Genealogy Chat

Any suggestions please, as to how I can trace a rellie in the States (whom I hope is still with us)? I found a messgae board entry by her about a member of my family who emigrated - alas it was posted 4 years ago and I have been unsuccessful in making contact. I tried to search via Ancestry.com but with the limited info I have, the 2000+ results that come back are quite daunting. I have looked at several 'people finder' sites found thru Google, but you pay someone to find that person, whereas I really want to try and find her for myself............. I shall continue my efforts, but I just wondered if anyone could recommend any other routes to follow.....

Anne, What's her name and age? I might be able to find her. What was her old email address? Crista

Hi Crista - What gives? do you have a plan??........the only info I have is her name: SHERYL SANDERS maiden name BOUTIN - father is either ALVAN BOUTIN or AUBREY BOUTIN (brothers) - I'm guessing she'd be aged 45-55 based on the age group of my known cousins and birth years of the BOUTIN men above. Her email that was on the link was with AOL - teapotclowns1 (sorry email add wont come up in normal format on here??) Her family were listed in Massachussetts altho I have no idea if she remained there...........

There are 7 SHERYL SANDERS listed at the site ussearch(.)com in Massachusetts - Remember to remove the ( ) from the address. Although the initial name search is free, for a current/past addresses there is a small fee of approxiamtely $10.00 dollars; $14.95 for the same information on all 7 names. # Name City State Age 1 SHERYL SANDERS BROCKTON MA 53 2 SHERYL SANDERS LAWRENCE MA 53 3 SHERYL SANDERS READING MA 53 4 SHERYL B SANDERS LAWRENCE MA - 5 SHERYL D SANDERS HANSCOM AFB MA 45 6 SHERYL D SANDERS HANSCOM AFB MA 45 7 SHERYL SANDERS READING MA - A way around paying that fee, if the person is listed in a public telephone directory, you may be able to find them at www.switchboard(.)com. USSEARCH uses public records information so if you are unable to locate who you are looking for in the public telephone directory, you may have better luck with ussearch. If her father was in the US with her, there was one Alvan Boutin listed in the SS Death Index: ALVAN E BOUTIN born - 18 Oct 1929 Died - Oct 1991 Social Security #014-20-6539 issued in Massachusetts Copies of his Social Security Application and Information can be obtained from the Social Security Administration which could shed light on genealogy information. You would also be able to find out where he died and get his death certificate as well. Judy

Hi Anne, She's left some other messages saying she's from originally from Reading, MA and that she would have graduated in 1970. This makes her born 1951/1952. I'll have another dig and get back to you. Crista

Judy - thanks for all that info, thats really helpful of you - the Alvan E Boutin you mention is definitely one of my Uncles - I shall go to the sites you recommend and have a good look. Crista - thanks for your info too - I guess you just have to know where to look huh? Thank you both - your help is appreciated :)

Judy, Do you have a Classmates membership? Crista

Crista....I'm registered at Classmates but I don't have a membership. Judy

Anne, I can't find an address for Sheryl. I think she is married to Elbert. There's an address for an E and S Sanders in Andover, MA which may be them. You could also try this: Boutin, Aubrey B 604 Casa Fuerta Lane SAINT AUGUSTINE, FL 32080 904-471-4352 Aubrey is 70 so this could be a relative. Crista

Hi Crista & Judy - many thanks to you both for your continued efforts - very much appreciated, I just hope you aren't spending too much time (and definitely not money!!) on my behalf!? I think this one is going to take some time - but I was so excited to find someone and that turned so quickly to disappointment - you know how it is tho, the eagerness to track someone down becomes impatience LOL. Unfortunately both Alvan and Aubrey have long since passed, so I really only have her name as a definite, on which to go by. Have had another offer of help direct to my email, which is very kind, and I am searching various sources for email addresses.............I'm sure she will come to light eventually. Many thanks again........Anne :)

Anne, You could try emailing teapotclowns1 at various different domains like H otmail, Y ahoo, etc. Might be worth a try. Crista

Hi Crista - thanks, that's certainly another idea to add to the list. I have spent all afternoon searching different 'email address' finder sites for her name and teapotclowns1 without much success, altho I do have a small list of potentials - I reckon I shall just have to 'mailshot' all of them and keep my fingers crossed. Apart from Ancestry.com, I wondered what other sites are popular among US genealogists?? There are so many to choose from it's hard to know where to start...... The search continues :)

Anne: We're Canadian, so I rarely look through U.S. sites, but this one is rather good: http://www(.)usgenweb(.)org/ remove ( ) I'm probably stating the obvious, but have you tried google and typing Massachusetts and genealogy; or Massachusetts Boutin, etc.? A couple of GC/GR people did that for my ancestors and found quite a few interesting things! I've tried that myself (can't tell you how many hours I've sat here, with different combinations of words) and although it's taken a LONG time, I have found information. I've tried typing their names, birthdates, marriage dates, towns, occupations, provinces, etc. Don't forget if you're looking for "John Smith" to try Smith, John or Smith, J , etc. Good luck.

www.rootsweb(.)com - remember to remove the ( ) - is another good place to leave messages on message boards. http://www.cyndislist(.)com is another excellent site. Other search engines to try, besides Google: altavista y ahoo d ogpile l ycos h otbot m etacrawler e xcite Depending on how a webmaster sets the metatags on their site, there's always an off chance that you may find something on one search engine that wasn't on another....so checking different search engines may pay off. A tip, opposed to a site, that I've found most beneficial in some of my searches: Go to Google(.)com - Remember to remove the ( ) from the address - and type in the name you are researching. To narrow a search, where too many unrelated links pop up in the results, use " " around the name. For instance, when I am researching my LEWITT surname, I get hundreds and hundreds of links that include a well known artist SOL LEWITT who as of yet, is not connected to me. To alleviate those links having to do with Sol Lewitt, I enter my search as: "Lewitt" genealogy -Sol The minus sign (-) tells the search engine to exclude those links about Sol. When searching for John Lewitt, many links come up where the site results give me anything that says JOHN or LEWITT or JOHN LEWITT or things like Vincent JOHN Lewitt. To narrow down my search I enter " " John Lewitt around the whole name...."John Lewitt." When researching the Lewitt's in the UK (opposed to the ones in the US) I would do a search that looks like this: "Lewitt" genealogy -Sol +UK The plus sign (+) tells the search engine to look for the surname Lewitt in the UK but to leave out anything having to do with Sol Lewitt. You can search with up to as many - or + signs per search to help narrow down searches that are related to your branches. "Lewitt" -Sol +Leicester +UK +US Keep in mind that search engines are geared to look for what you enter. An example being I am looking for John William Lewitt. I would search for him first using the full name, then by John W. Lewitt and then just John Lewitt. Although you may have a full name, some one else or a site that has information you are looking for may not have posted it the way you are searching for it.....so always check all possible ways that a name could be listed. Hope that helps some.....happy hunting! Judy

Thanks for those tips Lisa & Judy.............I have been trying searches like you suggest Judy - I keep getting results back on a Sheryl Sanders who would appear to have been a successful sports person in her time, back in the 90's....that's one thing I shall be looking further into.......and I will definitely be trying the sites recommended..........Cheers Ladies :)

A correction to my last post on this thread....I dind't realize that initally the search engines I listed, besides Google, didn't take. Seems that putting ( ) around the . before come didn't work, nor did using a *. It wouldn't even take the names of the search engines without my seperating the first letter from the rest of the word! The search engines listed all start with www and all end in (.)com - drop the brackets ( ). Judy