Global Q&A: ‘How far back can you trace your family history?’

Epoch Times reporters from Brazil to Colombia asked locals: “How far back can you trace your family history?”
Global Q&A: ‘How far back can you trace your family history?’
7/26/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015

Ancestral trees have been traced back to as early as 1708 and the 1850s uncovering treasured and interesting family backgrounds. This is what Epoch Times reporters from Brazil to Colombia discovered when they asked locals: “How far back can you trace your family history?”

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/cropmarisagequitaBrazil.jpg" alt="Marisa Gequita, Sao Paulo, Brazil. (The Epoch Times)" title="Marisa Gequita, Sao Paulo, Brazil. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800251"/></a>
Marisa Gequita, Sao Paulo, Brazil. (The Epoch Times)
São Paulo, Brazil
Marisa Gequita, 26, Port Manager

A few years ago, there was a meeting of all the members of my family in a hotel in the state of Espirito Santo, where I had the opportunity to meet a lot of people who had the same family origin. …. The result of this meeting was the publication of a book that tells the story of our family. I also started looking for information about my mother’s family. I found that I had a great-grandmother who was a real Indian. She lived in the wilderness and was captured by white men and was “tamed” through force. I still have a great-grandmother and a grandmother living in the state of Mato Grosso and they are members of the Aquidauana tribe.

 

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/BulgariaPancho.jpg" alt="Pancho Tanev, Sofia, Bulgaria. (The Epoch Times)" title="Pancho Tanev, Sofia, Bulgaria. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800253"/></a>
Pancho Tanev, Sofia, Bulgaria. (The Epoch Times)
Sofia, Bulgaria
Pancho Tanev, 30, Accounts Manager

The idea of creating a heritage tree came to me when I was aged 18. I was wondering how far I could go back into my family roots to find out interesting things from my predecessors. I started searching information for my mother’s roots in my village, Oborishte. … I am the sixth generation now. I went back to the 1850s and 1860s, with one of my oldest predecessors who arranged a rebellion and died for the freedom of Bulgaria. I got information for about 1,000 people who are connected somehow to me. I am pleased that I could go back 170 years and find so many interesting, strange, odd, horrible things for my family—the next generation.

 

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/VeronicaChile.jpg" alt="Denise Cassorla Albagli, Santiago, Chile. (The Epoch Times)" title="Denise Cassorla Albagli, Santiago, Chile. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800255"/></a>
Denise Cassorla Albagli, Santiago, Chile. (The Epoch Times)
Santiago, Chile
Denise Cassorla Albagli, 54, Printing Services Sales

I belong to the first generation in Chile. My father was born in Monasterli, Yugoslavia, and my mother in Smyrna, Turkey. We are Sephardic Jews. Due to territorial changes in the era of persecution against Jews, my father’s sisters were all different nationalities. To escape persecution, my grandparents took a boat of Italian origin and an aunt was born during the voyage, becoming an Italian, another was Greek and the youngest is Chilean. My maternal grandfather, who was born in 1885 in Turkey, immigrated to South America first arriving to the city of Temuco, then he moved to Santiago, Chile.

 

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/masoomahaqPakistan.jpg" alt="Bulqees Mushtaq, Karachi, Pakistan. (The Epoch Times)" title="Bulqees Mushtaq, Karachi, Pakistan. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800257"/></a>
Bulqees Mushtaq, Karachi, Pakistan. (The Epoch Times)
Karachi, Pakistan
Bulqees Mushtaq, 52, Housewife

I mainly know my family history to my parents and their families, and little about my grandparents. Both my parents were from the same village in Pakistan, Kokar Zair. I believe my family history is closely tied to that village at least as far back as my great-grandparents, if not further back. My father and my grandfather earned their living as contractors in that village. Even now, our family has strong ties to that village, even though we live in the city of Karachi; it is very common in Pakistan to have ties to your village of origin.
 

 

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/SwedenMatsTellgren.jpg" alt="Mats Tellgren, Vetlanda, Sweden. (The Epoch Times)" title="Mats Tellgren, Vetlanda, Sweden. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800259"/></a>
Mats Tellgren, Vetlanda, Sweden. (The Epoch Times)
Vetlanda, Sweden
Mats Tellgren, 56, Architect

We have a genealogist in the family. She has researched quite a long way back in the bloodline. The last year she has come to is 1708.

