Top 20 Web Sites for Eastern European Research
Lisa A. Alzo, M.F.A.
Here are 20 Web sites I find most useful for effective Eastern European genealogical research.
- Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies (FEEFHS)
http://www.feefhs.org
The FEEFHS web site provides an extensive online "map room", an Ethnic, Religious and National Index of Home Pages and Resource Guide Listings of Organizations Associated with FEEFHS (from 14 Countries), and collection of unique surname databases. This site should be the first stop for any researcher with Eastern European roots!
- One-Step Web Pages by Stephen P. Morse
http://www.stevemorse.org
A collection of online forms used to search certain genealogical databases in "One-Step." The most notable is the frequently-accessed "Searching the Ellis Island Database in One Step," which enables researchers to mine data from the Ellis Island Database (containing immigration records of some 22 million immigrants who came to the U.S. through the port of New York from 1892-1924). Users can choose "sounds like" search criteria for first and last name, as well as town name, and define a number of other more specific parameters. This is especially helpful for locating the often misspelled Eastern European surnames and towns/villages.
- Family History Library
http://www.familysearch.org
Fortunately, the Family History Library has microfilmed civil and church records from areas in a number of Eastern European countries, and also has a large collection of atlases, gazetteers, and maps essential for research in many foreign countries (especially pre-World War 1). The Family History Library catalog can be searched online for free and the desired films then ordered from your local Family History Center (FHC).
- The Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base
http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org
The resource to consult for anyone of Carpatho-Rusyn ancestry. Visitors may also want to check out "The Carpatho-Rusyn Society," a non-profit organization dedicated to manifesting Carpatho-Rusyn culture in the United States and supporting Rusyn culture in the homeland in East Central Europe.
- HalGal
http://www.halgal.com
This Web site offers information on Halychyna/Eastern Galicia, a region that is often misunderstood or ignored in North America. HalGal stands for Halychyna/Galicja.
Halychyna is Ukrainian, Galicja is Polish, or as commonly referred to in English as Galicia. This site should be the starting point for anyone researching their ancestral roots in Western Ukraine/Eastern Galicia. Many of the pages will be useful for Polish researchers of Western Galicia, as well.
- The Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI)
http://www.cgsi.org
The society serves to promote Czechoslovak genealogical research and interest among people with ancestry in the Czechoslovak region as it was in 1918, including families of Czech, Bohemian, Moravian, Slovak, German, Hungarian, Jewish, Rusyn, and Silesian origin. Researchers will find a useful introduction to genealogical research, travel resources, research in the Czech and Slovak Archives and a listing of professional researchers available for hire in the Czech and Slovak Republics.
- GenealogyLinks.net
http://www.genealogylinks.net/europe/index.html
This site consists of 3,500 pages of more than 30,000 Genealogy Links that serve as a directory of genealogy links to mostly online surname databases, including parish registers, censuses, cemeteries, marriages, passenger lists, city directories, military records etc. A good portal site for information from Eastern European countries, and the links are indexed geographical (e.g. Albania, Austria, Belarus, etc.).
- RootsWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com
"The oldest and largest free genealogy Web site," RootsWeb serves to connect people so that they can help each other and share genealogical research. The EasterEuroGenWeb of the WorldGenWeb project will be of particular interest to those with Eastern European Roots. Message boards and mailing lists provide a great facility to network with other researchers.
- Jewishgen.org
http://www.jewishgen.org
Often people of Eastern European descent will discover they have Jewish roots. JewishGen®, Inc. is the primary internet source connecting researchers of Jewish genealogy worldwide. The site includes ShtetlSeeker (which enables you to search for towns in Central and Eastern Europe, using exact spelling or the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex system. This search will display latitude and longitude for each location, the distance/direction from the country's capital city, and a link to a MapQuest™ map).
- It’s All Relative
http://www.iarelative.com
The "It's All Relative" Genealogical Research Pages offer tools, resources, and information to help you search your Czech, Bohemian, Moravian, Slovak, Lemko, or Carpatho-Rusyn family history and ancestry. You will also find links to a wealth of information on the area formerly Czechoslovakia and now known as Slovakia and Czech Republic, and related areas. One of the most interesting features of this site is the section on Czech, Slovak, and Rusyn traditions, and also a link to the Slovak Pride Database .
