Locate family member in US.?

Question

If I know I had a family member that traveled from eastern europe into the united states in the 1920-1930's. Is there any way I can locate them. They should have the last name that I have since it was my grandfather's brother that came here. Even if he passed away he should have descendent's.

Answer 1

Sure, it should be possible.  In fact, if he's passed away, that should make it easier to find his descendants.  

Do you know his first and last name, and an approximate birth date for him?  If so, you can search for him in the social security death index.  That should give you his exact death date and list his last residence.  

Armed with that knowledge, you can search the local newspaper for his obituary, which will likely name his survivors, and often, their city of residence.  If he had daughters, and if they were married at the time of his death, the obit will probably list their married names and perhaps their husband's names.

Next, you can search the online white pages for people with those names, and start making phone calls.  You may get the wrong people, but eventually, you may get the right ones!  And it will only take one to put you in contact with the others.

Answer 2

If he came to the US during that period, there will be a passenger record of it that will list his hometown and whether he was coming as a visitor or an immigrant. Most of the records are available online at Ancestry.com....though not all. They're still catching up on the more recent years.

Once you find that record you can start looking for more information on him. The passenger records from that era will usually give you the address of the nearest relative still living in their home country (kind of an "emergency contact back home" thing). With that, you can start looking through directories for more information on the family and follow through more recent records through the local societies in the region. If he lived through WWII in Eastern Europe and that's when he lost contact with people, then the International Red Cross Holocaust team can often help you recontact lost family members. You need that hometown from the passentger list as the point of reference to know who exactly you're looking for...and where to look.