Locating Next of Kin

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Last week I was asked to help find any living relatives of a man who had founded a company in Nashville.  The company he founded about 70 years ago is planning to have an event and wanted to invite and honor any of his living relatives.

All I had was the founder's name.   He died in the 60's but I was unable to locate his obituary.  I found him on a 1940 census and also found when he died. A photo and  the name of his daughter was in an old newspaper article and it also mentioned where she attended school.  I hoped the daughter was still living but learned that she had died also.  So next I needed to find out if the daughter had any children but first I had to find her married name.

A book had been written about the founder and in the book it mentioned that he had two  grandchildren.  I began to search for the granddaughters and found a photo of one of the daughters  in a yearbook for a private school in Nashville.

I contacted the private school by email and explained why I was looking for one of their former students.  My email was forwarded to the Alumnae Association and I received a response saying the granddaughter was married and divorced and gave me her married name. 

Once I had a married name I contacted the court clerk's office to ask if they had a divorce record. At first I didn't think I was going to find her, but the nice clerk kept searching and found a divorce in the 70's.  I asked the clerk if she could tell me her last known address that was on the divorce record and she was able to find the old address f rom the 70's.  What's the chance the same people might own the property today? 

Sure enough after checking the property records I discovered that the granddaughter of the founder still owned the property even though she had remarried and her name was changed.

Now I had her name and address, and it didn't take long to find a phone number.  Within a few minutes of finding the information I had her on the phone.  She was very happy that her grandfather's memory was going to be honored and she and her children will be at the event.

With only a name to start with I was able to locate the living relatives of the founder of this company.
 
It takes time and persistence to locate and look thru years of death records, obituaries, cemetery records, census records, and newspaper articles.  Let me know if you need help in finding ancestors, survivors, or heirs.

Privacy laws protect certain information, but there are many public records available at public libraries, archive libraries, court houses, the internet, and many public offices.  Hiring a professional investigator can save you time and money because they have the knowledge and experience to know how and where to look for information.