Forums Forums General Forums A - Z Lifestyle Trying to locate my Grandad...

Hey all
I could really do with some advice at the moment. For the last year or so I've been trying to trace my granddad who was last seen in 1949, nothing has been heard from him since apart from a rumour that my Granddad may have moved to Corby and worked there in maybe the 60's or 70's (My granddad was from Scotland and Corby had quite a large Scottish community that worked there). All methods of trying to track him down have been exhausted; he may have changed his name. I have his birth certificate and his army No. and regiment but the MOD isn't giving anything away unless it was to my Nan who is now deceased. My sister even paid private investigators to try and locate him...though how much effort they put in we don't know. Anyway there are two names in Northhamptonshire ( where he may have been last know to be) I looked up using 192.com his name John G Smith and two exact matches came up, now 192.com want me to pay £149 to search their electoral roll to find out more details a bit steep to be honest. Is there any way to find more information on these two names? Or if anyone has access rights to an electoral roll to find out more. He would be 88 now so it would be cutting it fine. He may have also moved abroad though as I know Interpol tried to look for him when he 'disappeared' from my Nan back in '49.
Any advice or info would be greatly received; I'd even pay good money if anyone found anything out that would lead me to finding out whether he is dead now or living out the last of years knowing he left 3 children behind.

If anyone wants any more info from me let me know, I'm in work at the mo but have a bit more info like where he was born, the last place he was living e.t.c

Thanks

With the info you have then you maybe need a third party to approach the two matching contacts to see if he is your grandad. At 88 he may relish the chance to re establish contact with family or he may just wish to remain as he is. The Sally Ann or something like that may do it for a dropsy into the funds. It's worth enquiring.

Have you tried: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

Well he'll be 90 this year so it may be a case of finding where he died, if he changed his name it's going to be useless. The MOD will only release details to my nan (deceased) or 116 years after birth date, he was born in 1920. I knew where he was born, he seems to have eluded everyone. Will ring up corby BMD to find out if he popped his clogs in the last place he was rumoured to be.

I've never had to find anyone, but i would tend to go down the National Insurance number route, if that's at all possible, after all, we are supposed to have that number from cradle to the grave. I don't know if its possible to change that number along with a name change or if there any other circumstances that would change it. It always puzzles me, when people want to go missing how do they get a Doctor, dentist or sign on etc without that number. If anyone wants to get a job and has to pay tax and stamp, wouldn't that number be needed.

We may have the national insurance No. or have a family member who does? But where would I go from with this No.?

Perhaps the inland revenue, customs and excise as they are now, I don't suppose its that easy, there are bound to be proper channels to go down, but worth a look in to.

Thank you Bert,

If he has died you may be able to trawl ancestry.co.uk and look at the BMD, it will take a bit of detective work though thats for sure. It may grab your interest and you will look for other family stuff too.

I would have to look at every death on the BMD for every district in England and wales, I know scotland was a pain in the backside when it came to BMD's. I know the exact dob, is there a way of inputting the dob to find a death record? He may have also buggered off to one of the other commonwealth countries, I certainly think he didn't want to be caught for missing out on supporting my mohter and her sister and brother.Just hoping he didnt change his name, though it's not a common name as he was scottish, John Grant Payne, as it appears on his birth certificate.

Have you tried leaving messages on http://www.rootschat.com it's active for Britain and NZ,AUS,CAN,USA the forums have lots of helpful people, you never know.

Will have a look, thank you

Have you thought of using the local papers in the areas that you know where he lived (ie Northhamptonshire) to see if anyone knew him?

Only a quick reply Paul as I'm at work, will try to find local papers for Corby and surrounding areas and do it, nothing to lose. Or if anyone see a local paper for that area while i'm at work put it on here and I will contact them.

For Corby

http://www.northantset.co.uk/