Greek Ancestry Newsletter
September 2022, V.I Issue 7
We love our Greek Ancestry community and want to keep you up to date!
Besides, who does not need company in their family history journey?
What happened this month?
G. Zimmar, "Travels with my sister: Pilgrimage to Laconia"
When we think of a pilgrimage, like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a spiritual journey comes to mind. My grandfather Georgios Zymaras, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1900, where he prayed before the tomb of Christ, and earned Hadji (<hadj) attached to his surname. My pilgrimage to Laconia was to pay tribute to the places where my parents, Peter and Sofia, were born and grew up; a pilgrimage to one’s origins.
Greek Adoption Records Digitization
As announced in our last newsletter, on August 29th Greek Ancestry and the International Social Service (ISS) - Greek Branch inaugurated their collaboration to digitize the invaluable archival collection of the ISS!

Covering the years from the 1950s up to 1985, our project aims at preserving the history of Greek children adopted by families abroad. In the adoption files we are discovering amazing stories and incredible documents: letters written before mothers put their children up for adoption, letters of the adoptive families, photos and drawings of children, newspaper articles etc.

The ISS has just started to receive donations in support of this project! If you too wish to contribute, please click on the button below.
Village History Projects Initiative (VHPI)
We are excited to announce that translated articles from Ioannis Michalakakos's Maniatika blog will soon start to be released on both Greek Ancestry and Maniatika! Get ready to read about Maniot vendetas, migration to Piraeus, Elafonisos and Kythira, about pirates, goblins (kalikantzaroi) and lots more!

In October, we will announce the new VHPI grant beneficiary! We urge everyone interested in their village genealogy and history to connect with our VHPI members or launch a project on their own, if their areas are not represented yet! Joining the VHPI is free and comes with privileges, such as the quarterly VHPI grant by Greek Ancestry and discounts on the Greek Ancestry website. Join us or check out current VHPI projects!
Research Tips
Georgia Stryker Keilman & Carol Kostakos Petranek

As we study our immigrant families, we see that native traditions and customs remained strong in their new homeland. Among the most important was ensuring that children married within their ethnicity and their faith. Many of the earliest arrivals--single men--did marry women born in their new country. However, as the number of immigrant families increased, “matchmaking” began in earnest. 

Georgia Stryker Keilman’s immigrant grandmother, Georgia Bebetsos and her three brothers, Sam, James and Tom moved from Theologos, Lakonia, to Chicago. As Georgia studied the 1920 U.S. Census, she realized that she knew of marriages between members of some of the families living in the same buildings. Diving deeper, she found intriguing parallels in their lives, and questions naturally arose about how these families were connected. We developed a case study to show how the traditions and customs of village life followed our ancestors across the seas and became the foundation of their new life in America.
Greek Genealogy Guidebook
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.
Greek Ancestry