Obtaining the title

What is the name of your state? TEXAS

I have an odd situation.. a few years ago(april 2002) I purchased a car from an aquantince who had aquired it from somebody else as payment for a personal debt.

The person I bought the car from did not have the title for the car and said the orgional owner retained it since he was not interested in actually keeping the car, only selling it. So I purchased the car with the provision that he was going to set up the title transfer paperwork.. Well time passed and I had not heard anything back from them so I called and they said informed me that they had already sent me the paperwork, but I had never recieved anything. I had never purchased a car befor then except though a dealer and was not familar with the procedings. To be honest in hindsight I dont think he was either.

Anyway I soon lost interest in the car and put it in storage a bit frustrated. But recently I have been wanting to do somethingn about it and almost totally have decided to just part it out but have recieved numerious people who are interested in purchasing it. However, I do not want to hand over this headach so I want to streighten things out first. The problem is I never recieved contact information on the orgional owner and have no idea how to get it since the seller has since moved. My fault I know..

Are there any resources avaliable where I could find the orgional owner and have the title transfered over in some fashion? I do not think this is a sour deal since the car has a flawless history, and is not reported stolen. I just think the seller was very lazy and did not properly handle things. The same may be said of me also but either way I am trying to correct things now.

How can I go about rectifing this problem?

Thank you