Help me find a long-lost relative?

[Ringsender2]

hi, inspired by the discussion about DNA testing and genealogical searches, could anyone point me to how I would go about finding a long-lost uncle who lived in Canada?

I know his name and city of residence, and was last in touch with him in about 1980. He would be long dead by now I would imagine.

I've searched his name + obit and haven't found him.

I've been curious on and off over the years. We had a lovely correspondence, even though I was less than 10 and he was probably in his 50s or older at the time.

If anyone can help, that would be amazing. thanks

Any budding heir-hunters who could help to get me started?

Still no replies. Wah!

Have you joined ancestry.uk and tried the premium service where they look for records worldwide? You might find marriage and death records

No, I haven't. Only vaguely aware of it. Do you have any experience of it?

I don't think he married. I assume he didn't move from Vancouver before dying, but not sure.

It's funny how something stays with you. We were only penfriends. I never met him. He was a bit of a black sheep i think. Communism might have been mentioned. Possibly jazz.

I spent years ineptly trying to trace family history and getting frustrated, and then I came across a genealogist on Facebook of all places and after a few messages and checking her professional credentials I decided to give it a punt. I paid only just over a hundred dollars I think (it was a few years ago) - she was in the US and I'm in the UK and I wanted info on my mother's mother who died in the US. Within literally hours she'd found out loads of things and even found photos of my mum with her mum that I didn't know existed. She knew her stuff- it was like magic. Best money ever spent. Worth considering OP. 🙂

Oh brilliant, thank you for that. I'll think about finding out Canadian geneologists. He was a kind correspondent, and it would be nice to know what became of him

Try Googling Canadian tracing sites / Fb pages first for advice?