4 ms·

I can't speak to what websites are good for this. AFAIK most of the websites are scams, to Geonode's point. One great source for genealogy however is the Chur

I can't speak to what websites are good for this. AFAIK most of the websites are scams, to Geonode's point. One great source for genealogy however is the Church of the Latter Day Saints. They have well funded teams that research genealogy non stop. [1] I would just visit a local church and see if they can assist. [1] - https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Latter-day_Saint_Online_Genealogy_Records https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Latter-day_Saint_Online...

ljoshua 4y ago
On the FamilySearch wiki linked to in the parent, there are also many country-specific guides that link to resources both inside and outside of FamilySearch. Those that may be of interest to you given the countries you mentioned: - Germany: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Germany_Genealogy https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Germany_Genealogy - Ukraine: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ukraine_Genealogy https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ukraine_Genealogy - Russia: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Russia_Genealogy https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Russia_Genealogy Also see the main wiki page, which has a Locality finder and may have other links depending on how far back you want to go (e.g., German Empire): https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page And of course, search the entire FamilySearch database too, which aggregates many, many sources: https://www.familysearch.org/search/ https://www.familysearch.org/search/
macksd 4y ago
Yeah FamilySearch also has a lot of links and relationships with other organizations, so it's a good starting point to tie a lot of other resources together. Once you get enough stuff put together to get hints of recently digitized records that match your tree, the research almost does itself, and you're just acting as the human in the loop making sure the connections it makes are well-founded.
imustbeevil 4y ago
To anyone else (like me) wondering why the Mormons maintain a genealogy database: > Mormons trace their family trees to find the names of ancestors who died without learning about the restored Mormon Gospel so that these relatives from past generations can be baptized by proxy in the temple. For Latter-day Saints, genealogy is a way to save more souls and strengthen the eternal family unit. https://www.pbs.org/mormons/etc/genealogy.html https://www.pbs.org/mormons/etc/genealogy.html
- dbrueck 4y ago
  A little more detail: for Christians, baptism is considered to be a requirement to enter the kingdom of God (per John 3:5), but obviously most people throughout the history of the world never get that opportunity. This creates a problem because Christians also believe that God is a god of justice. Proxy baptisms resolve the issue by performing the ordinance for each individual who didn't receive it while alive, and then it's left to them to reject it or accept it. Interestingly, proxy baptisms for the dead were part of early Christian theology, but a few hundred years after Christ's time, some committees or councils or whatever decided to remove it, so for most branches of Christianity the theology was changed to forbid it, though it's still present in a couple of branches.
  - shakna 4y ago
    Not forbid, per se. Simply the theology of it was no longer considered to be grounded. You can freely perform a proxy baptism - but the community around you is unlikely to believe that it has any effect whatsoever. Often because their theology does not have baptism as a requirement to enter into the kingdom.
    - dbrueck 4y ago
      Ah, thank you. I read an English translation [1] of the proceedings of the Council of Carthage (397AD) and it seemed to forbid it, but looking at it again, it seemed to forbid trying to give the eucharist to corpses (I'm not really sure what was going on there), and then adds a bit about baptisms for the dead, but maybe it's not forbidding them? [1] https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Acts-of-the-Council-of-Carthage-397-and-Council-of-Hippo-393-V1-2022.pdf https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2022/...
      - shakna 4y ago
        It's not "forbidding" something, really. "Shall not" could just as equally be translated to "it is inadvisable to", in most of these cases. The reason that is followed by reasoning of why such a thing is pointless, is because it is saying that something should not be common practice. It's setting a policy, not a regulation or law. A guideline for clergy to follow: The reason for the act of communion and the dead? It was common at the time for someone purporting to be a Medium or related spiritualist or magician of some kind, to say that they could act as an intercessor. Sometimes with quite the hefty fee. They'd claim to distressed families that the Eucharist was required to save the family's deceased, and that through themselves the lost one could be saved. In short, conmen are conmen. The church had plenty of con artists that they tried to work around. The church was telling their leaders not to engage with them, by making this particular policy. If the fees for Medium services had been less, then the policy probably still would have eventually been created, but it wouldn't have been part of such an important meeting. It plays into the greater context of that particular Council - there were many people making claims to be bishops, or deacons, who were bringing with them a religion that was more syncretic in nature (combining existing religious beliefs), and the church was attempting to stamp that out and establish a structure to prevent it continuing. (Which they ultimately failed to do, as seen by the African diaspora religions).

