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Clutterfree
Member
10-24-2003
| Monday, October 17, 2005 - 8:40 am
How do you locate a long-lost teacher to do an oral history with them? This is an odd question, but it comes from my desire to create connection as I clear my birth house of 40 years of my living and 80 years of my Mom's. I have pursued this, but then gotten discouraged and given up, and time is of the essence here, because the people I am looking for "aren't getting any younger", as they say. A significant portion of material I have at my birth house is connected to a small school I went to from grades K-8th. It was not quite a one-room school, but 100 kids in maybe 5 classrooms, grades mixed together to some extent. My mother taught there and it was one place where I was deliciously happy. I have been trying to locate the previous owners of the school (they must be in their seventies now, a husband and wife) but have been stalled by the commonplace of their names and leads that I even PURCHASED online that lead to out-of-date dead ends. My kindergarten teacher gave me their approximate location in CA and I have even talked to someone by the same name that gave me another lead that again dead-ended. I would love to do an oral history with them to put together with my material (like my old schoolbooks) and that of my teacher Mom to donate to a local historical society (this all started when my kindergarten picture was unexpectedly on display at the local historical society). Who knows, maybe I'll even try to put together a school reunion (School paled after that first experience and I've never wanted to go to a high school reunion, for example, but this would be different.) I keep giving up on this, and I think I should NOT, because it could give me a sense of connnection and aliveness. Anyone with any experience or ideas, much appreciated, thanks...There are so many weblinks out there, and I am wondering where I can be most efficient and effective with time and money, get results and not "get taken."
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Metoo
Member
02-22-2005
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 9:18 am
Bumping it up for you. Want you to get your help. Oral history is so important to learn about the "good ole days". My cousins and I "interviewed" our grandparents on their 65th wedding anniversary and we are so happy we did it because within a couple of years they were no longer with us. Good luck!
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Heyltslori
Moderator
09-15-2001
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 9:25 am
Have you tried Classmates.com? I'm not sure if that would help, but it might be one place to explore.
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Clutterfree
Member
10-24-2003
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 10:22 am
Thanks, Metoo and Heyltslori! I DID try Classmates.com, but my school was a small private grade school, no longer in existence, and when I enter it, it doesn't even show up--same when I try to google search for the name of the school! I also tried NationalPeopleSearch.com, but no one returned my phone call, and in the meantime through bbb.org (Better Biz Bureau online), I learned that they get an "F" rating because of numerous customer complaints and using the BBB symbol without permission. I tried entering "investigator" and "people locator" and such as business key words at bbb.org to see if I could find a similar business with better rating, but no returns came back. In the meantime, I have an email out to bbb.org to see WHY I can't locate another "people finder" business with better rating. (By the way, Classmates.com IS a member of bbb.org and gets a satisfactory rating, but unfortunately they are not broadbased enough to help in my search.) Thanks to anyone for any input!
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 11:05 am
Ok, this may be a bit much, but early last spring we were looking for my bils uncle. Bils mother was dying and we didn't have an address for the brother. They ended up hiring a private investigator, cost a couple hundred bucks, but they were able to find him within just a day or two, best part was the investigator refused to charge them until he had definitely found the uncle. Might be a bit much to go through in looking for a teacher for a non emergency reason, but it's a thought. Wish I could be more helpful.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 11:11 am
Clutter, you know you can enter the school into Classmates.com.. I did that with several workplaces and since then others have entered info.. with such a small school if you enter it into the database, then perhaps others who went there will join in and someone may be in touch with the original owners. If they are in their seventies, they may not be looking online but someone may know of them. I'd say the PI may be the route to go..
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Clutterfree
Member
10-24-2003
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 11:47 am
Wargod, Do you know HOW they found the private investigator, my thoughts again being how do you find someone you know you can TRUST! Thanks... Hmmm..re classmates.com...guess maybe I'm not clear on how it works!
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 12:43 pm
LOL, well not sure it'd work for you, but sis and bil have a friend who's a bail bondsman and they asked him for references. Once he found out why they were looking for an investigator he took them over and introduced them to the guy. I'd say ask around, find out if anyone you know has used an investigator around your area and see if they'd recommend them. Other than that I'm not sure how you'd go about finding someone trustworthy.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 1:07 pm
did you go to www.switchboard.com and put the persons name in? you don't even have to have the state or first name.
