Unearthing the “Polonskis”: A Historian’s Odyssey in Family Research (original) (raw)
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The frequent adoption of different surnames by individual members of the same family in the Russian Empire during the early part of the 19th century resulted in the creation of numerous family units of related people having different paternal surnames. In addition to the Americanization of Jewish surnames, this may explain, in part, why so many closely-related Ashkenazi Jews with Russian ancestries have completely different surnames. This situation has greatly complicated their efforts to trace their ancestries, or to locate common ancestors with individuals with whom they may be a genetic match. As a result of Russian surname laws and mandates, many non-related Jewish individuals acquired the same surname, while many related people acquired different surnames. Hence for Ashkenazi Jews of Russian ancestry, surnames may confer very little information regarding kinship. This situation has created many challenges and has placed many brick walls in the path for genealogists who try to trace the ancestry or locate descendants of a particular Jewish lineage, many of whom have different surnames, as well as for interpreting the different results of DNA tests for Jewish descendants, who are assumed to be related because they share a common surname.
This work includes two parts. The first part is a theoretical approach to genealogy in the 21st century that offers a classification of genealogy as a complex social discipline and a branch of anthropology. Although many may believe that genealogy is a historical discipline, the 21st century development of genealogy completely corresponds to the main characteristics of anthropology. The revealed cultural and historical anthropology focuses on the role of studying context for complete genealogy research. Genealogy intersects with technology, as well, but it is also very close to art. On the whole, genealogy recreates a valuable culture that connects generations and people all over the world. The blooming of genetic genealogy allows people to find lineages to which they belong even if they have never known the identity of their parents. The second part of this work uses a case study to analyze the records about the earliest 19th-century Bulgarian immigrants in the US using ancestry.com for a scientific analysis and as a database with billions of vital records. The analysis of the data showed the research of the immigration in a given time span requires using as primary information not the passenger lists, but all possible vital records that contain direct and indirect information. The scientific analysis focused on the peculiarities in studying the 19th century immigration of Bulgarians in the US in particular, the incorrect documentation of the place of origin (Bulgaria instead of Bavaria or Belgium, for instance) and other challenging research problems. It was interesting in the course of the analysis of Massachusetts data about Bulgarians to recognize that American vital records may include some early cases of adoption of Bulgarian children. This discovery requires more detailed critical analysis.
Historical Demography/Historická demografie 47, no. 2, 2023
The aim of this study is twofold. On the one hand, the article provides an overview of current research in the field of family memory, amateur family history and (genetic) genealogy, emphasizing a few areas that are of interest for professional historians. These include the close links between the stories transmitted in families and family identity, its functioning and family resilience; the potential of family history to reveal alternative versions of the national past; and finally, genetic (DNA) genealogy, which has won the favour of tens of millions of adherents worldwide and which is able to redefine historically traditional social structures such as family or kinship. Investigative genetic genealogy is a fresh and burgeoning field that gives amateur family history new dimensions by including it into the investigative leads of law enforcement authorities. In the second line, the article provides examples of research done in the Czech Republic that allow for contextualizing the place and status of genealogy and genetic genealogy in the given country. The article contrasts the optimistic views of researchers about amateur family history, based on its position in countries such as the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, with the far less favourable situation in the Czech Republic.
Editorial to a special issue on Genealogy in the Czech Republic
Historical Demography/Historická demografie 47, no. 2, 2023
Czech historians have been only exceptionally interested in one of the world’s most widespread hobbies, family history and genealogy. The growing interest of the public in the past of their own family, generated by the digitization and accessibility of the necessary data, has been however noticed also in the Czech Republic. The decision to organize a panel on the topic of genealogy and family history during the 12th Congress of Czech Historians in Ústí nad Labem was a logical consequence of the current situation. On 20 September 2022, the session entitled Poverty of History?! Genealogy, DNA and Family History took place. Nine presentations were delivered to an unexpectedly large audience, which consisted mostly of academics but also of practicing professionals such as private genealogists and archivists. A full room has convinced us that public genealogy and family history is the topic that deserves our interest.
Family History: Fact Versus Fiction
Genealogy
Current interest in genealogy and family history has soared, but the research journey may be fraught. Original intentions may be inhibited and inevitably altered as the actual historical details are revealed and documented through recorded evidence. While liberties may be taken with memoir and even autobiography, critical family history requires scrutiny of the lived events uncovered—some of which may be in sharp contrast to family myths passed down through generations. I traveled to three states and conducted archival research in local libraries, court houses, historical county archives, and museums in my search for original sources of authentic information about the names listed on a family tree over centuries. This article reports on how and why research on the genealogy of two families joined by marriage shifted from a straightforward recording of chronological facts to the development of a novel. The case can be made that fiction provides an effective and engaging tool for the ...
Toxic Memories and Amateur Genealogy in Contemporary Russia
Rural History Yearbook, 2021
This article investigates post-Soviet practices of amateur genealogy in relation to the politics of memory in Russia. Based on long-term ethnographic research into a popular genealogy club in a large provincial city, it explores genealogists' interpretive practices through which flat and unified historical narratives about the Soviet past, and especially about political violence, gain temporal, and spatial depth. The article argues that these practices have been informed by a growing presence of the therapeutic discourse in post-Soviet Russia, which resulted in genealogy becoming a means to reshape individuals' relations with the Soviet past. Positioning oneself on the genealogical grid and historicizing family narratives contextualizes the self and ensures a sense of inclusion in a broader community. It is by virtue of its transformative potential that amateur genealogy becomes a balm for post-Soviet memory.