From how far back can you trace your ancestors?

Posted by Substantial-Peach-90@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 30 comments

This has been asked before few years back but let’s revive it!
I’m from Greece.
From my mother’s side: oldest ancestor is from about 1650.
From my father’s side: oldest ancestor is from late 1700s.

What about you?

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Substantial-Peach-90@reddit (OP)

Yes because from that side the family was the strongest in their area back in the 1700s, so it is easy to trace it

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theBahir@reddit

Late 1700. From the goverments offical archive app+ my grandfathers own research. If you want to dig deeper you need to find your families local Ottoman archive.

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Unable-Stay-6478@reddit

1400s. Our progenitor is from Kosovo that settled in Montenegro.

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caesarj12@reddit

8 generations but idk how many years that is.

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Teabx@reddit

Around 200-280 years depending on how young or old people had their children. Probably closer to 200 since most people used to have kids at a very young age.

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Rich cousin did the family tree for my mothers side back 3 centuries. On the fathers side there is research done but it isn't officially verified except for a ruined church and its priest and his daughter. Ironically it was Greek orthodox church some 700+ Km north of Thessaloniki in the mountainside..

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Inevitable_Motor_685@reddit

To Africa 6000BC

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BankBackground2496@reddit

1848 is the earliest I have heard about. Nothing written, no registers though.

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One_more_drink_@reddit

That's impressive, the majority of people I know can barely reach 100 years ago. Did someone in your family keep track?

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TopObjective754@reddit

One side of my family in Albania has a house that has been in the family for 450 years, the other side goes down to 1700’s where my ancestor got a song sung to him for killing 100 ottoman soldiers with a musket before dying himself - I always wondered about the logistics of how that works …

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ThrowItAwayNow1030@reddit

1470s. They fled a village near Knin in Dalmatia (now in Croatia) due to Ottoman invasions. They went to an island in the Kvarner region and stayed there until recently.

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ComplicatedSunshine@reddit

I am a descendant of Serbian peasants. Even my grandma's birth date is subject to debate.

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casual_philosopher02@reddit

my grandpa haa FOR SURE a different date on his papers because they had to leave their village and go to the city to have the birth paperwork done, took them some days 🤣 he does know he was born December 24 but his ID says 26

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CockamouseGoesWee@reddit

When my yiayia moved to America they got her birth year wrong by 5 years. She tried to correct the documents but couldn't and ended up having to work an extra 5 years before she cold retire

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casual_philosopher02@reddit

but she could say she is younger....

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CockamouseGoesWee@reddit

Not when she had to work an extra 5 years lol. Not a good trade off.

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ATAKURT1453@reddit

we muslims don't have church records like christians do. that's why we can't go as far back as you. we only know our origins as much as our elders' narratives and DNA results tell us

From my mother’s side : greek descent. my maternal grandmother comes from a greek-orthadox village named 'Magdala'. i’ve taken a few different DNA tests, and they all showed 30-40% greek results. my results indicate that my greek ancestry is a mix of thessaly/peloponnese and anatolian greeks.

From my father’s side: A mix of kosovo/macedonian albanian and slav. i got this exact result in my tests too. however, my grandfathers come from ruse in northern bulgaria. even they didn't know how they ended up there. but from what ive researched, i found out that there was a powerful albanian descent ottoman pasha in that region in the 1800s, along with a bosnian-albanian army of 25k men. they most likely descend from those soldiers, but i'm not sure

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Craptose_Intolerant@reddit

Is this supposed to be important or something ? 🤔

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Mushrooming247@reddit

I have a copy of my grandfather‘s family tree in Slovenia going back to the 1600s, that’s the farthest back I can trace any branch of my family.

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KojaKuqit@reddit

Approximately to 16th century (circa 1580) as a descendent of low nobility.

I was the first generation born outside of our ancestral homeland.

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complexluminary@reddit

Diaspora here, and I was lucky that my dad really held on to all of this for the family. I don’t know dates of the top of my head, but I can count back 4 generations of last names on both sides, so I don’t know if that’s quiet as far back as you.

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Commercial_Handle418@reddit

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sasvim_nebitan@reddit

The earliest known ancestor from my dad's side was born in 1798. and from my mom's side 1810. Sadly I have no information about earlier generations.

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BurgurluGenc031@reddit

My one goes to 1870s as oldest documented.

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Salt_Ad_4515@reddit

Father's father side is around i would guess 1830s? Paternal grandma's side goes back about as far as 1600s like your case though.

My mother's side is around the 1800s too yeah. Drastic differences in class, historical location between the two

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wiglafofpinwick@reddit

From my mother's side, late 1700s in Greece, from my father's side, probably late 1600s in Bulgaria, since they were wealthier & more important. Balkan Turk.

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casual_philosopher02@reddit

Ι know till the great grandparents of my grandparents that they all were greek and lived in the vilages my grandparents are from, not further back