Albania Getting Started

Albania Wiki Topics

Albania Beginning Research

Finding Town of Origin Getting Started Online Learning Record Finder Research Strategies

Record Types

Cemeteries Census Church Records Civil Registration Compiled Genealogies Emigration & Immigration Land & Property Online Genealogy Records Religious Records Taxation

Albania Background

For Further Reading Gazetteers Historical Geography History Languages Maps Naming Customs Periodicals Social Life & Customs

Albania Genealogical Word Lists

Latin

Local Research Resources

Archives & Libraries Societies Local FamilySearch Center

Albania

Research Tips and Strategies

Getting Started

How to Research

1. Identify what you know: Work from the known to the unknown. Don't jump straight back to a distant ancestor. Begin with the present and confirm/document the information and relationships as you work your way back.
2. Document/source your tree: As you gather information, identify where and who each piece of information came from. Evaluate how reliable the sources are, and ensure you are interpreting them correctly. Don't simply accept ancestral information on your tree. Instead, look for records or other reliable sources to support each date, place, and relationship.
3. Decide what you want to learn: Have a specific research goal or objective. This is defined by pursuing a specific piece of information about a specific ancestor. An example of a bad, or too-generic research goal is: "I want to know more about my great-grandfather." An example of a good research goal is: "I want to find the marriage date of my great-grandparents."
4. Select records to search: Each country's record-keeping practices are different. See your country's Record Finder table to determine what kind of record could provide the desired ancestral information. Search the desired records.
5. Analyze/use the information: When you find new sources, carefully evaluate them to ensure they are about the correct ancestors, and that the information in the evidence is being accurately interpreted. Cite or document your sources in your family tree establish the accuracy of your findings.

Beginning Research in Albania

• Finding Town of Origin - locating the town your ancestor was from
• Record Finder - gives suggestions for records to search
• Online Learning - Video Classes

Select Someone to Research
Select a specific relative or ancestor born in Albania for whom you know at least a name, the village or parish where he or she lived in Albania, and an approximate date when he or she was born there. It is also very helpful to know the names of other family members born in Albania.

• The actual name of an ancestor
• The date of birth, marriage, and death (can be estimated)
• The place of origin
• The religion of an ancestor

Determine the actual name of an ancestor

A serious problem for some researchers is to determine the actual name of their immigrant ancestor. Some ancestors in their eagerness to be assimilated into American culture, traded their difficult foreign names for American names. This occured often with given names and to a lesser extent with surnames. To read about how your ancestor could Americanize his or her name and to learn about historical background of Croatian surnames and given names see Naming Customs.

Determine the date of birth, marriage, and death

If you cannot find an exact date, you may estimate dates based on other information. You need at least the approximate year of an event. You may use standard genealogical approximation. From a marriage date, you can estimate that a man was married at age 25 and a woman at age 21. You can also estimate that a first child was born one year after the parent's marriage and that subsequent children were born every 2 years after that.

Determine the place of origin

In Albania, most records used in family history research are kept on a town or parish level. Therefore the exact town of origin must be known before research in Albanian records can begin. Most of the time, the Albanian place of origin is found in sources created in the country of immigration. These records should be searched for the ancestor, possible relatives, and other associated persons. If you do not know the place of origin in Albania see Albania Finding Town of Origin for sources that may give you that information.

Albanian place names are often misspelled in American sources. Difficult names were shortened and diacritic marks omitted. A gazetteer, which is defined as a geographical dictionary, is an essential tool for identifying places. Look up your place name in the gazetteer to be sure that it is spelled correctly. Please note that many locality names are comprised of two or more words. If you cannot find a place name in the gazetteer under the first word try searching under the second word.

To learn about several important gazetters for Albania, including instructions and examples, see Gazetteers.

As mentioned earlier, Albanian names are often misspelled in American sources. If you still cannot determine correct spelling of your locality even after you searched the gazetteers and the Internet, please post your query on Eastern Europe Genealogy Research Community. You will have to click on, "Join" on the Facebook page to post your question.

After you have determined the correct name of the town from which your ancestor emigrated, you must still determine its location. Many Albanian localities have similar names that may be easily confused.

Determine the religion of an ancestor

Until the 1900s, vital records were kept by church parishes or Jewish congregations. The records of different religions were kept separately. If you are not sure of your ancestor's religion, start by searching Orthodox or Roman-Catholic records. Not every village in Albania had its own parish. Often, several smaller villages belonged to one parish. Use gazetteer to determine the proper record keeping jurisdiction.