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Hi my name is sara-jane smith i am nearly 21 yrs old now and i think the time is right for me to find my father his name is Christopher thomas smith he is roughly 50yrs old and was born in lancashire he moved to kent where he met my mother and got married but was previously married to another woman called jacqueline. There is not much more i know apart from i got brothers and sisters i do not know and a dad i have never seen plz if anyone can give me any info ill be really grateful.

Hi Sara-Jane. You are stuck with a very common name to search for, aren't you?

My suggestion is that you talk to anyone you know who has more details -- especially his exact date of birth, and maybe his occupation, and any idea where he would have gone when your parents separate. Also, when that was, and when they divorced, if they did. That could help find whether he married again.

No idea of his parents' names? You could get his father's name from your parents' marriage certificate (I can send you the details you need to order it, if you don't have it or know how to get it.)

With his exact date of birth, or at least the year, someone here could look up the details for ordering his birth certificate. It would give both his parents' names. Without those details, it means reading through a lot of slow-loading images to find the right page and get the information.

If you have his parents' names, the death index can be searched to see whether they died between 1984 and 2005. Unfortunately, if their names are at least as common as his, that could be hard to determine without their birth dates. If his mother's surname was less common, it might be possible to find her birth.

The point of that exercise is that if one or both of them have died and you get their death certificates they might have information that would help you. And you might be able to find an obituary in a newspaper archive that would probably list their children and grandchildren. I assume you have no contact with your grandparents, but maybe you know or can find out their names?

I looked at marriage records, but there are an awful lot of Christopher T Smiths. Did your mum have a hyphenated surname? Just to check that that marriage was your parents'. It's the only one in Kent after 1984.

It's not likely that someone who actually knows your father will see a message like this. But sometimes people can help get information that can be used to find someone.

If you want to find him, you're probably going to have to do some work, like I've described above.


Okay ... I see you have him in your tree as born 1952. Why not say so?? That makes him 55, not 50, to start with. Is it accurate? ... Possibly not. I did the check and there was no Christopher T Smith born in 1952, assuming that's how he was registered.


So any other information you have about him could help find him. Best of luck.

I hope you have found some information just in case you haven't I thought I would pass this on...

researchers always say to start with what you know and talk to people. This of course, is sometimes very difficult for people in your position, I had no contact with my 'real' father from early childhood and didn't feel I could ask for fear of upsetting people. He died last year so now I will never get the chance to ask him the questions I've always wanted to ask.

You probably have already, but it is always good to make sure you have a copy of your own full birth certificate.

Get a copy of your mother and father's marriage cert to cofirm their names, DOB and parent's names and take it from there.

Keep your GR tree up to date and don't be afraid to contact people to see if there is a link.

Have you tried googling him...it is surprising how that can sometimes identify people?


I also use Lancashire BMD, Cheshire BMD and these site provide a lot of information providing you are sure about the information you are searching for. For example, it can tell you surnames and year of marriage if you are sure of at least one name and approximate year.

Good luck with your search

Hi I'm so sorry I totally forgot I had wrote this as I couldn't find it I did not know where to look. I now know his full d.o.b my grandparents names and details just have not yet found him I have got previous address but nothing from 2005 which is quite difficult. But thank you so much for your information Sara x

Rather than helpers adding to the above, please see the new thread

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/living_relatives/thread/1364455