Friends Reunited?
 

Hi folks, I need some help from you Americans....

I had a friend who moved to America about 12 years ago and I've lost her contact details. These days it's pretty easy to find old school friends in the UK with the help of a site called www.friendsreunited.co.uk . She's not registered there, but since the site didn't exist when she left the UK it's hardly surprising. I'm just wondering if there is a universally popular American equivalent that might help me track her down. I've been trying unsuccesfully for several years, so any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

i can't be much help here, lou...i know there are on-line people finders here in the US, but i don't know much about them. there is www.whitepages.com, i've used it to get addresses before, but i knew the state and town of the person i was mailing the letter to. all you need to start the search is the last name of your friend, even the last initial works, but i imagine that wouldn't make it easy ... you'd have to cull through tons of names and addresses. another drawback ... if she isn't listed in the phonebook of her city or town, she won't be on the website either.

good luck finding your friend.

I don't know if this is the most popular equivalent in the US, or just the best advertised, but I've signed in at www.classmates.com ...the catch is that to actually make contact you have have to upgrade to full membership @ $30/year, which I don't have anybody from school daze that I'd need to pay to re-establish contact with...but you can see for free if someone else has signed in...

If she has a unique name you can gooooooooooooooooooooooogle her

Come on over and we can go look for her. ;)



Pack light. :D

Thanks for that info folks. I've tried googling her - nothing. I've also tried the whitepages (thanks for the link Musicman!) but I don't really understand how the site works. Just one person with her name and state came up, but then there was an advanced search option which I used and came up with someone her age with her middle initial and from the town that I know she last lived in, but no address details and it appeared that this was just part of her 'address history'. Now I'd expect that she'd have moved on from there since she's probably not living with family anymore, but there's nothing to say that the first name and address to come up is linked with the one that I know is her, unless I pay, and I'm kind of loathed to do that on the off chance that the information I need is there.

I've had a look at classmates.com but I don't know the name of the school she attended there and there doesn't seem to be a way to search for a name. In fact, I'm amazed at how basic and yet expensive the site is. Friendsreunited is so much more sophisticated and cheaper.

Lou, I pay for Classmates, if you wanna PM me her name and state and any info you have, I'll do the search for you. I just found my childhood friend by a name search on Classmates. :)

you might also give myspace.com a try - you might have to sign up for an account to search, but it is free.

Could using your 'FriendsUnited' on your side and tracking down other people you know may have been able to keep in touch with her be a way to find her? :shrug:

Or, if you know the names/locations of the family you said she stayed with, can you contact them to get a line on her?

Well I used the white pages to find the most likely zip code for the last address I have for her and written her a letter. I'm just hoping I've remembered the house number right and that her Aunt and Uncle still live there. I'm sure if they do, they'll forward it on to her, and if I've got the wrong house number, hopefully I'll only be a door or two away and they'll know who it's meant for.

If I don't hear from her after this, I may well take sodaklostsoul up on her kind offer and see if I can track down more up to date details for her.

Just to update this, I've still not had any luck finding my friend, however todday I think I've found her sister on Facebook (at least I hope it's her - it certainly looks like her, although she's wearing a large hat!) so I've sent her a message and hopefully I'll hear soon.

Keep everything crossed for me! :)

I must be an idiot. I can not find anyone on FaceBook.

I hope you find her Lou.

I just looked you up Lil (with your r/l name) and couldn't find you either. Do you have a pic on there or are you one of the anonymous ones?

Lou ... there's another search engine that may help you .. called www.zabasearch.com -- it has helped me find information that I couldn't seem to locate anywhere else and is specifically set up to give info on addresses. Hope you find her!