When we do family history research, we're generally looking backward. We're trying to go back into history, one generation at a time. Some projects require us to shift gears and look forward. During the past year, I've conducted research to find surviving family members of a group of WWII veterans. Recently I became involved in a special initiative to find living descendants of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. In both cases the research has been challenging. I've had to reconstruct family trees up to modern times, sometimes for several generations. The path often seems to end with the 1940 census and/or the date of death, i.e., when Ancestry.com hints stop. You may have distant relatives who are descendants of siblings of your grandparents or great-grandparents. They might have valuable photos or stories. It could be worth your time and trouble to look for them. Here are some tips, based on my experiences: OBITUARIES are the very best source for names of surviving children and grandchildren. Sometimes the obit states where surviving family members reside. There are often other valuable hints (e.g., profession, church membership, volunteer affiliations, place of burial, etc). The obituary may disclose married daughters' surnames. Death certificates often show the name of a witness or informant, an adult who is usually a close family member.

• If you're really lucky, you may find obituaries online (e.g., Ancestry, GenealogyBank, Newspapers.com, Legacy, etc.);
• For a death in the last dozen-or-so years, try googling variations of the name (with or without the word "obituary";
• If the person lived or died in Minnesota, look at newspapers on microfilm at the Minnesota Historical Society library (tedious work but valuable);
• If they died in another state, email or phone the public library in that city and ask for an obit look-up. Sometimes it's free, sometimes they charge a few dollars (and sometimes they don't do research at all);
• Searchable newspaper sites can be good for finding "society news" items in old, small-town papers (e.g., married surnames of daughters or names of their husbands, or names of children in a family);
• While we usually hesitate to trust Ancestry family trees, one can email the tree-owner through Ancestry. I explain why I'm trying to contact family members, and I've received helpful leads - or had my contact info forwarded to the right member of the family - or been told the person had no children so it's a dead end.
• Try contacting the funeral home or cemetery or church or monument company. They may refuse to give you information but be willing to forward your inquiry.
• You may find obituaries or family member names on Findagrave or on websites maintained by large cemeteries.

Once you get a name and possibly location of a person:

• Whitepages.com is great for phone numbers and addresses but only if the person has a land-line telephone;
• I hesitate to make cold-call telephone contacts and prefer to send a letter outlining why I'm trying to contact them and explaining how I found them; people are often suspicious of a scam or identity theft.
• You may need to back up a few years and look at city directories or old phone directories for a possibly mailing address;
• Look for the name on Facebook or LinkedIn;
• Google. This is most effective if there's an unusual surname. Try several different browsers. You might find evidence of the person working in a particular industry or business, and you may be able to leave an email message on a corporate site; I did, and the party responded to me. In another situation I found a Masonic Lodge site with a bio confirming the person was, in fact, the party I wanted to contact; I wrote to him in care of the lodge address, and he responded.
• Local newspaper editors (in smaller communities) may be willing to help, especially if you have an appealing story that could be published in their paper.

It's extremely rewarding to find living family members who are glad to hear from you!