I have an accounts at Ancestry.com and Newspaperarchive.com. For me they are well worth the money. Other good resources are Polk’s or Crisscross Directories and the microfilms at public libraries. The libraries also have old phonebooks. Generally you can contact a library, if it’s not located near you, and they will look things up for you, sometimes for a small fee but usually for free. Court records are also helpful though not all courts have online records or their online records don’t date back far enough, sometimes you need to go to the court.

There is a website that has direct links to many public records http://www.blackbookonline.info/ It’s not perfect but it can be very helpful. Another good site is http://www.archives.gov/

Hope this helps!

Thank you Seagull. I was not aware that the library kept old phone books. I am in the UK and will look into that further.

Seagull hit mostly everything. For really good background checks for addresses,relatives,and arrests, try beenverified.com

A lot of those background checking sites use public information, and it usually goes back 30-40 years. Old phonebooks, libraries, and microfilm etc are all things that can help. Also it helps to team up with people and ask for help. most people here are willing to assist.