Where do I go from here? I can't read Greek
Have been trying for years to find information on my own, but to no avail, my father took so much information to the grave with him. Here's what I have...what now?
My father: Christos Loukas (as known in the USA) DOB 10/4/1951, in Mouzaki, Greece
His mother: Eleni (Katis) Lucas (as known in the USA) - HIs father: Zisis Lucas (I know zero about his side)Exact Birth Date, and Marriage Date and Location unknown.
My Father's Aunts and Uncles (maternal) are listed (in the United States) as: Theodosia (Katis) Liolios, Costas Katis, Ifegenia Kalantzis, Panagio Riggas)
His Grandparents (maternal) were: Anthanasios and Vasilike (Trixas) Katis.
possible birth location (Eleni) listed as: Vatsounia, Greece.
Could you please help me find some additional information? Where do I go from here?
Answers
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Hi Eleana,
If I were you, the first thing I would do is make a family tree, starting with yourself, then circle all the blank areas and start with the ones closest to you and work outward towards grandparents, etc.
It looks like you have information for your father but are missing information for your grandparents.
I would do this:
look for immigration records to the United States for Zisis and Eleni on the Ellis Island site. These records give you the place where your people were from, an age, the name of the closest relative back in Greece, etc. If you can find this record, this is good. Also, military records for the males have information on them, as well as census records (which are not always very accurate but can be a source). Also, death and social security records are helpful.
Certainly the earliest record for an individual will be the most accurate (birth records). As time goes on memory wanes and people are prone to making up dates.
When looking in Greece for records, you MUST have the following information or you will not succeed:
the EXACT name with TRUE SPELLING
a birth date and place
Who immigrated to the United States? Start there and work backwards. And if you can't find information about an individual, go to those aunts and uncles. They will also be a source of information for you.
When looking at the WIKI from familysearch.org, I found the following information:
Mouzaki, Greece, where your father is from, is in the county or region of Karditsa. This is where Greek records could/should/might be.
The address of the archives of this county Karditsa are:
Nomos Karditsa (nomos is Greek for "county"
Terma Eptanisou
Karditsa 43100
Greece
Good luck to you! And I hope this helps!
you could write to:
Mayor:
Kotsos Georgios
Karditsa Music, 43060 Museum
email: dimos@mouaki.gr
also there is a website for your town:
www.mouzaki.gr
and records are in the archives
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