Im trying to create a family tree and get stuck after 3 generations.?

Question

My family is from (by all accounts) the israel/palestine region. The rumor in the family is that my father grandfather changed his last name during the british mandate and sadly my grandfather passed when I was too young to ask questions.

Im stuck as to how I can research my roots when I myself am only a first generation american. My mother is traveling overseas next month and i plan to give her a list of questions to ask all of our older relatives in hopes of getting names of family.

Does anyone have suggestions on how I might be able to gather information due to the colonial period and prior? I know that some of my family fled to lebanon and jordan in 1948 and 1967 but we never heard from them again. I fear if i don't get these answers soon they may be lost as the oldest generation in my family hits their 80's and 90's.

I have considered doing DNA testing to prove/disprove another rumor in the family (that my fathers side came from albania/macedonia/greece) but not seriously

My family is palestinian christian on both sides, there is no real naming scheme (abu or ibn). I think the idea of going to the local churches is a good idea. Thanks for all the advice, the more the better.

Answer 1

This is a very specialized region to research. There are so many factors you have to consider, but primarily were they Orthodox, Jewish or Muslim?

If they were Arabic, were they Christian? If they were, then the odds are you can find the records fairly quickly. If they were Arab Muslims, there's more to it. You'll need to find out which region they were originally from and which tribe they were part of...all part of tracing the traditions of that area. Part of the problem is that if they were Arab Muslims, the odds are that there was a CHANGE of surname, but rather the ADOPTION of the ORIGINAL surname.

My first husband was a Palestinian. When you look at records from the region, you need to look for the "patrynomic" naming system. They used Ibn and Abu more than they used a surname. If your mom does go over there, have her brush up on the traditions. It might help if she takes a tape recorder and preserves all of the conversations.

Here's a site that might help you a little bit. If you want to email me through my profile, I'll help you put together those questions and a set of resources you can use.

http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/arabic-naming2.htm

Answer 2

Don't give up! There was no one in my family who had any definite info, except for my memories as a child. Now two weeks later I am back 6 generations.

With your ancestry overseas, it will be harder for you. But maybe your mother can talk to older relatives overseas. Just have her write down all she can discover. Sometimes all it takes is that one name to pull it all together.

The above post with all the links is a good list. If you don't have a software program I suggest Family Tree Maker 2008. I use it to sort my data, and when I have as much as I can find I will do a short term subscription to Ancestry.com to get the source data.

You may have problems with your names. From what I know about Middle Eastern names, they are often recorded improperly in the translation from the native language to English.

It may be a longer road than some, but if you have faith and stick with it you will pull through successfully.

Answer 3

all the above answers are great. a few other things to look into. baby books and family photo albums. Sometimes a family tree in in a baby book- it could be brief and full of family legend but it is a start and the family bible- in the center it could contain birth and death dates and marriages. also in the photo albums check the backs of all pictures. Sometimes the picture was cut out of an old album with info on the back from either the picture itself or one that was back of it. And old books in the house could have a dedication inside giving clues. i have found remarkable info from all of these sources.
Good luck. Churches and synagogues overseas have many records also. I have a friend who traveled to Ireland and was site seeing at a local church. went in happened to mention his last name and the priest came back with a family bible that had been held for over a century.

Answer 4

This is a bit frustrating so please bear with me. DNA testing CANNOT tell you that you are from any "ancestry". Yes, it can say you have certain markers that are prevalent in certain backgrounds....DNA testing actually cannot tell you for certain that your true father is your true father (it can show very high probability - but honestly, if the man A's brother was the actual father, that too would show up as high probability that the man A was the father.)

If any DNA test comes back and says that you are FROM anywhere, it is a fraud. I would strongly suspect if you really read the fine print, you will find all sorts of disclaimers. The same markers that would indicate you were Hebrew, would also be prevalent in Arab, Egyptian, Turkish, and more. It doesn't mean you have "ancestry" from all those areas.

Once more - READ THE FINE PRINT - and preferably BEFORE you plop down hundreds of dollars for such a test. It just cannot do what many people are claiming it can. It really can't. They do use very scientific words, and usually do present things "correctly", though I've seen many do so in a very misleading fashion - one saying that you have a higher probably of being from Mid-Eastern Hebrew descent. That was true - but in fact it was 62.5% match with Mid-Eastern Hebrew, 61.8% match with Arab populations, 60.4% match with Egyptian, 58.6% match with certain Asians, etc. So absolutely you have a higher probablilty of being Mid-Eastern Hebrew with this marker. But it doesn't tell you that that IS your ancestry. Just really read the fine print, preferably before you sink your money down. And if any place tells you that they will identify your ancestry, they are lying. DNA testing cannot do that beyond identifying markers in your DNA which also occur with some prevalance in usually a number of different populations. Fact is, the marker could have been a random mutation (also usually disclosed in the fine print) that occured either with you, your parents, their parents, etc.

