How to Research Ukrainian Roots

Part 1 - What The Family Knows?

To begin with, ask living family members what they know about their ancestors. Try to gather as much information on relatives as you can, with the primary focus on:

• names, including maiden names for women
• dates of birth, marriage, and death
• places where they were born, married, lived, died, and were buried
• employment/occupation, military service, etc., including names of employers, military units, roles, dates, and locations

Ask as many people as you can - this helps avoid missing or incorrect details. Note all the variations of the story - sometimes, incorrect information spreads easily, especially if the true version sounds odd. It's a good idea to capture life stories of older family members on audio or video. Don't postpone this, as pieces of the family history may be lost forever with those who pass away.

Gather or copy all the documents of the deceased family members, such as birth, marriage, and death certificates, passports or other IDs, employment and military records, etc. Take high-quality digital scans or photos of the documents - it ensures preservation of the content, enables quick and convenient access and sharing with others, especially if the collection is not at your home.

Please note that records may have mistakes, either unintentional or deliberate. For instance, old birth certificates, especially those issued a long time after the fact, may display the date of baptism as the birth date. Death certificates may contain the birth date or age stated by witnesses. Some misrepresented their age to join military service or avoid it, to secure marriage or employment. The documents may contain spelling mistakes or variations, particularly due to different Cyrillic transliteration standards used.