Some ethnic
Estonian Family
Histories
and/or Family Charts
that
have come to Sigrid Maldonado's attention
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Links to other web sites of Estonian interest - not only genealogical
- and to other pages of this
Web Site are at the end of this page, below. The Home Page contains a
"Search Box" to help you find with ease what you are looking
for within this Web Site.
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A - Published Works
A.1) "Oscar
Holmes and Adele Sider Holmes"
// "An Account of the KOLM
(Holmes) and SIDER Families": Edited and narrated by Charlotte Holmes. Sponsored by
Harry, Ralph, Charles and Theodore Holmes. Layout is by Carl Anderson.
Published 1994 in Salem, Oregon, USA. Purchase price is $15.00 + $2.00
shipping.
It has xii + 187
pages. It is softbound, has Table of Contents, an introduction, maps, family
charts, photographs of people (some identified, others sadly not) and objects
related to the history of this family, copies of documents, published articles,
obituaries, pages of archival records, of old postcards and filled in family
group forms. At the end it also has a section dedicated to Estonian food giving
several recipes in Estonian, translated into English.
It is a real
treasure of ethnic Estonian family history. The sponsors are all surviving
children of a young Estonian couple that came to USA in 1914 with 3 of their
children. Others were born in USA. Several family members told of their own
recollections and their words are included. Since memories fade and those who
knew did not write any identification on pictures their descendants were not
able any more to identify some of them.
There are also 4
group pictures of Estonians on which the descendants of Adele and Oscar Kolm
(Holmes) who contributed to this effort were not able to identify more than 1,
5 or 10 people. On the 4th group picture they remembered all.
The 3 photos with
many unidentified Estonian people were
a.
Estonian Society in
Portland, Oregon, USA, ca. 1907: of some 52 has only 1 person identified.
(Adele Kolm, nee Sider's brothers Aleksander and Eduard Sider had come earlier
to USA. Alex in 1900 and Eduard in 1913.) On this picture many men are with handheld
musical instruments. There also are little children. This was photographed
outdoors with trees in the background. Could anyone reading this identify more
of these people, pictured in 1907?
b.
Estonian Society in
Portland, Oregon, USA, June 1918: of some 65 this one has 10 identified people.
Again, they all are in front of trees, but not the same as in 1907. One man
even climbed up a tree and is visible in the foliage. Most of the little
children should still be with us... Can anyone identify these people?...
c.
Estonian Society in
Portland, Oregon, USA, 8 Jun 1919: of some 40 it has only 5 identified people.
Also here trees are in the background. Perhaps they had an annual picnic...
Children in the foreground. Does anyone remember?...
Family names
from Estonia like Allik, Janis, Kokk, Ku(u)ler, Merilo, Mikkiver, Olin, Sahker,
Saul, Sirm, Tarno, Uustal(l)o, Visnapuu and others are mentioned in this family
history.
This family saga was
at several libraries by 1999: Los Angeles Public
Library, Texas Public Library, New York Public Library, etc. Also at the
library of the "Genealogical Forum of Oregon" (Portland, OR, USA), at
the "Family History Library" in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and others.
If you want to purchase this publication your local public library might be able to help you or send some comments to this Web Site at our Guest Book. (See below.)
Are any other
ethnic Estonian families writing down their recollections and preparing such
publications?
It is hoped many are
doing so.
B - Works given to Mrs. Maldonado
B.1.)
Typed results of work done by the
"Estonian Genealogical Society" in Tallinn in 1939 that had been
searching for ancestors of an AMBERG family. The search lead them to
Viljandimaa. This was sent to Mrs. Maldonado by Mr. Georg Amberg from Germany
who has died since then.
B.2.)
A chart of his mother's ancestors was
prepared in 1981 by Feliks Salme in Sweden. His mother, named Julie-Elviine
Reinwart, was one of the granddaughters of Jüri AMBERG of Harjumaa.
Sadly, Mr. Feliks Salme has also died since he sent the chart.
Anyone else out
there preparing family charts or doing family history research of ethnic
Estonian ancestors and their descendants?
It is very much
hoped and wished that many ethnic Estonians and their descendants are doing
this so that their heritage will not be lost. 
(Sigrid Maldonado's book, mentioned below, could be of help in such
undertaking.)
C - Genealogical Web Sites of Estonian
Families
C.1.)
There are people in Estonia itself
who are researching their ancestral lines. One such researcher in Tartu decided
to create his own Web Site with the purpose of publishing his ancestry, his
kinfolk and to let his fellow Estonians know that family history research is
possible there.
This site is written mostly in Estonian, but there are several pages in
English. The author planned to translate many more pages into English during
the summer of 1998. I hope he did.
A note of caution: when looking at an Estonian alphabetical listing remember that the vowels with "Umlaut" or with tilde are at the end of the list. If the last name you are looking for starts with a vowel you should never disregard the possibility of that name having had an "Umlaut" or tilde (in case of an "O") in its original form. I suggest you also take a look at the end of the list. You can read more about the Estonian language as it relates to genealogical research in Sigrid Maldonado's book "ESTONIAN Experience and Roots". (See the links below.)
The creator of this
Web Site in Estonia concentrated his research on 2 villages in the province of Pärnumaa,
within the Parish of Tori: the
settlements of Riisa and Tõramaa.
There is the Riis
/ Riisman family tree and many different last names of his kinfolk.
