"The Multicultural Canada digitization project grew from a conviction that the cultural groups that make up Canada have little-known stories that need to be researched and told. Through newspapers, interviews, photographs, print and material culture people tell us who they are. Yet research into Canada’s multi-ethnic communities has been hampered by the relative lack of availability of non-English language materials and other artefacts originating from minority groups. . . . . " I found the following four articles on Greek's in Canada that you can view online. "Elusive Community: Greek Settlement in Toronto, 1900-1940" "The Experience of One Teacher in Greek Communal Schools" "Greek Immigrant Women from Asia Minor in Prewar Toronto: The Formative Years" "The Greek Ladies' Philoptoko Society: Its Early Years in Toronto" To view articles follow this link to the Multicultural Canada Home Page and insert a few key words from th...

I found this Hydra Phone Book for 2002 online at http://hydra-island.com/guide/phonebook/homephone.html At the bottom of the page there are links to each section - every page is scanned and available for viewing online. As always, good luck with your Greek family genealogy research. Georgia Keilman http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com

Years ago I saw this idea somewhere and always kept it in the back of my mind as something I would like to try one day. Well today was the day. I took a photograph of my yiayia and papouli and pasted it into a word document, resized to approx. 2" wide and inserted some facts: names, date of marriage, name of church and location. I printed it, cut it to the size I wanted for a bookmark, and took it to the local office supply store where they laminated it for me. It turned out great! I can have 6 bookmarks laminated for about $1.10 (they charge by the page). I have been trying to come up with some ideas to get my nieces and nephews interested in their Greek family history, so I plan on making a series of these to include grandparents and great-grandparents from both sides of the family. I think I will give them out at the next holiday get together and stimulate some conversations and story telling. As always, good luck with your Greek family genealogy research. Georgia http:...

For those of us who are not fluent in reading Greek, I have found a few good tools for translating online websites. You can start by going to Google's online translator and insert the url of the website page you want translated. It won't be a perfect translation, but it will allow you to understand the basics. In many cases there will be portions of the page that aren't translated by the Google translator. For those parts I like to use Yahoo's Babelfish translator . I just copy and paste the text I want translated into the box and select translated from Greek to whichever language you desire. I would love to hear about other online translator's that you have found helpful, so submit your comments and let's continue sharing our experiences with Greek family genealogy research. Good Luck Georgia http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com

Airing on the National Geographic Channel - August 30, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. (check local listings for times) - " The Human Family Tree ". "Retrace the deepest branches of the human species to reveal interconnected stories hidden in our genes". Meet GEORGE DELIS George is a 63-year-old retired community district manager in Astoria, Queens. After 37 years on the job, he is like a mayor emeritus of the area. George was born in Greece and moved to the United States after World War II. An avid collector of ancient Greek artifacts, he traces his family back to Asia Minor. The results of his DNA test show that he belongs to haplogroup R1b, one of the most common European lineages. His ancestors were among the first modern humans to settle in Europe more than 30,000 years ago. Read more: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/the-human-family-tree-3706/Overview#tab-bios#ixzz0OwmsEHIR On a single day on a single street, with the DNA of just a couple of hundred random ...

Hi everyone I am finally finished with the update to the HellenicGenealogyGeek.com website. As usual, this project took longer than expected. I feel like it was similar to starting a project to fix something in the kitchen, you know, the kind of project that should take 10 minutes, but ends up taking all day! I have added to the basic Hellenic Genealogy Geek information by including links to outside sources of information and books that you may find helpful with your research. I have moved the Hellenic Genealogy Geek blog to Google's eblogger. Recent blog entries include - Maps for Greece & Turkey; Masculine Given Names (Greek & English); Surnames (Greek & English); Funeral Register (Guest Books); Gregorian vs. Julian Calendar; Greek Handwriting Samples; Greek Military Enlistment Rolls; Obituaries Here is a summary of updated website links to-date. Books - 72 links Archives / Databases / Vital Records - 110 links Greek Records available through Family Histor...

I recently found the following websites that have many maps covering the last 300 - 400 years.  From what I can tell, you have the ability to zoom and print on all.  Hope you will find these links helpful. David Rumsey Map Collection - 111 maps of Greece and 152 maps of Turkey  Historical Maps of Europe - University of Texas at Austin, “Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection”; includes maps on Greece, Turkey, Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire, Constantinople and more  American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection - includes maps of Eurasia 1877, Ottoman Empire 1899, Turkey 1915, Western Asia 1918 

Hi Everyone Here’s another tool to help you with your Greek Genealogy research.  The chart is too large to include in this post, but you can access it through the following link -    Greek Masculine Given Names in both Greek and English - at the  HellenicGenealogyGeek.com website.  The chart includes:  Greek Masculine Name & Variations, Greek Abbreviation, English Transliteration, English Abbreviation, and English Counterpart.   Hope you find this helpful.     Good luck with your continued Greek Genealogy research.

