Hi Lists,
I've read so many messages which start by indicating the mailer has
run into a brick wall, I'd like to share this brick wall buster that was
posted on a Gen research List. I have neither further assistance nor
information that will clarify any questions. I have not used the
process. There is a FAQ Link provided also. You might wish to share
this.
Good Luck.
Barry (Witherington, Dare, Easterling, Fitchett-L)
Subject: Re: Will the SocSecAdmin do this?
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 16:31:27 -0700
From: JM
To: GEN...
"Paul D wrote:
I heard an interview a few weeks ago with a gentlemen who
specializes in tracking down lost relatives and the like (apparently
he's written a book about it). One of the tactics he claimed to use
is to send an unaddressed letter in a prestamped, unsealed envelope
(intended for the missing person) to the Social Security
Administration with info about the person including name, ss#, etc.
Supposedly the SSA will look up the persons current address and
forward the letter to them. This is supposedly done free of charge
as well. Is this really something the SSA does?
Yes, they do this free of charge. I did it myself earlier this year
and found my long lost uncle, whose whereabouts weren't even known
to my parents as of several years ago (parents are dead now).
My uncle is the only living relative on my father's side of the
family, and I wanted to find him. I also want to find out more
details about our family history, so I sent a letter....
I was quite shocked and surprised when I received a telephone call
about 3 months later from him! I had included my full address and
phone number in the letter, so obviously the SSA forwarded it. I
did have his SSN, and of course it's easier to track a male relation
since the last name remains the same most of the time.
My interest is in finding my half sister whom I haven't seen since
I
was a child 30+ years ago. I know her birth name, birth date, birth
location and not much else really. I don't have her SS#. Would the
SSA be able to look up her up with this info? I suspect by now
she's been married and so has a different last name. She may also
have changed her name prior to getting her SS# as a result of a
nasty custody/adoption battle (which is also why I haven't seen her
in so many years)
As long as you provide as much information as you can about the
person, perhaps even potential surnames (if you know them), they may
be able to find them.
You can find more information at
http://www.ssa.gov Enter "lost
relative" in the search field and click on the link for the
"Frequently Asked Questions Social Security Online Services". That
will give you the details you need.
Good luck in your search.
Hope this helps,
Also, search your List archives for your brick wall:
(WHEN YOU DOUBLE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO ENTER THE
NAME OF THE LIST. DO NOT ADD -L)
http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl