Genealogy Breakthroughs with Legacy Tree Genealogists

Our research partners, Legacy Tree Genealogists, provide thorough and efficient family history research services for customers worldwide.

Today, we’re featuring the stories of some amazing breakthroughs they have delivered to MyHeritage users.

Galina
MyHeritage user Galina Louw, from Australia, was introduced to Legacy Tree Genealogists on her family site. She wanted to research her great-grandmother, Marie Altmannová (born Brůhová), who was born 13 September 1841 in Dřevec, Czech Republic, and her ancestors. Armed with only a few family records, Galina felt that she needed some expert advice. She had received some Smart Matches through MyHeritage, which added a few more of Marie’s ancestors, but there appeared to be conflicting information about those ancestors with different surnames. There were no supporting records.

Galina provided Legacy Tree Genealogists with scanned copies of the few documents she had, and also provided access to her  MyHeritage tree.

Initial research confirmed that records were available in Dřevec, and they even found records for Marie Altmannová (born Brůhová) in Dřevec. Some were not very legible, which could have caused the confusion about surnames.

They’ve emailed me scanned copies of the records they find, so that I can save these. I am excited to find out more details about my ancestors and to share these with the rest of my family.

There is a lot I still want to research in the long term. I have started researching on my mother’s side, as there was more information already available, making this a bit easier, but I would also like to research my father’s side, where I don’t have much information available. My father is from Slovakia, so that will mean researching in a different location.

At some point, I’d also like to research my mother’s favorite great-aunt, who has an intriguing history. She left the Czech Republic when she was around 18 and lived and worked as a nanny in Austria for many years. She worked for a wealthy family and travelled with them and their children around the world, sending my mother postcards from various places (e.g., New York). She only married when she was much older (late 40s), but no one ever met her husband, as he was Austrian Jewish and was sent to the concentration camps, unfortunately never to return. My mother’s aunt eventually returned to the Czech Republic late in life, but she never spoke about her husband to anyone, probably because it was quite traumatic. I’d like to find their marriage certificate and some more information about her husband.

Leah
Another MyHeritage user, Leah, always regretted not knowing more about her grandmother Olga’s family line. Olga passed away a few years before Leah was born, and so Leah never got to know her.

I find it saddening that I never was able to meet my grandmother, and form a connection with her. In later years, whenever I mentioned my grandmother, I would always refer to her as “my mother’s mother.” As I never was able to meet my grandmother, I decided to research her family line, and to help bring her alive in my mind. I’m happy to announce that after all the research that I’ve done,  I now refer to her as granny, and not “my mother’s mother.”

Leah heard about Legacy Tree Genealogists through MyHeritage. Her primary research goals were to research all of Olga’s lines from India into their British and European roots. Legacy Tree Genealogists were able to uncover a tremendous amount of data for Leah. Much of the information was focused on filling in the holes in the existing ancestral structure. This was necessary to gather and establish an adequate base of data from which further progress could be made. A much clearer picture of each family’s story was pieced together, which brought new insights and appreciation for their lives around the world. Researchers were successful in finding new information about family lines and filling many existing holes in existing research. They also identified additional family members, event dates, and locations.

The researchers even surprised Leah with new information of which she was completely unaware. Leah had no idea that her family history – previously assumed to be thoroughly Anglo – also included Asian branches. Although her family connection to India is long – she has ancestors who arrived there as early as 1840 and who remained there well into the 1960s – she had always assumed that they were originally British.

I learned that one of my several-times-great-grandmothers, born in the early 1800s, was actually native Indian.

England held jurisdiction over the Indian subcontinent to varying degrees and for various purposes for over 400 years, from 1612 to the late 1940s. As a result, many white British citizens were sent or went there of their own volition during that time. Some moved permanently and some only temporarily for specific purposes, ranging from mandatory military service to missionary activity, business ventures, or trade. And, while many men brought their families or left wives and children back home in England, there were some who intermarried with the local people and stayed in India for generations.

As we were to learn, such was the case with Samuel Hettley and his second wife. A 23-year-old widower in 1842, we discovered a marriage record in Tripassore, Madras Presidency between Samuel and a woman named Susanna. The document contained no surname for this young woman, and listed in its place the designation “Native Christian” – a phrase then used to denote an Indian who had been baptized.

Leah is exceedingly thankful for every new piece of new information that Legacy Tree Genealogists have managed to find. In general, genealogical records from India are very sparse. Fortunately, the largest body of records for this country were those for British nationals who lived and worked in India during its colonial period. Many files have been well-preserved but are still far from perfect, and researching that region is challenging.

As I know from previous struggles, how hard it is to try and uncover information. It would be necessary to understand the availabilities and limitations in records for the geographic regions of the part of the world involved. All the lines being researched began in India and, in most cases, were believed to lead back to British roots. I can honestly say I felt extremely appreciative which extends to the entire team at Legacy Tree Genealogists, especially to all those involved in my family history project. They all took the time and care in researching my family heritage.

Armed with the new information, Leah plans to continue researching all the lines from India into their British and European roots.

Would you like Legacy Tree Genealogists to research your family history? Legacy Tree Genealogists are offering MyHeritage members an exclusive discount on their professional research. Take advantage of the special discount here.