Nowadays, many people have become interested in issues related to the origin of their family, surname, and roots. Knowledge of this, as a rule, is limited only to information about the life of great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers, but how do you know who your ancestors are in ancient times? Be that as it may, there are ways to find your pedigree, even if there isn’t any documentation or photographs of past years.
How to find out who your ancestors were?
To begin with, it is worth talking with all your relatives about the history of the family. It is important to collect even bits of information about where previous generations previously lived, whether there were moving, what kind of activity they were engaged in. As a rule, grandparents and other elderly relatives are happy to talk about their past lives, remember relatives who have long since died. So you can not only find out who your ancestors were, but also imagine what they were.
You should also search for your surname using a specialized dictionary. Perhaps this will not give specific data about the family, but at least it will help to find out the geographical location of the appearance of the hereditary family name, to learn about its origin and social affiliation. This knowledge will direct to the desired search path.
Visit to libraries and archives
It will not be superfluous to find out whether the ancestors were participants in the Great Patriotic War or the First World War. To do this, you need to visit libraries, sites, places where information can be found about the dead and missing.
Having learned the area of residence of the ancestors, you can try to look into the archive of this region. The fact is that it is not so easy to get into the institution itself, but it is quite possible to order the necessary certificate or extract from documents. Some archives provide paid services for finding relatives, give advice and advice.
Genealogical centers engaged in custom-made pedigree research are also now popular. The cost of the work depends on the difficulty level of the search details.
Drawing up a family tree
How to find out who your ancestors were? Make a family tree of the family! It is generally believed that for its creation, special skills and education are needed, which are only for professionals involved in history and the study of the family for money. Perhaps this is a very complex process, but it is within the power of anyone who is interested and determined to reveal unknown facts from the life of their ancestors.
In order to restore the historical data of the family, grandparents should first ask about such moments as the names and dates of the period of life, homeland and place of residence, religious affiliation and nationality of the past generations. In the future, this will help restore the missing links.
Tree decoration
The result is best placed in a notebook or notebook. For a more complete picture, if possible, it is necessary to collect old photos, personal letters, notes, any official documents, as all this can come in handy.
The family tree is made up schematically. This is quite enough to find out who your ancestors were. The traditional form is depicted from the bottom up. A common ancestor is prescribed at the roots. But for convenience, you can fill the tree on the contrary.
The designed diagram clearly demonstrates what data is missing for the overall picture. Basically, the information received from relatives allows you to compose a pedigree up to 3-4 generations, then the information is lost. If you are interested in learning about unknown ancestors, you will need to study archival materials.
Metric books of the church and documents of the registry office
There is a way to find out where your ancestors came from and find out what nationality they were. In our country, information about citizens before the onset of the 1917 revolution was entered into the metric books of the church, and then into the documents of the registry office. You can try to find similar materials. An interesting source of genealogy is the Revision tales. It allows you to look deep into the dynasty, if the relative belonged to the taxable estate.
Archive specialists will be able to select the necessary documents and help deal with them. The obtained data can be entered into the family tree diagram, and the records saved for further transmission to their descendants.
How to find out who your ancestors are by name
The generic name has its own history, which carries information about the type of activity or place of residence of the ancestor. The roots of each surname originate from ancient centuries. In modern times, scientists are actively exploring the history of generic names, describing the facts of their occurrence. Sometimes it’s worth going to specialized sites to find information about the origin of your family. There you can find a lot of interesting things.
The origins of the formation of a surname often come from a person's professional activities. Having studied certain publications, you can conduct an analog analysis. It was quite common to give a man a generic name associated with his occupations.
Most of the princes and boyars were owners of surnames similar to the names of the lands they owned.
It often happened that the name of a foreigner was transformed into Russian by replacing the ending.
The priests mainly received it from the name of the temple where they conducted the service. The icon and the Bible could also be a structural component.
A large number of surnames came from seminarians. They arose from geographical places from where clergymen went to study in neighboring provinces.
Each person has the right to be proud of his surname, because it contains the origins of his family. To know the history of the family is to honor the memory of the ancestors.