Greek Ancestry Newsletter
March 2023, V.II Issue 2
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?
M. Rempoutsika & G. Kontos, "Soul-children (Ψυχοπαίδια)"
A will of 1839, composed in Mesolongi, unravels the story of a widowed woman called Maria, living in Gavalou, Aitoloakarnania: after being widowed and losing her children during the heroic Exodus of Mesolongi, Maria was left alone. Having the need for someone to console her and soothe her pain, she adopted a two-year-old orphan boy, named Mitros Pliofas, as her “soul – son”.
G. Kalkanis, "Light-Water-Telephone in Xirokampi, Part One"
Xirokampi, Laconia, was illuminated for the first time with electric light in 1937. The direct electric current was provided by a 110-volt, diesel-powered electric generator, installed by Achilleas Galatis. The “Galatis factory” – as we called it – operated for limited hours around the clock. It ensured the electric lighting of only the village square and some streets in the evening hours...
Search Engine Upgraded!
Zeus PowerSearch is a search engine especially developed to answer the needs of Greek genealogical research! Greek Ancestry’s team combined linguistic, historical and technological knowledge, and developed the most advanced tool to search through a database of Greek records!

Zeus PowerSearch enables you to conduct searches with the combination of several search fields. At the same time, even when there is a challenging spelling, Zeus’ broad search will definitely help you find what you are looking for!
New Greek Genealogy Webinar
Legacy Family Tree Webinars is the world’s most popular webinar website for genealogy and DNA testing, where you can enjoy a robust offering of live and recorded webinars presented by top speakers! Recently, they announced a new Greek genealogy webinar with Gregory Kontos, scheduled for June 21st!
Greek Adoption Files Digitized
On August 29th 2022, Greek Ancestry and the International Social Service (ISS) - Hellenic 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.

On Dec 3rd, 2022, ISS - Hellenic Branch and Greek Ancestry hosted a crowdfunding webinar. Our guest speakers Mary Cardaras, Linda Carol Trotter (Eftychia), Gonda van Steen and Katerina Bakogianni talked about the significance of the preservation of ISS' historical archive!
Over 1400 cases have already been digitized! Click on the button below and help the ISS preserve its archive! Any contribution is greatly appreciated!
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