- Church Record Translations (John Jaso)
http://www.bmi.net/jjaso/index.html
Reading and interpreting church records written in old world languages is often a big obstacle for researchers. This site is an excellent resource for anyone who must translate birth, marriage, and death records from Hungarian, Latin, or Slovak languages.
- Eastern Slovakia Genealogy Research Strategies
http://www.iabsi.com/gen/public
A very informative set of Web pages that aid English-speaking researchers of immigrants from Eastern Slovakia and surrounding areas.
- Research in Ukraine and Belarus
http://www.mtu-net.ru/rrr/ukraine.htm
"The Gateway to Genealogy in Russia." Provides links to state archives, genealogy resources, heritage and history, and much more!
- Radix – Genealogical Research in Hungary
http://www.bogardi.com/gen/index.shtml
This website is dedicated to genealogy research in Hungary and it aims at helping family historians in finding out more about their Hungarian ancestry. Also available is a forum of Hungarian surnames being researched where you can add the names you are searching and a link to a new Hungarian genealogy Weblog (BLOG) called Radixlog with news about Hungarian family history research.
- PolishRoots® The Polish Genealogy Source
http://www.polishroots.com
Perhaps the best Polish genealogical site for those researching their Polish ancestry. Its most popular features are the PolishRoots SurnameSearch™, which allows users to register surnames they are researching, translated entries from the Slownik Geograficzny, a 19th Century Polish gazetteer covering present and former territories within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and a variety of databases such as PNA Lodges and Galician Vital Records availability.
- Slovenian Genealogy
http://www2.arnes.si/~rzjtopl/rod/rod-an.htm
This site provides many links for Slovenian genealogy including sources of genealogical data, research methods and resources, archives in the LDS and in Slovenia, information on the Slovenian Genealogical Society, collection of family trees, and more.
- LinkToYourRoots
http://www.linktoyourroots.hamburg.de/
Many immigrants from Europe left via Hamburg, Germany. For a long time, the index to these records (1850-1934) has been available on microfilm through the Family History Library (FHL). The online database, "Link to Your Roots" database, was launched several years ago by the Hamburg State Archives for searching the Hamburg emigration lists. Currently, the database covers only the years 1890-1906. 1890 was selected as a starting point because of the surge in emigration from that time until WWI. The initial search can be performed for free. However, the results show only minimal details. For a fee (payable by credit card) you can see other details, such as the name of ship and date of arrival. Prices vary depending on whether you are requesting one or more records. The details are provided only in text format, not digitized images.
- Bremen Passenger Lists 1920 - 1939
http://db.genealogy.net/maus/gate/index_en.html
Bremen was another frequent port of departure for Eastern European immigrants. Unfortunately, from 1875 - 1908, the staff of the 'Nachweisungsbureau', because of insufficient office space, decided to destroy all lists older than three years. With the exception of 2,953 passenger lists for the years 1920 – 1939 all other lists were lost in World War II. You can search the database free of charge, and obtain such details as Family Name, First name(s), Sex, Age, Place of Residence, Nationality, Profession, and Destination Even if you don’t turn up your ancestor, perhaps a relative or neighbor will appear.
- Repositories of Primary Sources
http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html
A listing of over 5,500 websites, compiled by Terry Abraham, and describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar. Key sources to look at include links to the Web sites for archives, libraries, and universities in various Eastern European countries.
- Immigrant History Research Center (University of Minnesota)
http://www.ihrc.umn.edu
This is a great online reference site for the American immigrant experience. The Center’s collection is particularly strong in its documentation of eastern, central, and southern European ethnic groups, and includes: Newspapers & Serials, Fraternal Society Material, Church Records, and Publications, Manuscript Collections, and Oral Histories. Users can browse the collection online by ethnic group. The IHRC is open to all qualified researchers. Materials do not circulate; but researchers may be able to obtain photocopies or photographic reproductions for a fee and either purchase or borrow via interlibrary loan microfilm for which the IHRC holds the master negative. Center staff conducts actual research for users only in extraordinary circumstances, at a charge of $20.00 per hour.
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