Note: Mats is dressed in a soldier’s uniform from the 1600s; design of Smalands Karoliner.

 

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/RomaniaBjoza.jpg" alt="Octavian Bjoza, Bucharest, Romania. (The Epoch Times)" title="Octavian Bjoza, Bucharest, Romania. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800261"/></a>
Octavian Bjoza, Bucharest, Romania. (The Epoch Times)
Bucharest, Romania
Octavian Bjoza, 73, Engineer

I managed to trace my family history only back to 1850 and my name is not Romanian; it can easily be identified as Serbian or the like. Also, some of my ancestors came from Poland, as I discovered in some papers found in my grandmother’s attic—when I was a child. But, when the communists came and arrested me, they also stripped me of those papers.

Note: Octavian Bjoza was a political detainee from 1958–1962 and is well known as an anti-communist figure in Romania.

 

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/New+York_Ron+Davidson_Operations+Director.jpg" alt="Ron Davison, 65, Staten Island, New York, USA. (The Epoch Times)" title="Ron Davison, 65, Staten Island, New York, USA. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800263"/></a>
Ron Davison, 65, Staten Island, New York, USA. (The Epoch Times)
Staten Island, New York, USA
Ron Davison, 65, Operations Director

I’m very interested in genealogy. I can trace my lineage back to about the mid-1500s. I was quite excited when I was able to find out that far back, because part of my family is Cajun-French and there are a lot of records on that. When they were booted out of Canada by the British, I guess people began to document it all. I’ve got a lot of brick walls. I have a mixed heritage: Hungarian, [and]Scottish or Irish—I’m not sure which. To get further back through some of my brick walls, [for example] on the Hungarian side, I'd have to learn Hungarian to search those records.

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/MARIA_ALEJANDRA-Doris_Cohen-Colombia.jpg" alt="Maria Alejandra Sotomayor Llamas, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. (The Epoch Times)" title="Maria Alejandra Sotomayor Llamas, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800265"/></a>
Maria Alejandra Sotomayor Llamas, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. (The Epoch Times)
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
Maria Alejandra Sotomayor Llamas, 19, University Student

Through my parents, I know that many, many years ago the surname Llamas belonged to a Spanish priest, who came to Colombia on a mission to evangelize Villanueva. This is a beautiful village to the north of Department of Bolivar—full of friendly and hardworking people. In one of those comings and goings, the priest fell in love with a brunette and this relationship produced a son; he was born with white skin and blue eyes, and caught the attention of the townspeople. … My grandfather came to study in the city of Cartagena de Indias where he met my grandmother and soon after, they married.

 

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/YianinaClara.jpg" alt="Yianina Sanchez, Lima, Peru. (The Epoch Times)" title="Yianina Sanchez, Lima, Peru. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800267"/></a>
Yianina Sanchez, Lima, Peru. (The Epoch Times)
Lima, Peru
Yianina Sánchez, 27, Student

I can only trace my family history to my grandparents. They were born in the mountains of Peru. They are likely to have Spanish roots because when the Spanish arrived in Peru, they were located more in the areas of mountains. This city is called Cajamarca, where all my paternal and maternal family live.

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/MiguelSpain.jpg" alt="Engracia Cuadro Ballesta, Castellar de la Frontera, Spain. (The Epoch Times)" title="Engracia Cuadro Ballesta, Castellar de la Frontera, Spain. (The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1800269"/></a>
Engracia Cuadro Ballesta, Castellar de la Frontera, Spain. (The Epoch Times)
Castellar de la Frontera, Spain
Engracia Cuadro Ballesta, 50, Commercial Agent

What I remember is about my grandparents. On my father’s side, I remember especially my grandfather, since he was a professional baker as my father (his son) was and because of that, we had a wonderful relationship. In the case of my mother’s side, I don’t remember my grandfather since he died during the war and my mother was raised only by my grandmother (her mother).

 

Look for the Global Q&A column every week. Epoch Times correspondents interview people around the world to learn about their lives and perspectives on local and global realities. Next week’s global question: “How vulnerable do you think we are to cyberattacks, both personally and in terms of national security?”