How to find an old friend
When attempting to find an old friend, a Childhood pal, an undying special long-lost friend, teenage sweetheart etc. we have the knowledge and experience to assist in your quest. Seeking how to find a lost friend in England is our special forte. But we do accept instructions worldwide.
Search For Old Friends
The one you seek is the one who meant absolutely everything to you earlier in life, Now, today; is no more than a faded memory. We want to help you put this right.
In today’s fast-paced world there often isn’t time for these indulgences. Without serious amounts of free time, dedication, and determination, there is really limited scope to find them.
How To Find an old friend
Of course, no doubt you have already used various find an old friend searches. If you have not we can suggest:- Facebook, 192.com, google search, and numerous other ‘old friends’ reconnection sites.
Either way, you found it isn’t as easy as you thought. All this digital technology stuff. Is a mine-field to many of us.
“If only everything had remained the same: surname, address, employer and group of friends then a- piece of cake”. A slim chance, especially as probably decades have passed since you last were in touch.
4 main steps on the best way of tackling find an old friend
1. Assembling information
Begin by assembling as much information as possible from what you can recall.
Find an old loyal and true friend – is it worth the bother. YES
Write this all down. Full name, last known address you remember, birthday, the year which they married, anywhere where have they resided since, and any friends, relatives, linked.
Unfortunately, even with a fantastic memory, the details would not help very much. The chances are they have probably moved more than once, married, divorced and remarried AND ONCE AGAIN, SINGLE AGAIN!
2. Assembling a background profile finding an old friend
Firstly assemble a background profile which will be a real challenge.
Obviously you have a name. Then go to various online data which include birth records. This can be narrowed down with an approx. age and location of birth. Usually from this you can obtain names of mum and dad, and sister or brothers.
3. Finding out marriage records
Search marriage records to establish to whom they married and when. Very important in the case of the lady as she will have taken her husband’s surname usually.
Or we can establish if she remained single, married and or divorced. Of course, if we are dealing with a surname “Smith” it’s not a picnic.
We do have access to tools that helps with all of this stuff. Including shipping passenger lists going back to the 1950s. Often you need to go to archive electoral rolls which are often held in library reference sections. We do have access to all of them dating back to the 19th century.
We can advise you on this aspect, give us a call.
4. Online Profile searches
You might be able to find an old friend only by an online profile search. But don’t hold your breath. In many cases the name you search for will show a list of 100s of them….. Sometimes 1000s. Which one might it be? They may be currently living in the Belgian Congo so you would need a worldwide search to find them. Which means elimination thousands of possible candidates. If you think you might have found “the right one” you need to request their permission to add you as a friend. Often there is no reply, which could mean they do not wish to communicate with you, or, as is so often the case, it was set up by their grandchildren and the grandparents haven’t a clue how it works.
Thus leaving you to assume (incorrectly) they are not interested.
Conclusion
What we have described above is just a fraction of the potential pitfalls and obstacles along the way. Just think, if they moved across the world to say ‘Bali Indonesia’ how are you going to find them? Often we resort to finding them via other family members. But this care involves backtracking them from birth… reverse search. Still, think it’s a piece of cake?
Why not give it a go!
We are happy to offer advice totally free of charge. Here are some examples of challenging cases throughout our huge experience in finding lost friends in the UK and abroad.
Contact us via phone: 07444 750 422 or email: friendsreconnecteduk@gmail.com