Names like: An(n)imägi, Annus, Eamets, Erenurm, Hiis, Hommik,
Jaska, Jürimäe, Kalbus, Kuusk, Laas, Luts, Mesipuu, Murumaa, Nukk, Nõmmik, Oja,
Oruväli, Peet, Püss, Raidmäe, Ruus, Saaremäe, Soo, Tilk, Toom, Uks, Uustalu,
Vabamäe, Valgma, Õun, Änilane and many, many more are listed.
It is a large Web Site and offers many interesting aspects of life in Estonia,
it gives some Estonian history and also information about the history of one
large Estonian family.
There is more
detailed material about Tori Parish in Pärnumaa and about Vast(s)emõisa
Parish in Viljandimaa.
Links are provided to information about the "Soomaa National Park"
and about the "Nigula Nature Reserve".
The author has very interesting information called "How to Find
Relatives in Estonia" and there you also find a link to the "Internet
Genealogical Directory" (AGI).
Please, visit this site in Estonia by clicking on http://www.aai.ee/~urmas/riisae.html (This site still is up & running.)
C.2.)
Mr. Hans Kuldkepp, now in Sweden,
notified me that he has created a web site about his own family. His ancestors
originated from the County of Viljandimaa (= Kreis Fellin). Specifically from the Parish called Vastemõisa, in
the NW area of said county.
I have not had the time to study this site, but want to give others a chance to
use it in hopes it will help them with their own family history research. I am
sure Mr. Kuldkepp has several maps of the area where his family lived on his
Web Site.
It can be accessed by clicking on Kuld or
go to kepp. I believe the first site has some text in English.
There, at either site, I am sure you can find a link to the other site.
It is hoped that
many more Estonians are creating such Web Sites.
Either in Estonia or in other parts of the world. Please, let us know so that
we can create links to those sites.
D - Links that could be of help to many:
D.1) "Eesti
Genealoogia Selts" (Estonian
Genealogical Society) in Estonia itself has a web site and you might find help
and inspiration there. It is in the Estonian language, but has many links to sites
written in English. I suggest you try it by clicking here EstGenSoc.
D.2) If you are wondering about relatives and friends that
have disappeared during Soviet times and want to find out what happened to them then you
might want to check the following link: memorial.
Almost all is in Estonian. Impossible to understand the long text if you do not
know Estonian. It is possible to find what you want. With a dictionary you should
be able to navegate. Last names and names of localities do not need
translation.
Again, keep in mind the Estonian alphabet. There is a page by locality. Every
little village and estate are mentioned. Even farms along the different roads
to other villages. You might be able to find the name of a family friend or a
relative if you really study the site.
Another way to navigate is to search the different prisons and places to which
the prisoners were deported.
It all is in this one Web Site.
D.3) Organizations that also might be useful are the
D.3.1) Estonian
Literary Museum at EstLitMus (easy access)
and the
D.3.2) Estonian National Museum at EstNtlMus.
(Had no problem accessing this site.)
Web sites in Estonia appear to have undergone a technological change. Some sites have disappeared the way we knew them...
E - Of "DP Camps" after WWII:
Mr. Rein Ulesoo
notified me during summer of 1999 that to search for documentation of family
happenings that took place during our family's stay at DP Camps we should try
to contact the following organizations:
Refugees / DPs were under the administration of UNRRA / IRO (see Sigrid
Maldonado's book - a link is below).
The records should be at: International Tracing
Service / Grosse Allee 5 - 9 / D-34444 Bad Arolsen / Germany.
Another place to try is: (Ms. Marilla B. Guptil), Chief Archives Unit / UN
Archives / UN (I do not have the street address - which is certainly
needed) / New York - NY 10017 / USA
If all else fails try: French National Archives in Paris, France - Sorry,
I have no address. You could ask the French Embassy.
J
Thank you for reading the above.
For
those interested in recording their family histories
also has blank forms for sale:
"5 generation direct ancestry" family charts and
family group sheets called "Parents & Children".
Get pricing information from the
address that can be found in the Ordering Form. Please click on
the link provided below.
Or send us a message in our Guest Book. It can be reached from our Home
Page. (See below.)
A print-out of that
form will also enable you to buy Sigrid
Maldonado's book.
If you want to get some more information about
"ESTONIAN Experience and Roots"
then click on: book
And by reading the "Table of Contents" you will have a better idea of what the book is all about.
"Reviews & Opinions" about this book can be reached by
clicking on &
.
(May your opinions be added to these?)
Click here to reach the "Ordering Form" and make a print-out of it.
Our mailing address is on that form.
If you suspect that
one of your ancestors taught at or might have gone to school
in Rakvere (Wesenberg), Estonia
you might find him/her in our page about graduates of the City School there.
Just click on Rakschl to reach our
“new” page.
There also are the short biographies of inspectors and teachers.
Ethnic backgrounds of the people mentioned in this page are Estonian, Latvian,
Russian, etc.
Links to other genealogical Web Sites of Estonian interest are in our Home Page. (See below.)
The Web Site of the weekly Estonian
paper in New York, "Vaba Eesti Sõna",
has links to many Estonian sites
in Estonian and English. It can be reached by clicking VES.
Since
08 March 1998, you are visitor number
Please,
do not forget to leave your comments at the Guest Book in the Home Page.
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