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Many years ago, I did some volunteer researching for the Unclaimed Persons Project. I found that I could use my research skills to not only give me practice, but to help. It’s an online group of volunteers who help professionals locate family members of deceased individuals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U8slxsEgDo&t=27s
Through the years, I had other items to attend to (children, work, school, L-AGS, CGS, pets, etc.) and this fell by the wayside. I just reentered, reset my password, and here we go!
While I obviously cannot share what the research I’m doing it, I thought I could share what I’m doing. I went to the private forum and chose an open case. I read the entire intro and took notes of all of it. I then read each post and noted those, as well. The one I just chose has two pages of comments and ideas. I plot them all on index cards and then use a highlighter for those that are the Unclaimed Person (UP). I focus on those and create a timeline and then try to plot in the others. If they don’t fit, but could be related, I move to them and recreate what I can of their family trees. You can use any resources at your fingertips but there are rules!
- You never contact anyone directly yourself.
- You never post anywhere else.
- You can only use resources publicly available online.
There are other rules and you will have to agree to them before you join. If you would like to join me, you can learn more here: https://unclaimed-persons.org/volunteers/
Helpful Links
Events: https://www.californiaancestors.org/events-and-education/
Special Interest Groups: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/
Calendar view: https://www.californiaancestors.org/cgs_calendar/
Tips & Talk: Oakland FamilySearch Center Family History Classes: https://www.familysearch.org/en/centers/oakland_california/classes
JAN
2026