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Step 1
Open your Internet search browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, or the like), and go to the best-known of the search engines, Google. Enter the name of the person you are searching for inside quotation marks: "John Smith." Without the quotation marks, Google will search for every separate John and Smith in the world. After searching, click on the links Google produces, and look for the address after the name of the person you searched.
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Step 2
Narrow your search. "John Smith" will turn in millions of results. Add the person's middle name, "John Q Smith," although that still will probably not be enough to determine an address match. Still, try clicking on the links Google produces, and look for any address after the name of the person you searched.
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Step 3
Start adding more information, along with the name. Add the last place you saw the person, the last company you know the person worked for or the last large organization you know the person was involved with. Look for clubs, veterans organizations, sports organizations and other similar bodies, and look for the address in the vicinity of the person's name.
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Step 4
Put all this information together with the name: "John Smith" "101 Infantry." You may now be able to turn up more information on the person you are looking for. Try different combinations of information and use the results to further refine your search. The address may appear next to the person's name.
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Step 5
Be aware that there are a number of free Internet white pages that may also be of help (see Resources). You can search by first names and last names and whatever you have and the page will turn up anyone with names close to the one you are looking for in the area. Remember that women may have changed their names as their marital status has changed, perhaps unknown to you. You can also try the rather useful "reverse lookup" feature. If you have nothing but a phone number, you can enter this and it will give you the address of whichever person now has that number. An address will appear in a box underneath the phone number.
