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Best Website for People Locator

Forums: General Discussion
Created on: 10/29/12 03:03 PM Views: 2199 Replies: 17
Monday, October 29, 2012 at 3:03 PM

In preparation for our 45th reunion next summer, we would like to do our best to locate our missing classmates. What is the best people locator website? We have one particular classmate that is going to be in charge of this effort. All ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Pam Murray
Lee HS Class of 1968

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 3:28 PM - Response #1

We found most of our classmates through peoplefinders.com

Good luck in locating your classmates and wish you a great reunion.

Louise

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 3:36 PM - Response #2

I used spokeo.com and zabasearch.com

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 3:39 PM - Response #3

We used pipl.com; desknows.com google search;whitepages. com

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 3:41 PM - Response #4

I used most of the previously mentioned; then I tried Facebook and found several more there.

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 3:59 PM - Response #5

All of those mentioned above are pretty good. My only admonition is that some of them will quickly lead you to "sponsored" results; code for it'll cost you. My own, albeit limited, experience is that the paid for information is not very reliable.

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 4:04 PM - Response #6

I use Veromi, Look Up Anyone, and People Search. And of course I use White Pages for more exact info. Here is another great source. If your local newspaper has an archive at a library or anywhere else close, I have found many classmates through there parent's obituaries. That is especially helpful with married ladies when you don't know their new last names. Ancestry.com is another source but it isn't free. I have found well over 100 missing classmates for several other classes using these sources.

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 4:29 PM - Response #7

We just finished our 50th reunion. We used PeopleFinders (we paid - part of our expenses), 411.com (free) and Ancestry.com (I already belonged). Ancestry was extremely helpful in locating some of the girls in our class we had never found before. We were able to find their married names by checking our state (Calif.) and nearby state (Nev.) marriage records as a lot of us married right out of high school back in the early 60s. From there we could look them up on PeopleFinders. We ended up with only 35 missing students out of a class of nearly 400. Ancestry also allowed us to check the Soc. Sec. death index and unfortunately we found we had lost several classmates since our last reunion 5 years before. Checking either whitepages.com or 411,com gave us the most up-to-date phone and address info. Good Luck.

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 6:50 PM - Response #8

Most County Library Systems have birth, death and marriage records on microfishe. A trip to the main Library can be very helpful for the 40th+ reunions.

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Monday, October 29, 2012 at 8:37 PM - Response #9

Finding classmates via internet search used to be easy. now so few sites are left that allow free searches. This is getting to be more of a problem even with telephone directories.

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Edited 10/29/12 8:39 PM
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 12:03 AM - Response #10

Don't forget to scroll up to the top of the page and check out Class Creator's FAQs page. They have helps listed.

I am about to get back into the the classmate search. It is time to find those others gave up on.

Happy Hunting!

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 12:44 AM - Response #11

Hi, I found google analytics (on the 'preferences' page of your administrator pages) to be helpful if you adapt the names like 'best to encourage business' to mean 'wider exposure', things like that. Also, I went to a private school so things like local, or parish newspapers (free ads about the reunion) are helpful. But community newspapers or weekly ones are usually free. Try posting something in the legal section. It's wonderous how many people read those things.
Seriously, Google has a whole section on our school and site even though the school is closed and was very small. Google our school name and you'll see. Yahoo is the same.
Good luck. Our 50th is coming up in March (all girls school).
Barbara IdeaIdea

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Edited 10/30/12 12:46 AM
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 1:37 AM - Response #12

Do any of you have suggestions for Canadian people searches?

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 3:58 PM - Response #13

I can't say that there is any one best site. My husband and I were able to locate all but two of our classmates, which took 18 months plus.
Spokeo.com was quite helpful. The best was Social Security Death Index, but that has been discontinued. If your local library has a file of newspapers, usually on microfilm, these are extremely helpful. Sometimes a file of weddings or obituaries is available, which yields other family names. Don't be shy about contacting family members. Even a phone book from around the time you graduated can be of use.
Use your imagination and develop skills as a detective. The journey can be as much fun as the goal.
All the best!
Donna

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 4:47 PM - Response #14

Spokeo.com? Site wasn't free. Enough said.

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Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 3:51 PM - Response #15

Locating women for whom you have no married name usually presents the biggest hurdle. Most marriage records are found in the County Clerk's office. They MAY be online, but probably not.

Visit the Clerk's office. Search the Marriage Index for the name of woman, then search the marriage books for the marriage details. Of course if the woman married outside the county, no luck. I found whitepages.com to be the best source for locating members. Those with the most common names will be hardest to find as well. "Ann Smith", "David Cook", etc. I created a URL link using Excel to automatically look up class members on whitepages.com. Don't have to manually enter anything that way.

Having a middle initial will narrow things down. Usually commencement programs list a graduate's full name.

As for the pay-to-look sites, you can usually get a 30 day pass for a reasonable cost when you're down to the hardest ones to find. Don't forget to enlist the help of registered class members. They may know some bit of information that will narrow the search: A city or state the missing member live(d) in, for example.

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Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 4:53 PM - Response #16

I can’t say how other states do their voters registration, but in Texas, a female is SUPPOSED to enter her maiden name as well as her current last name. Check your States form.
I have used a pay site for years to locate LOTS of female classmates using the Voters Registration Database I have access to.
Feel free to pvt. msg. me for more info if you are interested.
[BTW, Texas has 254 counties!]

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Friday, November 2, 2012 at 10:32 AM - Response #17

Hi John, Good to see you. Thanks for the info!

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