Genealogy without any help from relatives?

When compiling your family history, one of the first things every single genealogy resource tells you to do is ask elder family members about names, dates, and relationships within the family.

What if you don’t know any more than a name on a family line? What if you’re the product of an adoption and only know the name of your biological mother and father but nothing else? Or just an Aunt or Grandparent? How does this work when you have limited information without any family to begin helping you to fill in the pieces? Can it be done?

…Actually, yes it can. There’s a few options depending on whether or not the person you’re looking for is still living, when they were living, and where they lived.  You’re basically going to find out every single tiny detail you can about that one individual , because there will be something that will lead you to another name and their relationship with that person.