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Introduction to Queries |
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| What are queries? Researchers may post free queries--types of classified advertisements asking for information about a specific Hellenic individual or family group. Long a regular feature of national genealogical journals, they are new to the Hellenic genealogical scene and represent untapped sources of information for researchers. HHGA uses abbreviations and standard formats recommended by the National Genealogical Society (NGS), of which it has been a member association, but for information and data specific to Hellenic culture, HHGA has created new abbreviations. How are queries with HHGA different from other listings? Queries on webpages sponsored by HHGA (and Hellenic Communication Service) are listed alphabetically by surname of target person or group, as is customary in many U.S. and western genealogical journals. For Hellenic subjects, however, HHGA has added special features to its queries section to permit listing under multiple categories. Surnames may be cross-listed under village/city, county, prefecture or province, and region of origin (also diaspora communities), making queries more effective. Multiple listings take advantage of close village and regional associations, relationships so integral to Hellenic culture; persons from the same village or area may possess knowledge of the target family. The political organization of the Greek countryside has changed dramatically over the last few years in response to fiscal belt-tightening. Many former municipalities (dimoi) and eparchies, among other self-governing administrative units, now find themselves integrated into larger adminstrative areas. Our queries pages were designed while Greece was following the Kapodistria administrative plan, allowing for many more small and self-governing bodies. Since that time, the Kallikrates plan has been implemented. Nevertheless, we will continue to post queries as though the Kapodistria plan were still in effect, unless we see clear evidence that implementation of the Kallikrates plan will not be reversed in the next couple of years and unless we see evidence of a type of redistricting. Thus far, most of the changes that have taken place are simply downgradings of the level of self-government. For example, a former village with its own self-governing village council, has now probably become a municipal precinct with just an advisory body or a council with diminished decision-making capability. Likewise, an independent municipality may now seen as a precinct within the larger prefecture. Administrative decision-making has, in effect, been bumped up the chain of organization as the status of each level of administration has been downgraded. And this means that the relationship of a small village to surrounding larger towns and cities has been rather preserved, with changes made only to the level of decision-making (and of course, to the level of funding). As of December 2012, we have seen very few instances of re-organization of villages and cities, a re-combining of these units into new groupings, i.e., changing the relationship of a village with its former municipal seat to become a member of a different municipality or municipal district. If reorganization of the queries should be necessary as a result of marked changes in Greece, we will continue to follow our philosophy of cross-listing queries in as many administrative units as possible. How to post queries on HHGA For the convenience of HHGA/HCS readers, we offer instructions and guidelines for developing and submitting queries for posting to our webpages, with links below to specific examples of queries published in national genealogical journals and several examples developed by HHGA using Hellenic subjects. Keep in mind that surname spelling variations are common even among members of the same branch of family. Try surname variations that sound or look like the original Greek surname. (See forthcoming HHGA article on surname spelling variations.) Type up a brief email with your information and send it to us for posting (hellasgenealogy@papcoholdings.org). Please be patient with us--we're an all-volunteer staff and only post sporadically. Your query, however, will remain on the site for an extended period of time. When are queries posted? Please keep in mind that we only post a few times yearly, but that the queries remain on the Internet indefinitely. Send us a gentle reminder if you don't see your query on any of the query pages 6-8 weeks after your initial email. How to respond to a query if you have information about a subject Each query includes a researcher name and contact information. Contact the individuals directly if you have information that might help in their family history research. For best results, do not include file attachments with your email, and indicate in the subject heading that you are responding to a Hellenic genealogical query listed in the HCS webpages. To contact the researcher, click on the address link, the blue underlined email address, or send correspondence via postal mail. LINKS Return to Hellenic Genealogy Main Page Instructions on Posting Queries List of HHGA Abbreviations Map of Greek Lands View Queries Arranged by Surname View Queries Arranged by Periferia (Large Traditional Geopolitical Region) View Queries Arranged by Nomos (Province or Prefecture) View Queries Arranged by Eparchia (County) View Queries Arranged by Koinotita (Village/City) View Queries Arranged by Greek Diaspora community (Lands Outside of Greece) |
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Updated 15 December 2012. |
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