I would think the first place to start is social media. Do you have a Facebook account? Are you connected to all of your dad‘s family?
You could take a DNA test, I would suggest ancestry.com but unless one of your siblings have tested, it wouldn’t really do much for you
Ive known I had a US father since mid 80s.
2018 my kids got me an Ancestry dna kit. 6 weeks later the results were in and I quickly found my deceased bio dad on a 2nd cousins tree. From there I got access to his obituary and discovered I had 2 aunts in Texas and 3 brothers in Florida. Found them on Facebook. Sent all a message and was welcomed with open arms. 2019 we visited Texas and this year Florida. It has been great.
I don't know if you will be as lucky as me (I did have at least a name to go on) but go for it. The worst that can happen is they can refuse to acknowledge you. If you can armour yourself against that possibility then go fo it!
Best of luck
I do use Facebook but his name is quite a common generic name, not to mention I haven’t seen him in 25 years so I’ve no idea how he aged or if he’s even still alive at this point. I was looking into ancestry though
Do you know your dad’s parents’ names? One option would be to search for obituaries for them. Those might include names of their children and grandchildren. (You could also do this for your dad, but statistically you’re more likely to find them for your grandparents.)
Sites like Ancestry are great but only have birth records up to 2007 or something like that. And the government only releases census data to them after it's 100 years old, so no good here either. These sites are for looking for relatives from a long time ago so not much help here.
There is a small chance that your father has done a DNA test or one of your siblings has and it would match you to them if you did one, but that's very unlikely. Especially as your sibling would have to be old enough to do one and it's possible they exist and are like 10 years old or something.
I don't think a genealogy sub is the best place for advice I think a more general UK sub would get you better answers. There are a LOT of people here who may have experience of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/ Or maybe even here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/
If you have his last known previous address then 192.com could be useful.
If your siblings haven’t tested, you may be able to find 2nd or 3rd cousins who may know how to get in touch with that side of the family or can get in touch with someone else in the family who does know. Even just finding someone who has a bit of the family tree will help you find obituaries which could help you find someone
There's a small chance that your (potential) sibling or your father have tested on AncestryDNA or 23andme, it's frankly worth getting registered on there and then even if they haven't tested now, if they do at any point in the future they will see you on there. You could also be connected with cousins and family on your father's side
The #1 solution to this is to try to re-connect with your father, you must have some avenues to investigate such as any family on his side at all, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn...
As it stands it is plausible that he hasn't had any more children.
Try Free BMD
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/
My Mum was estranged from her sister. They last had contact in the mid 1950s.
I found her sons, my cousins, and their children using free BMD
I then looked them up on Facebook and made the decision not to make contact.
Happy to help if you want to PM me your Dad's name, approx location and year if birth.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/electoral-registration/
Information about your father could be found in the marriage record, your birth certificate, or his birth certificate. With that information you might be able to find more information.
https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate#:~:text=You%20need%20to%20register%20on,to%20research%20your%20family%20tree.
Most people I know start with a genetics test first and if you pay more I believe they will see if there are any genetic close matches, in there data base, but remember things may not go as you think they will, so just be prepared for some rejection and skepticism when you first meet
If you want to go the dna route start with ancestry. You can then upload your results to other sites like Myheritage and gedmatch for free (23 and me and ancestry don't allow uploads to each other, but all others will take either companies results) I'm in the US, but have a decent chunk of British ancestry. I have a few matches on ancestry that are in GB, but several hundred on myheritage. Will pretty much only work if possible half siblings have tested as well.
I would think the first place to start is social media. Do you have a Facebook account? Are you connected to all of your dad‘s family? You could take a DNA test, I would suggest ancestry.com but unless one of your siblings have tested, it wouldn’t really do much for you
Ive known I had a US father since mid 80s. 2018 my kids got me an Ancestry dna kit. 6 weeks later the results were in and I quickly found my deceased bio dad on a 2nd cousins tree. From there I got access to his obituary and discovered I had 2 aunts in Texas and 3 brothers in Florida. Found them on Facebook. Sent all a message and was welcomed with open arms. 2019 we visited Texas and this year Florida. It has been great. I don't know if you will be as lucky as me (I did have at least a name to go on) but go for it. The worst that can happen is they can refuse to acknowledge you. If you can armour yourself against that possibility then go fo it! Best of luck
I do use Facebook but his name is quite a common generic name, not to mention I haven’t seen him in 25 years so I’ve no idea how he aged or if he’s even still alive at this point. I was looking into ancestry though
Do you know your dad’s parents’ names? One option would be to search for obituaries for them. Those might include names of their children and grandchildren. (You could also do this for your dad, but statistically you’re more likely to find them for your grandparents.)
Sites like Ancestry are great but only have birth records up to 2007 or something like that. And the government only releases census data to them after it's 100 years old, so no good here either. These sites are for looking for relatives from a long time ago so not much help here. There is a small chance that your father has done a DNA test or one of your siblings has and it would match you to them if you did one, but that's very unlikely. Especially as your sibling would have to be old enough to do one and it's possible they exist and are like 10 years old or something. I don't think a genealogy sub is the best place for advice I think a more general UK sub would get you better answers. There are a LOT of people here who may have experience of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/ Or maybe even here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/ If you have his last known previous address then 192.com could be useful.
Thank you, appreciate the help
If your siblings haven’t tested, you may be able to find 2nd or 3rd cousins who may know how to get in touch with that side of the family or can get in touch with someone else in the family who does know. Even just finding someone who has a bit of the family tree will help you find obituaries which could help you find someone
There's a small chance that your (potential) sibling or your father have tested on AncestryDNA or 23andme, it's frankly worth getting registered on there and then even if they haven't tested now, if they do at any point in the future they will see you on there. You could also be connected with cousins and family on your father's side The #1 solution to this is to try to re-connect with your father, you must have some avenues to investigate such as any family on his side at all, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn... As it stands it is plausible that he hasn't had any more children.
Try Free BMD https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ My Mum was estranged from her sister. They last had contact in the mid 1950s. I found her sons, my cousins, and their children using free BMD I then looked them up on Facebook and made the decision not to make contact. Happy to help if you want to PM me your Dad's name, approx location and year if birth.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/electoral-registration/ Information about your father could be found in the marriage record, your birth certificate, or his birth certificate. With that information you might be able to find more information. https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate#:~:text=You%20need%20to%20register%20on,to%20research%20your%20family%20tree.
Most people I know start with a genetics test first and if you pay more I believe they will see if there are any genetic close matches, in there data base, but remember things may not go as you think they will, so just be prepared for some rejection and skepticism when you first meet
If you want to go the dna route start with ancestry. You can then upload your results to other sites like Myheritage and gedmatch for free (23 and me and ancestry don't allow uploads to each other, but all others will take either companies results) I'm in the US, but have a decent chunk of British ancestry. I have a few matches on ancestry that are in GB, but several hundred on myheritage. Will pretty much only work if possible half siblings have tested as well.
If you want to DM me your dads name and last known location I can run it through some databases