E S T O N I A N Experience and Roots

Ethnic Estonian Genealogy with
Historical Perspective, Social Influences
and possible Family History Resources

It is an aid or guide to those wanting to know some local (Baltic)
history, to those in search of the ethnic Estonian (also Latvian)
roots of their own families and/or to professional genealogists.

A short attempt at explaining to our descendants and those interested in
eastern Europe the historical and social background which shaped that world.
A world that does not exist any more and from which we
departed as it was already changing.
A new reality has emerged in the Baltics since then.

The authoress is: Sigrid Renate Maldonado

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Links to other web sites of Estonian interest - including those of non-genealogical interest - and
to other pages of this 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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The book was published by "AS WAS Publishing", Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, in 1996.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 96-85886 and ISBN 0-9653936-0-7.
Hardcover, 8 1/2 " x 11" = 21.6x28 cm (plus the binding), 128 pages in all, printed on acid-free
paper, with table of contents, maps, bilingual lists of localities in Estonia, bibliography, index
with some chronology, etc. During 2001 we moved to: P.O. Box 463, Goffstown, NH, 03045-0463, USA.

è This book will be of interest and help to:

ww Families & individuals with ethnic Estonian (or Latvian) roots...

>> whose ancestors came from the Baltics before WWII or even before WWI. It will show them the world from which their foreparents emigrated and will help them to discover their ethnic Estonian (Latvian) forebears.

>> whose grandparents and / or parents arrived in other European countries or the "new world" and settled there during or after WWII. This book will help them to better interpret the actions / reactions of their parents & grandparents and to make sense of their own memories. It will also help them to trace their ethnic Estonian (Latvian) ancestry.

ww Libraries & Genealogical Societies:

Ethnic Estonians (& Latvians) & their descendants are all over the world. In Europe, all the Americas, Australia, etc.

By having this book Libraries and Genealogical Societies will help their patrons and members with these roots - now and in the future - to find records of their ancestors.

Descendants of ethnic Estonians (Latvians) will want to research who their foreparents were, where they came from, why they left their native land, what happened to their ancestors, etc. - just as those with other ethnic backgrounds have been doing for many years.

This book also promotes the study and knowledge of Baltic history.

Local family history research and understanding of European history will be furthered.

ww Schools:

Some teachers are already using Genealogy as a way to teach history, geography and other Social Studies. Having pupils research their own families and discovering that their ancestors participated in historical events makes the study of those events more interesting. Study and research skills can be developed through this and many subjects can be studied more in depth thanks to discovering a personal link to different topics.

In this book Social Sciences teachers will find not only an unusual aspect or view of Eastern European history in a condensed capsule, but also a glimpse at a form of slavery that people on this side of the Atlantic have hardly been aware of. What was serfdom, when did it exist where, why did it end, when did it end where?...
Bibliography encourages further reading of some works by historians. Teachers can find many others.

I can just picture how my own grandchildren would react to the discovery that their father's grandfather, their Estonian ancestor, was in 3 different wars, as soldier of 3 different countries... The boys would want to know how that was possible. A teacher would find a lot of material to teach their class history and geography just by working with the ancestry of my grandkids. With a class full of children many different possibilities would present themselves.

Since there has been much interest in this the "National Genealogical Society" in Arlington, Virginia, USA, has founded a "Youth Resources Committee" that has developed material to guide teachers in the use of Family History in the classroom. They also have created a Youth Resources section in their NGS Home Page in the Web.
You might want to visit http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ in search of topics related to the classroom use of genealogy. They also have developed a guide for young people who are interested in researching their own family histories.
Of course, the "National Genealogical Society", being one of the most important genealogical organizations
in USA has a lot more to offer in its Web Site than this guide for young people.

ww Professional genealogists trying to find answers for clients with such ethnic roots.

ww Organizations of / by ethnic Estonians (or Latvians):

This book gives an idea of the research, evaluation, extracting / indexing of historical data which is needed in Estonian (Latvian) genealogy.

After many years of Soviet rule - under which Baltic history was being distorted and adapted to Soviet propaganda - there is a need for historical truths to be researched, published, archives have to be inventoried, materials preserved, etc.

è About this book:

l It tries to give a short, condensed history of the Estonian people, their experiences.

In its general historical outline it is also applicable to the history of the Latvian people.

l It touches upon the social conditions in which ethnic Estonians (Latvians) lived in their own land through time.

It is a glimpse at the world in which our Estonian (Latvian) ancestors lived years before Soviet colonial rule was imposed in the Baltic countries and before many of us settled across the oceans, far away.

l It tries to guide us as to where to look for records to document the existence of our Estonian forebears.

