At the Greek Ancestry International Conference last weekend, Gregory Kontos announced an innovating and promising new initiative–the Village History Project. Its purpose is three-fold:

1. to encourage people to “reconstruct their ancestral village” by creating an extended genealogical family tree to include any identifiable inhabitants of a village,
2. to foster connectedness and collaboration among people who share family names and/or village roots with those who also have ties to that name or location;
3. to create a “hub” where projects can be publicized and easily found online

There are many individuals who have already embarked on village history projects comprised of thousands of people verified through documentation. These researchers are focused and dedicated, yet they are working solely and inconspicuously. Their ultimate desire is to share their findings with others who have common ancestral roots. Until now, there has not been a centralized place for these projects to be cataloged and located.

The Greek Ancestry Village History Project Initiative (VHPI) fills this void. On this page is a list with projects that have met one or more of the following criteria:

• A publicly available family tree which is posted on any genealogy forum (e.g., Tribal Pages, Ancestry, MyHeritage, Geni, WikiTree); and, such tree is extended beyond a specific surname to include all identifiable people residing in a specific village for an extended period of time. (Information on living people is to be excluded).
• A website dedicated to a village in Greece, incorporating information about its families and individuals (information on living people is to be excluded unless permission is granted). Adding stories and photos about the village provides important context to understand the lives and traditions of its people.
• An e-book written about a village and its families. The publication must be free to access and be posted online. 

Having these projects discoverable on the Greek Ancestry website means that people worldwide can more easily find “new cousins” and meet others with roots from their same village. It is exciting to contemplate how this will promote the gathering of extended families!

Every three months, Gregory Kontos will choose a project to receive support which could include one of the following:
• purchase of a book relevant to the project
• DNA kit(s)
• payment to a subscription website (such as MyHeritage.com)
• a discount on records purchased from Greek Ancestry.

In addition, the recipient will be interviewed about his/her project and featured in a post published by Greek Ancestry.

Unlike many communities large and small throughout Greece, my ancestral home of Agios Ioannis, Sparta has the distinction of having no written village history book. Typically, these books are written by teachers during their summer breaks and published locally. When I am in Sparta, I ask family, locals, librarians and professional historians why no one has every written the story of “Agianni” and the answer is usually a shrug and a simple “δεν ξέρω” (I don’t know). One historian postulates that the village is considered insignificant as its notable neighbors, Sparta and Mystras, were the locations with significant activities. While I understand this in theory, my heart is sad. How I would love to know the history of the village and its people–my ancestors!

In an attempt to bring Agios Ioannis out of literary obscurity, Georgia Stryker Keilman and I have collaborated and founded the website, Agios Ioannis, Sparta. We are proud to have it listed on the Greek Ancestry VHPI and hope that this platform will help others find us. We are seeking to highlight the families and share photos and stories of the community throughout the years.

I am delighted to have this opportunity to share information with new cousins of Agios Ioannis heritage, and I am honored that our website is part of the Village History Project Initiative.

Can your research expand to become a village history project? Because it was customary for brides and grooms to live within a few kilometers of each other, it is inevitable that your tree will naturally expand to include other families within the village and even surrounding communities.

Please, join us! Just fill out this simple form and add your project to the Greek Ancestry VHPI. Your work will benefit countless others in their quest to learn about their family origins. And, you will meet new cousins and expand the family circle started by our ancestors many years ago.