RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Llwyd on Friday 12 August 05 12:47 BST (UK)
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Last night,whilst having nothing better to do,I was perusing the internet and just by chance decided to Google a relatives name.
Guess what......I found postings on a site from someone in America asking for information on the same individual.
My Great-Uncle is his Grandfather.........wow,great excitement!!!!! :) :) :)
Now,here come the rub.Unfortunately,but for reasons which I completely understand,the web site is not able to supply me with this persons E-mail address and he has not been in touch with them for some time.There is,however,a message on the site asking him to get in touch,via E-mail,as they may have information for him.To my disappontment he has not contacted them.
How can I trace this individual in the U.S.A.?.
I have posted messages to the Rootsweb Message Boards and I have tried E-mailing the city/area,via the city web site, where he lives but that was returned undelivered, as I was not authorised to E-mail them.
I have had one reply to my posting on Rootsweb Message Boards but that was only to advise me to try a certain County.
Suggestions/ideas please as to how I may trace this person,assuming I don't receive any positive replies to my messages and he does not get in touch with the UK site again.
:) :) :)
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The short answer is that there is nothing obvious you could be doing. However, sleuthing will be required and this site is chock full of sleuths.
You didn't say what site it was on, this message you saw.
If you let us know who you are looking for and what the message said etc we can look for clues to help you find this person. You could google their name if you knew it or could work it out, for instance, to see if they are on the web through their work. You could google their surname if it is the same as your great uncle's and the state in America, if you know which it is. There are various social security sites for America and I imagine they have their electoral roll on line, like we do. An american rootschatter could help with that.
Basically, you need to tell us what you have so we can get sleuthing for you
Regards
Louise
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Hi there,
Thanks for the advice. I'm trying all sorts of things but I was just hoping someone on Rootschat may have the definitive answer.
I'm getting some useful responses from the States via the Rootsweb message boards but if anyone out there in Rootschat land can help it would be greatly appreciated.
The person I am trying to trace is a John Humphreys of Little Rock, Arkansas.That is all the info I have.
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Hi Llwyd,
There's a whole buch of sites on the web dedicated to tracking down people in the USA - you should be able to find quite a few by Googling.
I had a quick look and found a www.switchboard.com which found a John Humpheys in North Little Rock along with his address, phone number and 2 e-mail addresses!
Have you tried Googling "John Humpreys" "Little Rock"? Google throws up 5 pages that might be worth trawling through.
Regards,
Allan
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Hi Llwyd
I had similar experience only a couple of months ago. Knew the person's name and that he lived in Saskatoon - couldn't track down any email addy for him.
Tracked him down by looking for any people with that surname who had Saskatoon for place of birth on GenesReunited - then sent the person who had listed them an email asking for their help.
Turned out it was his wife - and the person she had listed was her niece!
Don't give up - someone somewhere will track him down. We must have some rootschatters in Arkansas surely ;D
Helen
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Whats this Googling I am always hearing about ???
Celia
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Hi Celia
Google is a search engine, and a very good one at that ;D
Just put Google in your search bar & hey presto ;)
Sue
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To those of you who have provided advice/assistance,thank you. I was hoping someone may have had a magic formula but for the time being I shall plod on.
I shall now start contacting the John Humphreys's located in Arkansas, probably by letter to start with rather than phone/e-mail and hope I eventually get the right one.I'll get him eventually. :) :) :)
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Llywd,
I had a similar occurence a month or so ago, I found someone searching for someone in my line on a message board, but the email she gave was a dead address. She was in New Zealand, so I put out a message to New Zealand Rootschatters. Well the long and the short of it was, she emailed me after a NZ rootschat member rang her! I agree with hlbradd there must be some Arkansaw rootschatter out there who can help.
Suzanne
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Taking of Googling- ;D I just did and putting in Arkansas and White Pages brought me to this selection of John Humphreys's
Very long link address (http://www.whitepages.com/1005/log_feature/search_suggestion/search/Find_Person?firstname=j&firstname_begins_with=1&name=humphreys&city=little+rock&state_id=AR&metro_area=1&search_suggestion=1&query_type=364)
Hope one of them's your man.
Regards,
Carol
PS Didn't Bill Clinton come from there? ;)
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Thank you one and all............ :) :) :) :) :) :)
Carol----Bill Clinton.....that was my first thought.God forbid!!!! ;)
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Try one of the local newspapers-- often
available on line (I know my local paper is!)
Hopefully they will print it in the letter section of
the newspaper so local people in the town will
see it.
Jinks
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Greetings Llwyd, from PA. Infospace lists the same three Mr. Humphreys, with ages. Can't know how dated the information is, but at least it will require only three letters. Best wishes in locating your John. Wish we could have helped sooner. ranscott
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Llwyd:
Here is link to the Arkansas Democrat http://www.ardemgaz.com/ and here is one for all papers in Arkansas. http://www.dailyearth.com/USNews/arkansas.html
Good luck!
Pat
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Once again,thank you all for your assistance.If necessary I will try all the sources suggested until I find him, but find him I will.
Best wishes to you all.
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Hi there everyone,
Just an update on this posting.
I'm afraid so far it is not good news and I'm wondering why people can be so bloody rude. >:(
I have written to the one John Humphreys found on the Internet and who lives in Little Rock.He has failed to reply.