In order to utilize most of the records from Greece, whether requests directly to the local authorities in Greece, online Greek newspaper searches, or records held on microfilm at the LDS Family History Library that are available for your use, you will need to know how to spell your family surnames in Greek .  In an effort to provide tools that will help you with your research, I have listed below 113 surnames in both English and Greek .   Good luck with your continued Greek Genealogy research. Adamopoulos - 'Αδαμόπουλος Alatsatianos - 'Αλατσατιάνος Alexiou - 'Αλεξίου Anagnostopoulos - 'Αναγνωστόπουλος Anastasiadis - 'Αναστασιάδης Anastasiou - 'Αναστασίου Andonopoulos - 'Αντωνόπουλος Androutsos - 'Ανδρουτσος Angelidis - 'Αγγελίδης Angelopoulos - 'Αγγελόπουλος Apostolopoulos - 'Αποστολόπουλος Asprommatis - 'Ασπρομμάτης Boutyras (or Voutyras) - Βουτυράς Diamandopoulos - Διαμαντόπουλος Diamantoglou - Διαμ...

Originally posted to blog on http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com on June 20, 2009 I was at my Aunt’s house last week and remembered that she had the Funeral Register (or Guest Book) from my paternal grandfather’s wake in 1964.  I sat down with her and my mother and we went through the book.  What a great find!  Not only did it help them remember stories, but we ran across names of cousins and spouses on my father’s side I didn’t know about before.   Ask around and see if one of your family members is in possession of the Guest Book from one of your relative’s wake.  It’s a great way to help your older relative’s remember stories you would love to hear. Good luck with your Greek genealogy research.

Originally posted on blog on http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com on June 17, 2009 The last country of European Europe to adopt the Gregorian calendar was Greece in 1923 .  However, these were all civil adoptions – none of the national churches accepted it.  Instead, a Revised Julian calendar was proposed in May 1923 which dropped 13 days in 1923 and adopted a different leap year rule that resulted in no difference between the two calendars until 2800. The Orthodox churches of Greece , Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and a few others around the Eastern Mediterranean (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Cyprus) adopted the Revised Julian calendar, so these New calendarists will celebrate the Nativity along with the Western churches on 25 December in the Gregorian calendar until 2800. The Orthodox churches of Russia, Serbia, Jerusalem, and a few bishops in Greece did not accept the Revised Julian calendar. These Old Calendarists will continue to celebrate the Nativity on 25 December in the...

Greek Handwriting I was looking at some old photographs today, trying to decipher Greek handwriting on the back.   I kept referring to a Greek handwriting “cheat sheet” I have had for many years and thought many of you would also find this helpful. (I don't know where I originally found this helpful tool, so I can't give credit to the creator.)

Originally posted on blog at http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com on June 8, 2009 Here are some tips on using the Greek Military Enlistment Rolls  I recently had my library order Microfilm from the LDS Family History Library - “List of those who are called to enlist in the army by counties, district and municipalities” published in the Greek Government Gazette.  (Microfilm #1462001 covers years 1884 – 1888; Microfilm # 1462002 covers years 1889 – 1892) These rolls contain copies of the Greek Government Gazette’s (newspapers) – See photograph.  Each issue of a newspaper covers a single ΝΟΜΟΣ (Region).  It then lists names of men who are being called to enlist in the army by each ΕΠΑΡΧΙΑ (Province) and ΔΗΜΟΣ (Municipality) within each Region. At a minimum you will need to know which ΝΟΜΟΣ (Region) your relatives are from and be able to recognize the spelling in Greek capital letters.   You should be able to find this information with a Google search of the area you are interested in. Ex...

Originally published on blog at http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com on June 1, 2009 Sometimes we forget to check the basics.  I live in the Chicago suburbs and my local library has archives of the Chicago Tribune Newspaper all the way back to the 1800’s.    I was tired of looking at some LDS records I had been working on, so I looked up my grandmother’s obituary.  I thought I knew absolutely everything it would say.  To my surprise, it listed the last name of my remarried great-grandmother.  There was a new piece of information I didn’t have before!

This blog originally published on http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com on September 30, 2008 1872 Funeral Procession in Athens (from The Greeks of To-day*) One cannot walk out many days in Athens without witnessing a funeral procession.  Long before it comes in sight, the ear catches the low monotonous chaunt of the priests, who are preceded by boys in white robes bearing the crucifix and ecclesiastical insignia, in presence of which every head is uncovered, and every hand makes the sign of the cross.  The corpse is exposed in full view in an open coffin of light material, covered with white or black cloth, with silver or gilt decorations, the cover of which, marked with a long diagonal cross, is carried before the procession.  The body is dressed in the customary clothes of the deceased, the head slightly elevated, and the hands folded in front of a panel picture of the Virgin set up on the breast.  If it be a female, the cheeks and lips are painted, vermilion, intended to reproduce a nat...

Originally published on http://HellenicGenealogyGeek.com on September 7, 2008 When I was young I didn’t know that I would regret not talking to my yiayias and papoulis about where they came from in Greece and asking them to tell me their stories.  All four of my grandparents are long gone and this is something I cannot recapture.  As I got older I tried talking to my parents and other relatives about what they knew - to my surprise, they didn’t know much!  They never took the time to talk to their parents about such things. Share with your children and grandchildren.  Whether they realize it or not – they WILL appreciate it later on in life, and remember the wonderful talks you had and the things you told them about their background. The following is a list of ideas to help you start: What was your actual family name in Greece? Do you have any documentation (passport, naturalization papers, association membership cards, letters or postcards, etc.) or photographs of the relatives that ...