GeneaBabble

If you’re not on Facebook yet, you should be. It’s a great way to keep in contact with friends and family. It’s also a great way to connect with people you haven’t seen in years.

After you open an account you should fill out various information about yourself. Facebook has a “People You May Know” feature which uses some of this information to find… well, people you may know! For instance, after I added my high school it showed me a list of long lost classmates.

You can also search for people by name, e-mail, school, place of employment, etc. Once you start finding people you know you should look at the list of their friends. You will very likely find even more people from your past. I’ve managed to come across cousins and other people from my past who I lost touch with years ago (although, as of this writing, I still haven’t contacted them - I’m awkward like that).

One excellent feature is that it allows people to enter former names. This is a great help when you’re looking for a woman that may have been married since you lost touch. I have noticed that most women seem to fill this out, but your mileage may vary.

Give it a try. Keep looking around and once you find people start asking questions. You may just find that cousin you haven’t seen since childhood who has that one missing piece of information on your grandfather that you’ve been searching for, or perhaps it may facilitate a family reunion.