How to Trace Greek Roots
One of the world's oldest civilizations is the Greek civilization. In addition to playing a role in today's culture, Greece provides us with the world's earliest philosophers, Greek myths and the Olympics. It's no wonder that over a million Greek-Americans are proud of their heritage, and that many want to trace their Greek roots back to Greece.
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Instructions
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Travel backwards in time. Talk to family members and study family records to gain names, dates and location. Consult with family members and memorabilia for more information. Write it down for your records.
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Begin your search in the U.S. In contrast to other nationalities, Greek genealogy resources are few. Try to corroborate the information from your family research at resources like the LDS Family History Library (see Resources). Make your goal finding the full Greek name and village of origin for the first ancestor to emigrate.
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Find where in America your Greek ancestors settled. Many stayed with big cities in the north, particularly Chicago or New York. Annual city directories in local libraries might provide you with additional information, including occupations and names of other family members. Federal census records for the right time period can also reveal more about your Greek roots.
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Trace Greek roots further with the help of ship passenger records. A good place to start is with the free Ellis Island database with records from 1892 to 1907. While many Greeks departed from the Greek ports of Patras or Piraeus, they arrived in America at several ports. If that is the case, try to access National Archives passenger lists on microfilm. Researchers often order these through interlibrary loan programs to view at their home library.
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Look for naturalization records, also including "first papers" or Declarations of Intent filed at a city courthouse. Naturalization records filed before the 20th century may be located in national or state archives. For emigrants after 1906, you can also contact the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
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Research records through the Greek Orthodox Church. Local parishes kept handwritten records, often written in Greek. If you know the correct parish, you must ask for permission to view the records, which are usually not open to the public.
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Familiarize yourself with Greek naming traditions. First sons and daughters often took the same names as their paternal grandparents. Later children might be named after maternal grandparents. Parents gave children the first initial of the father's given name for their first initial, although women changed the middle initial to their husband's when they married. When Greek emigrants arrived, many Americanized their names.
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Tips & Warnings
Many genealogy sites include free, downloadable forms to record information about your Greek family tree.
If you don't want to wade through microfilm, consider subscribing to an online genealogy subscription service such as Ancestry.com.
