Performing a Search for Greek genealogy in Greece

Here is a part of my methodology for searching Hellenic genealogy.

You initially provide me with:

The name of an individual or Greek family name in English or Greek, if known.

The date of birth of an individual, if known.

The first name of the father, and mother if available, and dates of birth, if known.

The last known location or address, a village, an area, or municipality of the family member in Greece.

Clarify the information that you want when making your request for the Greek family history.

Why do I ask for a location? There are many family names that are similar in Greece and many of them are not related.  Some of them may even be within the proximity of the area that is specified.

The more information you provide the easier and faster the genealogical search will be and therefore the lower the cost.  With the information that you provide, I will be able to deliver you the best results of your genealogy in Greece.

I perform a preliminary verification of the information as part of my genealogy research strategy to provide you with a quotation.  This is also done to minimize any unauthorized requests for family details.

If your require more information after the initial family search, then I perform a deeper search to provide you with the additional findings such as the relationships between generations, e.g. digital and hard copies of legal certificates, digital photographs, genealogical ancestry chart, etc. for your Greek records.

I make every attempt to obtain results as quickly as possible while maintaining objectivity, reliability, and confidentiality.  The time required to perform genealogical research is based on many factors including depth of the genealogy search and Greek government bureaucracy but existing family vital records are the real foundation.

The end result is the conclusion that is included in the final report of the project based on the type of Greek research performed, e.g. genealogical, heirs and beneficiaries in Greece, etc. depending on the requirements of the your search.

Greek genealogy will not provide you with a family crest or other intrinsic items simply because that does not exist in modern Greek history.

An estimate of the time and cost is made from the start except in extreme cases, e.g. where ambiguity exists in a family name and location that may be replicated elsewhere or may not exist.

Discover Greece's genealogy and open history from the past to the present for your family.

Contact me with the above information for an initial estimate by completing this form.

Obstructions in Greek Genealogy

During the research of Greek ancestry, nature and war inhibit the search for vital records because of their destruction.

These events may have destroyed some or partial records for the period shown depending upon the damages inflicted upon the buildings that housed the records.

As such, I am listing the wars and earthquakes of various periods to help you understand that these events had a devastating impact upon the lives of those who you may be searching for information and explains the lack of vital records.

Cretan Revolution	1866	1869
Cretan Revolution	1897
Greek-Turkish War	1897
The Macedonian Conflict	1904	1908
First Balkan War	September 1912	May 1913
Second Balkan War	June 1913	July 1913
World War I	June 1914	November 1918
Asia Minor	May 1918	October 1922
World War II	September 1939	September 1945
Greek Civil War *	March 1946	August 1949
Turkish invasion of Cyprus	July 1974	August 1974

* It should be noted that the Greek Civil War is a very sensitive issue.

Nature and the Destruction of Greek Vital Records

The following earthquakes are above the magnitude of 6.5 and above which can destroy areas and older buildings.

An example of this happened in August 1303    Triggered a major tsunami; affecting Crete and severely damaged the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

February 1810	Crete, Heraklion
October 1840	Halki
October 1856	Rhodes, Crete
February 1867	Cephalonia a.k.a. Kephalonia
March 1867	Lesbos a.k.a. Mytilini
April 1881	Chios, Çeşme, Alaçatı
August 1886	Filiatra
April 1894	Atalanti

Reference:

Time periods of earthquakes and tsunamis that affected Greece, Turkey, and other areas.

Greek Orthodox Church Records and Archives

The Greek Orthodox Churches began to create registries of baptism and marriage.  This began roughly around 1825 and continued up to about 1915.

There were many reasons for this, some of which included preventing polygamy, to prevent marriages between close relatives, and the creation of organized family records.  Although the Greek government began the manual record keeping around 1915 for the registries of birth, marriage, and death, the church continued to keep records.

The church was also affected by the depredations of wars and due to the destruction or loss of local church records.  It began centralizing the local church records at the Metropolis for each area.

The Greek Orthodox Church is currently creating a digital archive of the records that it has but it has not provided access through the Internet as yet.