Article 28 of soc.genealogy.methods: Path: news.kth.se!sunic!pipex!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!rand.org!atlantis.rand.org!not-for-mail From: SSEN@american.edu (Shinjinee Sen) Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.methods Subject: Re: Third World genealogy Date: 17 Nov 1994 07:47:10 -0800 Organization: The American University Lines: 53 Sender: leverich@atlantis.rand.org Approved: soc-genealogy-methods@rand.org Message-ID: <3afttu$2ng@atlantis.rand.org> References: <3a0bt2$6q@rand.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: atlantis.rand.org Keywords: India--Oral History In article <3a0bt2$6q@rand.org> braich@austen.rand.org (Kirn Braich) writes: > > >I'm interested in exploring my family history, but the problem I have is >that, my family being from India, records are virtually non-existent. >I suppose that typical genealogy methods involve searching for church and >state records. What does one do in the absence of these? Of course, I >could get a word of mouth history back to my great-grandparents, but that's >about all. > >Any ideas? > >Thanks in advance, > >Kirn I started creating a genealogy for my own family, using (lengthy) interviews of older family members. Right now, I know all my great-grand-parents, the ancestry in the male line of my mother, and most of the descendants of my great-grand-parents (I haven't met them all, just their names). My methods were: 1. Interview and photograph as many older family members as possible; ask them about their own lives, and about their siblings etc. This yielded a lot of names and facts, but generally, older family members cannot tell you much about siblings who were born and died when they were young -- thus you get an incomplete count of how many siblings, how many stillbirths etc. The second problem was that most relatives remembered only the nick- names, and not the full names. Dates were approximate (and I often had to calculate them from the stories). I therefore have a lot of "circa" dates. 2. There are some family histories extant, especially if you have a famous relative in the not-too-distant past. The problem is that these histories are hard to find (published by small presses, and not usually in libraries). Furthermore, they tend to be written in the local language, so you would need a translator if your language skills are limited. (Your relatives might be happy to help). 3. If you are Hindu, talk to the family priest. They usually know the genealogy (in the male line, that is). They will definitely know the "gotra" (clan) of your immediate ancestors, which is helpful. 4. In West Bengal, there is a handbook of all the Vaidya and Kayastha families (published a long while ago, and hard to get access to). There may be similar inventories for other regions. 5. Pool your resources with others who are similarly interested. That is the best way to get information about your own ancestor and collaterals. Shinjinee Sen Researching: Sen Sengupta Dasgupta Chowdhury (of Bengal) From: Cheryl_Singhal@cpafug.blkcat.com (Cheryl Singhal) Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.methods Subject: India Research Date: 29 Jun 1996 22:24:08 -0700 India to this day maintains no birth, death, or marriage registers on the civil level. Christian churches may well maintain registers, but none of the Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Moslem, or others do. Article 37753 of soc.genealogy.misc: Path: news.kth.se!solace!mn6.swip.net!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!newsfeed.de.ibm.net!newsfeed.uk.ibm.net!arclight.uoregon.edu!news.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!newsxfer3.itd.umich.edu!howland.erols.net!surfnet.nl!news.unisource.nl!xs4all!newsgate.cistron.nl!IRIS.global-one.nl!news.telebyte.nl!usenet From: "dessa" Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.misc Subject: Perhaps your ancestors moved to INDIA (Cochin) Date: 14 Jan 1997 21:01:36 GMT Organization: Telebyte Lines: 4 Message-ID: <01bc025e$531381e0$e5d7ebc2@fredie.telebyte> NNTP-Posting-Host: pm3-07.dbs.telebyte.nl X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1155 Xref: news.kth.se soc.genealogy.misc:37753 visit our new free page: http://www.telebyte.nl/~dessa/cochin.htm or mail: dessa@pop.telebyte.nl Phillip W. Steele, "Jesse and Frank James: The Family History" (Gretna, La.: Pelican Pub., 1987). LC number is CT 274 .J35 S74 1987 Good luck! Mark S.