Looking for my half brother.

[zed1015]

Hi. This is my first posting on any forum regarding this matter so I hope it is in the correct area.
I have only recently discovered that I have a half brother as a result of a prior relationship my father had before meeting my mother.
Both my parents are now dead so I have very little to go on.
All I know is that the brother is possibly around five years older than me ( I was born in 1964 ) so will be around 56 ish and his mother was killed in a road traffic accident (knocked down I think) when he was young and was brought up with his grandparents so he is possibly an only child.
I also know that around 25/30 years ago he traced my father and met him at least once locally in a pub.
I obviously have all my fathers details ,DOB etc and POSSIBLY the first names of the half brother and his mother.
All this happened in the Doncaster, Lindholme , Hatfield area BUT the mother was apparently sent to London to have the baby and I don't know whether they returned back to this area before she died or that was where the grand parents lived and where they remained. .
Have I got more that a snowballs chance in hell of finding him with what little I have
IF the mother named my father on the birth certificate can this be traced ?
Thanks.

[CaroleW]

Hi and welcome to Rootschat

Firstly - Rootschat is not a forum for tracing the living - only dead ancestors - so we can only give you general guidance

You say you only have the possible christian names of mother and son.  That would make tracing almost impossible unless the child has a really unusual christian name. It is mothers maiden surnames which are shown on birth entries - not christian names

Also - there is some doubt as to where he was born which would make it even more difficult
 
There is also no guarantee that your fathers name will be on the birth cert if you were lucky enough to find a possible entry.

I was going to suggest putting your fathers name etc on one of the social media sites but you may not want the details broadcast to all and sundry

[Ruskie]

Welcome to rootschat z1015.

Do you have any relatives (Aunts, Uncles, older siblings for example) who may know a little more about this? Any small thing may help - even where the mother was hit by the car may give an indication of where they were living at the time - there may have been a write up about it in the papers. Who told you your father and your half brother met several times? Who told you the names of your half brother and his mother? I would cross examine anyone who may know something as it might help.

There are indexes to births, marriages and deaths online. Some on subscription sites and some free, though I think not all are complete (and are still a work in progress):
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1473014

Although it is unlikely that your father is named on the birth certificate, stranger things have happened, so it would be worth checking that first. Does your half brother happen to have an unusual name? Did his mother have an unusual name?

There may be people willing to help you off line. After you have made three posts you can communicate with other members privately via the Personal Messaging system. Just click on their name or the scroll under their name to do this.

Lastly, I think the Salvation Army have methods of tracing living relatives - it might be worth trying them too.

[zed1015]

Thanks for the replies.

This is pretty much all the info I have and it came from my mother before she died .
No one else in what little remains of my family knows of his existence and the ones that may have known are long gone also so the only lead that may exist is his birth certificate if it has my fathers name on it and my search of BMD indexes have drawn a blank so far.
My only other option as a last resort is to circulate the story with all the relevant details included in the hope that he or someone in his family happens to see it recognises the names etc .
 
Sorry that this is the wrong forum, it looked the most professional.
Can anyone suggest another of equal quality the is more suited to my queries.
Thanks.

[Ruskie]

I believe some people have success with GenesReunited.

Have you tried the subscription sites to try to find his birth? If not, and you would be willing to send a PM with the details, I can see if I can come up with any likely candidates? Off course I cannot guarantee success, but it can be useful to get a few other people on the case.

You will need to post here once more before you can send a PM.

[Jed59]

 the salvation army trace living relatives ..you don't have to be a member or even go to church...   
there is also the electoral rolls   or things like   192.com  or tracesmart.
Hope that helps

[Craclyn]

Try doing a search on freebmd.org.uk for a possible birth record. With the motherīs maiden name and a probable first name, year and location you may just hit on lucky.

[Annie65115]

I'd suggest the salvation army too, this is just the sort of query that they try to help with.

[zed1015]

Try doing a search on freebmd.org.uk for a possible birth record. With the motherīs maiden name and a probable first name, year and location you may just hit on lucky.

Craclyn
I have already searched on freebmd etc but as stated earlier, i unfortunately only have possible first names for both mother and son and even those may not be correct and the year of birth cannot be pinned down exactly but only estimated within the years between my fathers 16th and the year of his marriage which gives a 6 to 7 year window ( unless of course he was active with the ladies much earlier  ).
I have averaged out the years of the birth to somewhere between 1958 and 1964 to help narrow the search so thought around 1960 - 62 a logical place to start.
The location is also not exact but I would have guessed within say a 25 mile radius of my fathers address in hatfield, Doncaster at that time but this could be further as my dad had a motorcycle.
The more I read back over the details the more unlikely it looks like I have any chance of a result.

Ruskie.
Other than a general search of some free bmd sites I have not looked any further.
I have known of the brother for around 4 years and it has crossed my mind a few times to try and find him but initially thought it best left alone.
Things tend to go tits up where my family is concerned  but just lately its been niggling me so decided to make an effort and have a proper look.
I'd be happy to send a PM with some details but these are mostly my fathers name, dob, original location and the possible first names of the brother and mother.
If you are happy to help I will send you the few details I have.
Thanks.