I have e mailed what is supposed to be the newspaper with the largest circulation in Arkansas.It too has failed to reply. >:( >:(
What is the matter with these people?.I wouldn't mind even if they e mailed me to say sod off, as long as they replied.
Not a happy bunny............ >:( >:( >:(
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Don't give up, LLywd - and don't be downhearted.
There's plenty of good people out there as well as the not so nice ones - you've just been unlucky getting two horrors in a row.
Rootschatters are rooting for you!
Philip
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Oh Llwyd
What a rotten piece of luck. >:(
Racking my brains to see if there's anything else we can try (might take a while though :P )
In the meantime I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Nothing worse than having information for someone - and then not being able to contact them.....
Helen
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There are a number of listings in the white pages phone book for "J* Hump*"
for Little Rock and area ,have a look at telephone listings (http://www.whitepages.com/10001/search/Find_Person?firstname_begins_with=1&firstname=J&name_begins_with=1&name=Hump&city_zip=Little+Rock&state_id=AR&metro_area=1)
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Congratulations on getting this far!
Don't take this too negatively, but perhaps you should also be checking the obituaries in Little Rock. I hope not, but this could possibly be the reason why he disappeared off the website.
There must be a voter's list or voter's registration thing somewhere.
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Hi there,
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to read/reply.
Falkyrn,the site you suugest is where I obtained the address of the John Humphreys I have written to.He appears to be the only one who fitted the bill.Still I shouldn't make assumptions.
Loo,I hope he isn't dead.I would think he is around the same age as me,certainly not a great deal older anyway.
Helen,Cheers.
Phil,No I'm not giving up.I've now sent another e mail to America.
:)
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When I was doing a similar search and just knew a few names, I checked the White Pages but when I found addresses I wrote letters, seems that was better than finding old email addresses which might not quite be dead but may not get checked as often as they used to - don't we all have some partly abandoned because of spam?
Out of half a dozen letters a couple were returned "not known at this address" so at least I could cross them off the list but one actually found the man who passed it onto his son who in turn did reply to me - by email too since I'd put one of mine in the letter.
Maybe I was just lucky, but my thought was that even if they had moved house, the new owners might just know where they had gone and forward the letter. If somebody has an actual piece of paper in their hand I hoped it would make them feel responsible for it.
Mary
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Just a though.
Does any of your Arkansas relatives have a business address?
I managed to trace some of my distant PYE relatives this way, and I ended up ordering a book
about their business - showing family history
from their side.
Jinks
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Hi there,
Thanks Mary and Jinks.Mary, I still haven't forgotten the offer of a bevy and yes I think you were lucky.
Jinks,I know absolutely nothing of this person I am looking for.I didn't even know he existed,until I found the post on the B.B.C. web site.
I'm now in touch with the Arkansas Genealogical Society hoping they can/will help.
Cheers everyone............ :)
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Did you ever find your John Humphreys?
If not, what was the name of your common ancestor?
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Hi there,
No I haven't traced him yet.
We share a common great grandfather by the name of, would you believe it,John Humphreys.
My grandfather and the grandfather of the John Humphreys I seek were brothers.
His grandfather,my great uncle,was Christmas James Humphreys.
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There was a Humphrey Society. I inquired with them, but unfortunately they disbanned a few years ago.
You might try posting your search for him at www.genealogy.com. This is a popular message board. You can post by surname as well as location. There is a field titled "Jump to". Type the surname in this field and it will take you directly there. It's worth a shot.
I wish rootschat had postings by surnames. When you're searching a surname such as Charles, it sure would be nice if the search results didn't list everyone with the given name of Charles.
I'm from Texas. I don't know how they do things in Arkansas, but I am not aware of voter registration information on line.
Good Luck,
cfuller
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Thanks for that.......I'm slowly giving up hope of getting a reply to anything I send to the U.S.A..
Is anyone there ever going to be polite enough to reply to an enquiring e mail or letter,even if their reply was not so polite I wouldn't mind.
>:(
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I used White Pages to get a list of possible's for a similar post and dead email. A fellow cousin calle all the people on the list and struck lucky. Received a pack of source material that ould break your foot!
I recommend making teh calls, what could happen? A few John Humphrey's think you are loonie?
P ;D
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Hallo Llwdy,
Ive just noticed this thread..and the struggle you are having. What caught my eye most of all though was the mention of ....Christmas Humphreys.
There was a very respected High Court judge called Mr Justice Christmas Humphreys. I can recall his name in the press up to about 1970s. He was also a Buddhist.
I've just googled his full professional name and see that he died in 1983...and they're still talking about him...
Is he the same bloke as your kin?
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I had to join this thread that I have found some 7 years later and I hope you are all alive.
I am related to Christmas Humphreys and my 5 x great grandfather is Charles Humphreys and they were a long line of solicitors in London and very famous.
Christmas is such an odd name that Christmas James Humphreys must be one of my relations and I know this for sure as it runs in my family as does Travers and Richard and James and CHarles as well as William - these are all names that are familiar to me but Christmas is a Humphreys name.
I have a lot of information about his ancestors
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Hi charliekurtz,
Llwyd was online on the 22 Febuary 2012 so I would say he is still about.Not sure when he will be back online but should be soon.Just keep checking back onto rootschat.Up the top on the right hand side of the page you will find Show new replies to my posts.... click onto that when you come online and it will take you back to Llwyd post that you and I have commented on.
Johngirl