With regained independence there is hope we will be able to find those ancestors in historical records. While
freedom lasts, it can be done! It has been more than 12 years of new freedom! Estonia is still rebuilding.

l It will help to make sense of old family documents which descendants of ethnic Estonians should still have.

It gives clues on how to evaluate and understand them.

This book is readily available for purchase. Just click on (here)

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 above and in the Ordering Form. Please click on the link provided below.

è Family Historians:

6 All of us who research our families' histories wish that our immigrant ancestors had written down an account

of their experiences. Those who descend from Irish, German, Italian, Dutch, etc. ancestors would love to discover that at least one of their foreparents had left behind a written narrative of how life was, where they came from, what they did, etc.

It is hoped that descendants of ethnic Estonians would leave some account of their experiences behind for their descendants. And, in this book Mrs. Sigrid Maldonado tried to give descendants of ethnic Estonians (Latvians) at least a helping hand for researching their ancestry.

6 As one of the "immigrant ancestors" of those who will come after her, Mrs. Maldonado knows that some of her descendants will want to know where

she came from, where she has lived, when and where she arrived in USA, etc. She plans to write about it soon.

6 Many family historians start recording their recollections of how it was, who it was, where it was all happening and what went on in the lives of their

grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, their siblings, themselves, etc. while their families remain close to them. But, others start doing it when they are separated from any relatives, even from their own children.

In both cases family history becomes a labor of love. For those who do not see their families often it becomes a way to "keep in touch" emotionally. Since they are unable to interact with their kids and / or grandchildren but they feel very strong bonds to their offspring they start writing things down. At first they just take notes.
Always the intent is to leave a more understandable record behind.

In cases where there is little contact with family... A daughter might be in some other area of the big country in which their family had settled, the son might live in another country with his family, the other daughter is mad at her parents and does not even call them any more... or a 100 other reasons why this person can not play with his/her grandchildren, tell them about those things he/she him/herself did when they were kids, or talk to them about his/her own parents or grandparents.

Years ago conversation was the way family lore, family traditions were passed on to next generations. You lived close by and you had frequent contact with your family. There was opportunity to tell those family tales to your offspring. Some of them, years later, still would remember those stories and tell them to their kids.

In many cases modern mobility has put an end to this. Now we reach out to our loved ones by recording our memories either in writing or on tape. As we start writing down memories, we also start to gather documentary proof of direct ancestral lines. Then these family historians might get to a point where they ask themselves something like "how was this 'aunt Alma' related to my mother?" or "how come Dad called this man 'uncle'?"... That is when the archival research starts to branch out to lateral lines... We always seek documentary proof of relationships, the lives of foreparents, etc. Old letters, copies of microfilmed church records, documents themselves, etc.

There is no financial gain in this activity. Only a satisfaction of having left something of value behind, of expressing our love of family in our own way by recording, researching and compiling the collected data. Then gathering all data and memories and writing about it in a more formal manner.

There also are many cases of family historians never being able to put the fruits of their labor of love in writing and it, sadly, all gets lost at the end... Their heirs just throw it all away since it was not formally put together when the family historian suddenly passed away.

So, this writing things down for future generations as soon as possible is very important if we really want to pass on to others what we remember and have discovered and documented about our families. 6

J Thank you for reading the above.

If you click on "Table of Contents" you will have a better idea of what the book is all about.
Hopefully you want to know more about the subject of the Baltics and of ethnic Estonian (Latvian)
Ancestral Research in particular. If you wish, with a print-out of the Ordering Form you can buy

"ESTONIAN Experience and Roots"

by Sigrid Maldonado.

"Reviews & Opinions" about this book can be reached by clicking on & .

Just click here on "Ordering Form" and make a print-out. The "snail mail" address is on that form.

(Sorry, we can not make credit card sales.
You could order through "Barnes & Noble" or "Amazon.com" by giving them our new address and FAX number.)

If you want to know of a few writings about some ethnic Estonian families
by other authors then use this link.
There you also get info of how to search for documents of family happenings at DP Camps after WWII.
From our "other authors" page you have access to genealogical Web Sites in Estonia.
At one of the genealogical sites is info on how to find relatives in Estonia.
There also is a link to a site where you can check on
those who disappeared during Soviet times.

If you suspect that one of your ancestors might have taught at or 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 that page.

Links to a few web sites of Estonian interest, but non-genealogical, are below.

If interested, a few Estonian Web Sites to visit would be:

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.

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