Educational Articles
International Greek Ancestry Conference (Jan. 29-31, 2021)
Save the date – spread the word – join us!
Thessaloniki – La Madre de Israel
By Alexandra Kiritsy & Gregory Kontos When Jewish colonists were brought to the newly founded city of Macedonia around 315 B.C., no one could have imagined that Thessaloniki’s history would be closely associated with Jewish history throughout the centuries. About...
“My Big Fat Greek Ancestry Summer” Webinar
Despite the pandemic, the past summer was very productive for Greek Ancestry: new collections, new research tools, new analyses and a brand new platform! We would like to share all our news with you this Saturday, Sept. 26th, at 3pm ET (2pm CT, 1pm MT, noon PT)! Join...
Statistics Meet Genealogy: Male Aging Patterns in Lakonia (1910s-1930s)
In June 2020, a special article presenting statistics on naming patterns in the prefecture of Chania, Crete, was published on Greek Ancestry. That analysis was based on our database of Male Register records of approximately 56,500 individuals born in the area of...
“Laconian Ancestry” – Pallaconian Brotherhood of Melbourne and Victoria (8/21/2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hnDJE_9g6Q
Parish Voter Lists
By Gregory Kontos To dive into family history, you need to understand your sources. This has been quite often noted in Greek Ancestry articles and webinars, yet it has to be repeated until it becomes a sine qua non in our research. Why, when, how, where and by whom...
Reflections Of My Homeland: The diary of a man from Palaia Fokaia, Asia Minor
By Alexandra Kiritsy Geia sas, everyone! We are very excited to bring you another article about life in Greek villages around the turn of the century. This week’s piece takes us to Asia Minor, where a man by the name of Theodoros Kalatzoglou once lived in a village...
Statistics Meet Genealogy: Naming Patterns in Chania, Crete (1850s-1910)
By Gregory Kontos Your grandfather was born in a village close to Chania, Crete in 1902. His name was Antonis, and you are wondering how common a name that was back then. His surname was Marinakis, and again you’re wondering “how many Marinakis were there in that...
Reflections Of My Homeland: An Account of Village Life in Geraki, Lakonia
Foreword by Alexandra Kiritsy I have always found imagining the world of my Greek yiayia, say, around the turn of the 20th century, to be a difficult task. Looking back at old black-and-white photographs of her often tricks my mind into thinking that her world was...
The Kasotakis Family: The history behind the name
By Giannis Michalakakos - Teacher of Family Studies, Msc Cultural Management In Greece, most of the surnames derive from nicknames, patronymics (paternal given names), occupations and places of origin. The surname "Kassotakis" is an example of the latter case, meaning...
Tracing Freedom: 1821 – The Revolution of 1821 and its impact on your ancestors
By Giannis Michalakakos, MSc in Cultural Management In order to fully understand the impact of the 1821 Revolution on Greek families, we have to understand life before, during and after the Revolution. Most of the examples discussed below focus on Lakonia, my...
Distinctions of Geronthres, Lakonia
By Gregory Kontos, Historian & Founder of Greek Ancestry Introduction After the Greeks’ long and painful struggle for their national independence (1821-1829), they naturally held great expectations for Otto’s Regency Council. However, the Council of this infant...
Introducing the Greek Genealogy Guide
Exciting news! The new Greek Genealogy Guide has been released! On the last day of the International Greek Ancestry Conference, Greek Ancestry intern, Alexandra Kiritsy, announced the release of the new online Greek Genealogy Guide, a work by Carol Kostakos Petranek,...
Are you ready for the International Greek Ancestry Conference?
The International Greek Ancestry Conference, held from January 29th through the 31st, will be a landmark event for our field of Greek family history and genealogy! 2020 has been a challenging year for us all. However, perhaps one of the few things 2020 was a good year...
Greek Ancestry Education, Case Study Webinar #4 (Nov. 7th, 2020): Tracing the immigrant’s origin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOJ3cdUoLPo
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