Booklet Loaded With Greek Sources, Services
Today’s column is a continuation of genealogical bits and pieces I’ve collected that might be of use to you.
Antonia Mattheou has written “Tracing Your Greek Ancestry,” a small, 50-page book with large amounts of information on all areas of basic concern to students of Greek family history.
It covers research in both America and Greece, sources and services available in the two countries, addresses of the Bishops’ offices in Greece and Cyprus, maps and a discussion of research difficulties unique to family history searching in this Mediterranean country.
Those with ancestry in this little country will no doubt be delighted to find a published guide written especially for them.
“Tracing Your Greek Ancestry” is available for $10, postpaid, from the author at 75-21 177th Street, Flushing, NY 11366-1522.
As the Civil War progressed, volunteers for both armies waned and cash bounties were no longer effective. On April 16, 1862, the Confederacy passed its first conscription act to draft all white males between the ages of 18 and 35 for a three-year term. Six months later, the age limit was raised to 45 years. In February 1864, the draft age was again changed to include all men between 17 and 50 years old. In desperation, on March 13, 1865, the Confederacy passed a law offering freedom to slaves if they would enlist.
The Union draft, passed March 3, 1863, included men between the ages of 20 and 45. It was used only if a given district failed to produce its quota of volunteer troops.
Both the North and South allowed draftees to pay a commutation fee and avoid the draft. For the draftee in the South, the fee was $500; in the North, it was $300.
Draftees could also avoid military service by supplying an able-bodied substitute. Fees paid to the substitute to take a draftee’s place varied according to supply and demand. A son could voluntarily replace a father or brother. Those who could afford the fee could hire a substitute and avoid the draft altogether.
Both subscription and the substitution were introduced as a means of freeing skilled labor, such as gunsmiths, for crucial war industries. But the privilege was used and abused until, near the end of the war, army morale was devastated. To the poor and draftee soldiers, it became apparent that it was a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.
This information comes from an article by Irene Griffey, C.G., in a 1993 issue of Bluegrass Roots.
Migration from the “Russian Empire, Lists of Passengers Arriving at the Port of New York” is a series of books published by Genealogical Publishing Co.
Vol. 1 covers January 1875 to September 1882, and Vol. 2 spans October 1882 to April 1886. Together, the volumes are 1,334 pages.
Between 1871 and 1898, more than 2.3 million Russian immigrants arrived in the United States, some 600,000 between 1871 and 1898, and 1.7 million between 1899 and 1910.
Several nationalities or ethnic groups were represented in this migration: Poles, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Jews, Finns, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians and Germans (the so-called Volga Germans).
Information in these volumes was extracted from the original ships’ passenger lists held by the Temple-Blach Center for Immigration Research. These passenger lists, customs and immigration lists, are the only records that furnish proof of the arrival in America of all 2.3 million immigrants from the Russian Empire.
Information on the lists, and the volumes, includes the name of the passenger, age, sex, occupation, country of origin, place of residence and destination. The books, $60 each, may be ordered from the Genealogical Publishing Company at 800-296-6687. They would be a great addition to any genealogical library.
Interest in family history and genealogy is booming in Germany, according to the March issue of This Week in Germany, a publication of the German Information Center in New York City.
One organization feeling the effects of this revival is the Deutsche Zentralstelle fur Genealogie (German Center for Genealogy) in Leipzig (Saxony). Last year, it fielded some 3,000 inquiries from around the world.
The letters came because the center has an unrivaled collection of materials for research in Eastern Germany and the parts of Pomerania, Prussia and Silesia that were once German.
The collection includes an extensive library of publications on family history, covering the entire German-speaking world, a collection of 100,000 personal documents and a genealogical card index begun in 1921 which provides basic information on 1.4 million people.
Perhaps the most important of the center’s holdings is the collection of 16,000 church registers dating back to the 16th century - some original and some microfilmed copies - that once belonged to the Third Reich’s Office of Family Relations.
The center does not do individual research, but it will tell you if it has useful materials for your search. You will then have to hire a professional. You must furnish the specific place where your ancestors lived.
The center’s address is Kathe Kollwitzstr 82, 04109, Leipzig, Germany. (They are scheduled to move to new quarters by 1996.)
My advice would be to first check what is available via the National Archives and Family History Center in Salt Lake City before hiring help in the Leipzig Center.
It’s estimated that 350,000 reunions are held annually in the United States: family, class, church and military.
Reunions Magazine has articles on how to plan, organize and conduct a successful reunion. Subscription to this periodical is $15 per year. Write to P.O. Box 11727, Milwaukee, WI, 53211-0727, or call 414-263-4567.
Their advertising cheerfully says to call with any specific reunion questions and they will happily supply you with information.
Today’s laugh
Unpunctuated words chiseled on a tombstone can sometimes cause great merriment. Consider: “Here lies Peter Montgomery who was accidently shot in his thirtieth year.” Or, “Erected to the Memory of John Phillips Accidently Shot as a Mark of Affection by his Brother.” Also, how to explain the cryptic message on a stone in Edgartown, Mass: “…death was caused by bathing…”
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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Donna Potter Phillips The Spokesman-Review