How to Start

Before asking

1. Before posting use the "search" option on the forums to see if anyone posted something on the surname that you are looking for,
2. Check the article section for articles that can answer your questions,

By following these points you will rule out double posts and asking questions that people asked before.

The big ask

1. Give your post an apropiate title. Something descriptive that helps other to recognize what you are posting. Titles that are not suitable include : "Help, I have a problem", "Quick, urgent help needed" ,

It is very important because it tells you where you need to look. E.g. the Catholic Church has its own books just as much as the Serbian Orthodox Church has. Also with Serbian families there are Family Saints which differentiate families that have the same surname.

Religion does not define/determine ethnicity.

Some time, Serbia's archives are not microfilmed and not availible online due to data protection laws. This means you need to go there in person, write them or have someone for you to do research. As the latter is costly we advice people to join the SGS. The more members join, the stronger the effort becomes and members can help each other as we are all volunteers.

There are several tools on the internet, one of them is e.g. Google Translate. Although not 100% accurate it can help you on the way.

You can post on the forums asking people for help, or you can become an SGS Member. We do small translations for members and have a letter template e.g. that you can use to contact the archives.

You always start with yourself. You write down you name on a pedigree chart (you can download this from our site), and then you start with the names and date of birth of your parents. After that you do the same with the information of your grandparents on both names. You never do it the other way around, for several reasons which are explained somewhere else on the site.

Please make sure that you write down the names with the Serbian symbols such as "šđžčć" as there is a world of difference between names with or without these symbols. After you have collected as much information as is possible it is time to start looking at the archives.