Genealogy Chat

Recommendation please - I recently found my grandfathers' nephews death cert. The witness, his son, was living at an address in 1997 in Northampton. I looked up his address on the electoral roll and in 2006 he was at the same address. I've written to him and not had a reply so either a) he has no interest or b) he's moved. Short of jumping on a train to Northampton has anyone any suggestions as to to how I can confirm the status of my 2nd cousin. Best regards Roy

Did you enclose SAE with your letter? Alternatively, is there a listing for a phone number for this person? Reg

Reg I think they are ex directory.

I guess he`s not interested.Someone on here put details on Hotmatch I and someone else e.mailed him no reply. I looked up address and wrote enclosing s.a.e.giving details of Family etc.Why post on here if you don`t intend to reply to a genuine relative

I am in exactly the same boat as you having sent a letter to a cousin who was the informant on a death certificate in 1998. I am unsure if he was on the 2006 Electoral Roll as I do not have access to this but I have had no response and like you say short of travelling there to see if the letter arrived you just sit and wait. I know everyone is not interested in family history as I have just tracked down a cousin in Australia and he was very grumpy when I spoke to him and does not want to help at all.

I also am in the same situation. (Son of my father's half-sister, informant at her death - on electoral roll 2006, but no phone number, presumably ex-directory). I have had no reply from my cousin although I wrote enclosing a S.A.E. I'm considering writing to the people living either side of his house, but am unsure whether that might just put his back up more if he is unwilling or suspicious! Any other suggestions welcome! Helen

No reply seems to be the norm these days !

Sadly, the art of letter writing has been forgotten and is under-used. I did successfully contact one cousin by letter but as she is an ex-schoolteacher, I suppose it was more likely she would reply. Cheers, Horatia

Hiya Roy, if you like, you can PM me the details ie name etc, then I can double check on my elec register stuff, which includes the Rolling Register. Shirley-ann

You could try writing again and include your email address. Some people just don't like writing letters, but might reply to an email. You could also put a letter in the local newspaper for where he lives/lived asking if anyone knows of his whereabouts (including your email address). Just say it is in connection with family history. I recently made contact with my father's half sister (that he unfortunately never knew he had) by doing this. A relative of her's saw the letter and contacted me via email with information about her present whereabouts. Kath. x

Thanks, Kath - the idea of a letter to the local paper sounds a good one.