ljoshua 4y ago

On the FamilySearch wiki linked to in the parent, there are also many country-specific guides that link to resources both inside and outside of FamilySearch. Those that may be of interest to you given the countries you mentioned: - Germany: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Germany_Genealogy https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Germany_Genealogy - Ukraine: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ukraine_Genealogy https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ukraine_Genealogy - Russia: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Russia_Genealogy https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Russia_Genealogy Also see the main wiki page, which has a Locality finder and may have other links depending on how far back you want to go (e.g., German Empire): https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page And of course, search the entire FamilySearch database too, which aggregates many, many sources: https://www.familysearch.org/search/ https://www.familysearch.org/search/

macksd 4y ago

Yeah FamilySearch also has a lot of links and relationships with other organizations, so it's a good starting point to tie a lot of other resources together. Once you get enough stuff put together to get hints of recently digitized records that match your tree, the research almost does itself, and you're just acting as the human in the loop making sure the connections it makes are well-founded.

imustbeevil 4y ago

To anyone else (like me) wondering why the Mormons maintain a genealogy database: > Mormons trace their family trees to find the names of ancestors who died without learning about the restored Mormon Gospel so that these relatives from past generations can be baptized by proxy in the temple. For Latter-day Saints, genealogy is a way to save more souls and strengthen the eternal family unit. https://www.pbs.org/mormons/etc/genealogy.html https://www.pbs.org/mormons/etc/genealogy.html

dbrueck 4y ago
A little more detail: for Christians, baptism is considered to be a requirement to enter the kingdom of God (per John 3:5), but obviously most people throughout the history of the world never get that opportunity. This creates a problem because Christians also believe that God is a god of justice. Proxy baptisms resolve the issue by performing the ordinance for each individual who didn't receive it while alive, and then it's left to them to reject it or accept it. Interestingly, proxy baptisms for the dead were part of early Christian theology, but a few hundred years after Christ's time, some committees or councils or whatever decided to remove it, so for most branches of Christianity the theology was changed to forbid it, though it's still present in a couple of branches.
- shakna 4y ago
  Not forbid, per se. Simply the theology of it was no longer considered to be grounded. You can freely perform a proxy baptism - but the community around you is unlikely to believe that it has any effect whatsoever. Often because their theology does not have baptism as a requirement to enter into the kingdom.
  - dbrueck 4y ago
    Ah, thank you. I read an English translation [1] of the proceedings of the Council of Carthage (397AD) and it seemed to forbid it, but looking at it again, it seemed to forbid trying to give the eucharist to corpses (I'm not really sure what was going on there), and then adds a bit about baptisms for the dead, but maybe it's not forbidding them? [1] https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Acts-of-the-Council-of-Carthage-397-and-Council-of-Hippo-393-V1-2022.pdf https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2022/...
    - shakna 4y ago
      It's not "forbidding" something, really. "Shall not" could just as equally be translated to "it is inadvisable to", in most of these cases. The reason that is followed by reasoning of why such a thing is pointless, is because it is saying that something should not be common practice. It's setting a policy, not a regulation or law. A guideline for clergy to follow: The reason for the act of communion and the dead? It was common at the time for someone purporting to be a Medium or related spiritualist or magician of some kind, to say that they could act as an intercessor. Sometimes with quite the hefty fee. They'd claim to distressed families that the Eucharist was required to save the family's deceased, and that through themselves the lost one could be saved. In short, conmen are conmen. The church had plenty of con artists that they tried to work around. The church was telling their leaders not to engage with them, by making this particular policy. If the fees for Medium services had been less, then the policy probably still would have eventually been created, but it wouldn't have been part of such an important meeting. It plays into the greater context of that particular Council - there were many people making claims to be bishops, or deacons, who were bringing with them a religion that was more syncretic in nature (combining existing religious beliefs), and the church was attempting to stamp that out and establish a structure to prevent it continuing. (Which they ultimately failed to do, as seen by the African diaspora religions).