Genealogy Chat

Has anyone out there ever tried to find family members by sending letters to people in the telephone directory? I know someone who did this with some success, but I wonder if anyone has had negative experiences after doing this. The family I am researching is called Eccleston, and there are very few in Birmingham, so I guess there is a good chance at least some are related.
Advice please!
Jan

Yes I have done it a few times with mixed results. I always send a polite letter expressing my gratitude for any response, and always include an SAE. The results are anything from none to negative to sorry we can't help but .... and I have actually contacted a relative using this method. So in this game anything is worth a try.

Thanks LD! Think I was just being a bit cautious. Might give it a go!
Jan

have done it and am in contact with a cosin. I had never seen a photo of my grandfather & she had some which she passed onto me it was wounderfull. I introduced my self & explained my conection with the person I was contacting, enclosed a SAE, said thankyo & also sorry if they were not conected
Good luck

I have written one letter,and althuogh not the family I was looking for,I had a very nice letter back within the week.
I did enclose a.s.e.
Good luck

Thanks for the encouragement all. I think I was being too influenced by alarmist news reporting and forgetting that most people are perfectly decent and not knife-wielding identity thieves!!
This could be interesting. Will post here again when I've done this!
Jan

Hi Jan
just read your post. I contacted a possible cousin of my dads through a letter (with a SAE enclosed) and found him, his brother, sister and my great aunt who is now 88!
Cassie

I think it can be a great idea - especially with a rare surname.

I wrote to my grandmother's cousin recently - and thanks to that letter I am now in touch with her daughter who is really keen to find out more about the family and has been helping me to identify people in old family photos and is digging out contact details for other family members which is great. My Dad is really pleased to know that we haven't completely lost touch with his mother's family - as my paternal grandparents died in 1975 and with their deaths went a lot of family contacts - and of course information about their respective families.

It's always worth giving it a go - and be polite and include an SAE!

x

Yes. I looked up a name on the electoral role and only about 10 names cropped up for the whole of the UK. So I wrote a letter to them all. A longshot, which didnt actually pan out, but I was quite touched that I got some feedback. I received letters and phone calls from a few of those people. About 5 or 6 actually. Which was a nice touch. Shame it didnt result in anything but hey anything is worth a shot I suppose.

My Mother did this about 10 years ago. Spent hours in her local library going through all the phone books.

She wrote about 15 - 16 letters. Most did not reply. Two did send some details but we have never found any connection to the family.


Maureen

My niece did this about 25 yrs ago, and even put an ad in a Canadian newsaper (we are in New Zealand). She had quite a few replies, some being relatives. Luckily my grandmother and mother had kept correspondence with a few cousins (grandmother) and 2nd cousins (mum) and I am now in touch with some of their children. I have taken over the research from my niece.
Huia.

I must add that I have contacted quite a few 3rd cousins on GR and am particularly pleased to get some from my fathers side of the family.
Also in touch with some of my husbands relatives.
Huia.

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I feel really encouraged to go ahead. And it was lovely to read your stories.
I have also noticed that our free paper produced by the council has a "trying to find" bit so I might give that a go too, because of course a lot of relatives will have different surnames - I do myself!
Thanks again folks, much appreciated.
Jan

Hi Jan

The local papers are also a great route to take - I've done this a couple of times to try and locate distant family members and with some success. Sometimes we have to try everything!!

x