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Greek Genealogy Webinar Coming Up Soon
Since its very foundation, Greek Ancestry has sponsored numerous educational initiatives to advance the field of Greek genealogy, to facilitate research and spread knowledge. While the whole world was stuck at home during the first COVID-19 quarantines, we kept each...
AHEPA
By George Zimmar In my years at Hyde Park High School in Chicago, I was not a model student, as evidenced by my three expulsions: two for fist fights and one for smoking in the park across from the school. Hondo, the eagle-eyed cop, spied the canopy of cigarette smoke...
Goblins in Maniot Tradition
“We are goblins, we are out and about after normal hours, we want the lalagia, we take the children, give us the rooster or the hen, or we’ll break the door!”
Earliest Memories
By George Zimmar Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us Oscar Wilde A visit to my Uncle Tom Zoumaras’s store involved a series of transit switches from the southeast side of Chicago to the northwest section of the city. We would walk from Drexel...
Heroes Till The End: The Last Moments of Greek Fighters
Raise your glasses! Long live Greece! Long live the allies!
Hamartia: Missing the Mark
By George P. Zimmar for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans, 3,23 Shortly after WWII ended, Greek immigration to the United States reopened, especially to those without communist sympathies. After Winston Churchill’s March 5, 1946 Iron Curtain...
Greek Ocean Liners & American Immigration
This article aims to shed more light on the history of Greek ocean liners, the ships that carried many of our ancestors to what was seen as the “Promised Land.”
“Soul-children” (Ψυχοπαίδια)
By Maro Rempoutsika & Gregory Kontos In a notarial record signed on the island of Kythera in 1564, back when the island was under Venetian rule, we learn about the details of an adoption contract.[1] In particular, a man named Georgis Maneas, agreed to accept a...
Senior Prom
By George Zimmar The end of senior year was festive as I joined classmates to party. My parents had purchased a new 1955 Mercury sedan, with a blazing red and white two-tone color. Since my parents did not drive, I was charged with driving duties and used the car to...
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Καλωσήρθες! Welcome to the Greek Genealogy Guide!
Here you can learn everything you need to know about Greek genealogy and family history.
Written by
Gregory Kontos,
Alexandra Kiritsy
and
Carol Kostakos Petranek
Hellenic ancestry is a source of extraordinary pride and unique identity. Learning the country’s history and understanding the life of its people is a continual journey of knowledge and discovery. Perhaps this is most evident in pursuing the study of one’s Greek family history. Fostering a connectedness to family can stretch beyond the living to include the departed, but only when information about them can be ascertained. What were the names of our second or third great-grandparents? How many children did they have? What were their occupations? And, most important—how do I even begin to access records about them?
Prior to now, answering these questions has been challenging. But the doors of Greek genealogy have now opened to reveal a new era in research. The work being done by Gregory Kontos of Greek Ancestry is groundbreaking and exciting. With the advent of online translated, name-indexed and searchable records from Greece, finding one’s ancestors is not only possible—it is highly probable!
By consulting this Guide, one can navigate the complexities of Greek genealogy and find the correct resources to both access and request relevant documentation for his or her ancestors. It is the beginning of an exciting journey of discovery—and love.
Carol Kostakos Petranek
January 31, 2021