Is there any low cost ways to search for lost family members?

[momb3]

I need to find my long lost father, but I have too many expenses and not enough money to pay a private investigator as much as they ask for. The websites ask for money too quickly and I am not 100% sure if they can help me.

[Bean]

I was searching for my family members, and I started on facebook. then myspace. then google. when I couldn't find any of my relatives on there, I used whitepages.com, ussearch.com, and peoplesearch.com. if you know any of his relatives try searching for those too. you could also try joining classmates.com if you know where and when he graduated high school. ask any of your relatives if they know any information about him. it's time consuming, and frustrating, BUT if you find what you're looking for, it's totally worth it. I'm currently trying to find a niece!

[Ted Pack]

In the USA, in addition to the ones suggested by Bean, http://www.zabasearch.com

Once in a while you can find someone with an exact phrase search in Google. That means you use quotation marks - double quotes ("), not single ones ('). You have to try all of the forms of the name you can think of:

"Tom Edison"
"Thomas Edison"
"Thomas A Edison"
"Thomas Alva Edison"

"Edison, Tom"
"Edison, Thomas"
(If that gives you too many, try
"Edison, Thomas A"
"Edison, Thomas Alva", because any page that has "Edison, Thomas Alva" will come up for the shorter phrase, "Edison, Thomas".)

The case isn't important, nor do you need the commas. You and I know that "Thomas Alva Edison" and "Edison, Thomas Alva" are the same person, but a computer doesn't.

If you know your person likes to jog, or lives in Beloit, add the additional fact outside of the quotation marks:
"Tom Edison" 10K
(etc. - you still have to try all 27 forms of the name, in quotes.)
"Tom Edison" Beloit
(etc.)