But ignoring random mutations and for the sake of argument just say that each of those populations I mentioned have the same number of people, then in reality what the result say is that....25.7% chance you are Hebrew, 25.4% chance you are Arab, 24.8% chance you are Egyptian, and 24.1% chance you are Asiatic....and that ignores the prevalance of that marker in ALL OTHER populations. Read the fine print.

Answer 5

I recommend not waiting until your mom leaves. Write out a questionnaire for your older relatives now. Call them - a lot of older relatives are lonely and love to hear a young voice. If you have an family tree (especially one with photos) make copies and send it out, as well as partially filled out ones and blank ones for your family. You can cite your mom's trip as reason to ask now, and that might draw more interest.

The hard part is making sure to ask for any legends or stories that they heard that they aren't sure that are true or not. These stories though often proved false, can be great leads, and even if false draw us to explore other sources.

As for your grandpa - try to get every official paper he had to file - including his marriage paperwork both civil and church. Check over and see if he had any immigration paperwork, did he have a passport, etc. While there isn't always a magic document, there are often ones that we missed that would have helped us if we'd found them sooner.

Answer 6

http://www.cyndislist.com/mideast.htm
maybe one of these sites will help. The challenge is where records would be prior to the creation of Israel, and how to access them. Boundary and jurisdiction changes are always a challenge. If you know the location of grandpa's birth, that may be critical.
A tip from 25+ yrs of experience... no matter how prepared, AFTER mom gets back, you will think of a library that she should have gone to. It is standard... trust me on this. *smile*

Answer 7

Not too sure about how to get all of your records from "overseas" but as far as the DNA testing is concerned. . .give it lots more thought. My father-in-law had his genetic DNA tested a few months ago and found out all kinds of exciting things with that. It was neat for my husband and I to see the different nationalities represented with it. I am white and my husbands is black (and Asian and native American and all different things, thank to the DNA testing) and so now, we have so much to tell our son.

Answer 8

Wars, fires, earthquakes, etc., have destroyed most records of prior times. Basically, have your mother ask for as much information as any one can possibly provide; remember to ask friends and neighbors as well.

Other than that, try:
Tall order. The biggest expense will be TIME; I have spent hundreds of hours and have so much left to compile.
Remember, no matter where you obtain the information, there are mistakes (yes, I include "official" documents, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates, whatever). My maternal grandmother's tombstone doesn't even have her name correct!
Anyhew, as to searching, try these:
Free sites: there are several to choose from. Start with:
http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

Assuming they emigrated from Europe, start with Ellis Island and the Battery Conservancy sites:
http://www.ellisisland.org
http://www.castlegarden.org
For those with native American ancestry, try:
http://www.tribalpages.com/

For a fee, try a DNA test:
When you really want to know where your ancestors came from, try such sites as: www.familytreedna.com, dnatribes.com, dnaancestryproject.com, and, of course, the National Geographics Genotype program, https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/geno...
For Jewish ancestry, try:
www.israelgenealogy.com
Have a look at these sites these are South African ones,
http://genealogy.about.com/od/south_afri...
http://www.rupert.net/~lkool/page2.html....
http://www.jewishgen.org/safrica/website...
http://southafricanfamilyhistory.wordpre...

Meaing of names:
http://www.winslowtree.com/surname-meani...

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f...

Finding live people:
Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com

Don't forget, use your local library. Ours (a small one, yet) has www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com, as well as periodicals, books and guidance from an experienced genealogist.

Keep good notes on where you find what: sources are very important.

I would highly recommend a DNA test: at present, it is the ONLY genealogy tool that is not subject to all the common human errors, not knowing how to spell, not hearing properly, etc.
Most of the jobs I have had in my life time were working with records of some sort, from the Pentagon to Legal clerking in the Army J.A.G. Office; there are errors everywhere. What few "official" records I have been able to obtain are likewise fraught with errors.
I used www.familytreedna.com; the results back up my paper trail, but also lead much further than the paper trail. I figure if the DNA test reinforces the paper trail, the names, dates and places may not be accurate, but at least SOME ancestor was there at that time.
(And, yes, I have ancestors from Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel...a long time ago.)
Good luck!

Answer 9

This is a very long shot try the web site below.

Good luck and good hunting

Answer 10

Look for family tree books on the internet.You can find them with your family last name/s.
I found mine and it was very helpful