local churchgoer’s site the girls attended some 65 years ago – zilch!
Even the Littlest Details Count! Double-Check
We started triple-checking some sources in the UK. Sometimes, you just have to go back to check again.
One day, we were perusing the Birth, Marriage and Deaths list and we paused on one of the listings. It was one that we combed over numerous times before.
The surname for a particular marriage listing brought us startlingly to attention. It looked as if might be the one we wanted but the Christian name didn’t quite stack up.
All of a Sudden – Detected the Misspelling
The Christian name was uncannily close to the one we needed. Yes, we noticed it was very likely a misspelling on a marriage listing. The name shown was “Ceolia” whereas we needed Cecilia. After further checks, it was undoubtedly a misspelling. So, we finally found the oldest sister, living since 1967 in West Hampstead, London.
The lead might not reply
We couldn’t wait to inform our client that we found the oldest sister. However, she didn’t reply to our letter.
The client wanted to stop the search out of frustration. Sometimes, in the process, it might seem that you wasted a lot of time for nothing, so it’s normal to want to give up. However, we carried on with our worldwide search to find a lost friend.
Found another lead in the process
In the meantime, we discovered the sister has a daughter living in London and she’s on Facebook. Naturally, we wrote to her and in the meantime received a positive response from “Calcutta” forum.
The two ladies who responded knew the sisters
The ladies attended school with them back in the 1950s. More importantly, they knew where they are today. Both of them are now in their 70s and living in Perth Western Australia.
One lady even offered to pass on a message to the sisters
To add to the good news, one lady offered to pass on a message to the sisters. Unfortunately, we never heard from her anymore. But, it’s okay – we do not give up the search for a friend!
Does the Friend We are Searching for Want to Be Found?
Since we didn’t hear anything from the lady, it could have been assumed that the sister didn’t want to hear from the person who was searching for her.
BUT! We suddenly received a heartening Facebook message from the daughter of the lady living in London. She said it was lovely we contacted the family and congratulated us on our “brilliant work” as she described it. Her first words were “music to our client’s ears” She requested that our client calls her.
She was aware we had written to Mum but dues to Mum’s PC ‘playing up’ she hadn’t replied so far although will be doing so. The next day we receive a phone call from the mother in London. God bless her now aged 88.
This Could Have Been You!
In a nutshell, we achieved the result our client so dearly wanted. Namely, we reconnected our client with the sisters-job done! We make even the impossible possible.
A nice note from our client.
”Dear John, I would like to thank you for all the time and effort you have put into this case and for your perseverance and determination in bringing about a satisfactory conclusion. Thanks for pressing on, even after I was ready to abandon it.”
If you failed in your search you might do worse than give us a try! We relish worldwide searches to find a lost friend.
Call Us: 07561698453
Email: friendsreconnecteduk@gmail.com
WhatsApp: 07561698453