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Schoolmarm
Member
02-18-2001
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 5:35 pm
Is there a retired teachers club or association in your area or state? Lots of retired teachers gather there. I bet that someone who knows your teacher can get the address for you! You can also ask the school ( or its consolidation) to forward a message to the teacher's last known address. Gotta have pension records somewhere! Check the local nursing homes....perhaps your teacher has some friends there and they keep in contact. Do you know if your teacher went to a local church? They might have a letter of transfer or other records. Good luck--and I am "Schoolmarm" because I do research with one-room schools. I've interviewed lots of elderly teachers!
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 6:18 pm
I mis read this thread..I thought it said Oral sex with your teacher.....
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 6:20 pm
Well, not meaning to be negative. But, THIS is where I eventually found my father. At least I knew not to look any more. I just got home from errands. And then I need to feed Mom and I, watch Lost, etc. Later on this evening, I'll put down all the links I have for people search sites. Some of the ones I have in my Favorites folder are pretty confusing and seem to wind around and link to each other, so I need to sort them out first. I remember buried in one of them was a surname search, that leads to a message board where you can put info on the person/persons you're looking for. Surprisingly enough, a long lost cousin from my father's side contacted me through that site. It may be a while till I find it again, so bear with me. It may be into the wee hours of the morning before I can get to it.
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Clutterfree
Member
10-24-2003
| Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - 9:24 pm
Thanks everyone! Whoami, I really appreciate your being willing to sort out your links for me! You're right, a lot of them seem to wind around and you end up at the same destination! I just tried Switchboard.com (recommended in earlier post) and it eventually led me to Intellius.com, which is the only place I have paid $$ for so far and which led me to a dead end when I did so (I have the returned letter from the post office to prove it...the address was out of date!) Oh, the link you put to ancestry.com...for some reason that site scares me, either that or it just overwhelms my computer...I had very little luck when doing other research there, and then they put me on their mailing list and it took forever to get off, but maybe I'll get courageous and give it another go! Schoolmarm, I am fascinated that you do histories on one-room school houses! This felt very much like that; my first grade class was in a converted chicken coop! Kindergarten was in the barn, along with the theater! I am in Connecticut, school closed in early 1960's and was private school actually and now is apartments in the old farmhouse, think teacher I am looking for is in California (or at least when last known). I had a lead that person was eventually vice principal of a school there, but school was very unhelpful for some reason in finding any contact info for me :-(. Thanks for all your input....I keep dropping the ball on this and want to "keep it going" before it's too late and I regret. I am all too aware lately of the fragility of life.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 2:09 am
Clutter...sounds like you've done a lot of searching yourself, so I'm betting most of these links won't be new to you. And some are area specific, and not likely to be of help to you. And many seem to circle back through Ancestry.com...But, here's what I've collected over the last couple of years... WhoWhere.com Chicago Geneology Society Cyndi's List of Geneology Sites Family Search My Trees.com Ancestry.com People Finders Social Security Death Index US GenWeb US Vital Records Info ZabaSearch Roots Web The RootsWeb site is the one with the surname search with message boards I spoke about. Open the link I provided, and you'll see a link/button near the top labeled Message Boards. You can search the messages, and leave one yourself. That's how my cousin found me, she saw my post on the board. And, although Classmates didn't help you, there are a couple of other schoolmate related search sites... GradFinder Reunion.com Hope at least one of these ends up being helpful. Have to admit I still run around in circles when I try to find my half brothers on my father's side. Oh well, part of it is I need to decide how serious I am about it, and see if I want to pay $$ to see if one of the potential "hits" is valid.
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Clutterfree
Member
10-24-2003
| Friday, October 21, 2005 - 2:18 am
Thank you, Whoami, for your time and effort in providing all the great leads; I really appreciate it!! 
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Friday, October 21, 2005 - 12:12 pm
Try the county courthouse for records. You can look up previous property owners and property histories.
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