A startup guide from www.defonseka.com
Introduction
Genealogy is the research and study of family lineage. But ask anyone who has delved deeply into it, and they will tell you it is much more than that simple definition! It’s a journey in search of your roots, it is a journey to find your identity.
Family history is far more interesting than Genealogy. It is here that we place people in their “time period”, find out the places they lived and how they lived, the events and social changes that impacted their life . This is what brings alive the data in the family trees, the family stories and the anecdotes, their achievements and their failures. History itself takes on a new meaning when you align your family with the events of that time. Today I am a keen cyclist and every time I cross the Kalutara bridge, I pause to think that the little island in the middle of the river was once owned by one of my ancestors (a Dutch land Grant). From my home in Battaramulla, I regularly go across Kotte, where among the ruins of the fortress lays the most probable place where my Portuguese sounding surname first originated in the country.
Today there is a renewed interest in family history. Over the years, many people have reached out to me to ask “how do I do family research, like what you have done. Where do I start?”. This is what prompted me to write this guide, to share the knowledge I gained from this project over years.
The Sri Lankan genealogist faces many a barrier, as lack of records of any sort, and easy access to whatever that exists, is a serious constraint in looking up one’s family history. I was extremely lucky to have access to previous research, a starting point which charted the family from 1658 (in the year the Dutch arrived), up to around the turn of the 19th century. The research based on one unique court case in which the powerful ‘Disava’ or the Dutch ruler of the province (who was also the chief land administrator), was challenged in a Dutch court of law, left a trail of records relating to the family. The Dutch records (still available in the National Archives) pertaining to the case was subsequently translated and published in English as the ‘De Andrado Manuscripts’ by Mr. J. H. O. Paulusz,, who was the Government Archivist, from 1940 to 1958. It was a stroke of luck for the family, and early researchers such as Mudliyar S R De Fonseka worked with scholars to translate the Dutch work and built up the history of the family. The authenticated research was published by M D Raghavan in the book ‘The Karava of Ceylon’. This laid the foundation for this website.
However all are not so lucky, but you need to start somewhere.
Suggested Ways to Start
Genealogy data is usually tracked back from the memory of living ancestors, archived records in national repositories, church and community archives, shipping registers, immigration records, newspaper articles, obituaries, deeds, wills and other legal documents, historical societies and the Internet. Most of the developed countries have now brought these records online into searchable databases giving people living in these countries the ability to search online for census data, electoral registers, shipping and immigration records. Lacking all this, the Sri Lankan Genealogist must try hard and look for unusual sources to track the data.
From my own experience, the following methods are suggested to get the aspiring Sri Lankan Genealogist / Family Historian started.
Start with your immediate family
Compile as much information as possible about your family. Start with yourself, parents, and grandparents.
Ask your relatives about your family history, get in touch with your parents living cousins and relatives. Often, family members remember stories or information, or possess documents, that can help start you on your way.
Look in family records (letters, land transactions such as deeds, scrapbooks, diaries, photographs, baptisms, and scrap book news clippings, etc). This image is of notes made made by a family member on a land partition.
Connect with your cousins, extended cousins and distant relatives. I’ve found old photos, interesting stories and missing pieces of the family tree, all in the hands of connected descendants I didn’t previously know existed. Connected by friends who knew you are researching your family, they have put me in touch with old aunts who happened to be a ‘De Fonseka’ prior to marriage.
Consult family elders
The family seniors are the best bet for information. They could be from your own family or related or connected families. They have a treasure trove of knowledge, which needs to be captured and documented before their own demise.
For me, some of the best leads for information, stories and documents came from them. The wealth of material they passed on to me was immense. Six of the people whom I have listed in the acknowledgements page is no longer living, and I am glad that I did reach out to them at a time when they were alive and of sound disposition. The information they gave me have been used to build and expand the family tree, make interconnections with other families, trace family properties and developed into stories with their anecdotal data.
Track Down Previous Research
Check with your relatives you talk with or write to if anyone in the family has already done some work on the family history. If so, contact this person and collaborate, or locate a copy of his or her material. This is what initially pointed me to the work available in the book ‘The Karava of Sri Lanka’.
Perhaps your ancestor was interested in compiling a family history and kept records fifty years ago. Someone in the family may have saved his notes or the letters he received from other relatives. These will be extremely helpful in your research.
If you do connect with previous research, always acknowledge the original source (the person who did the research) and cite the sources you received the material from (the current owner of that material).
Visit Cemeteries
Visits to family cemeteries will give you a great deal of information. Ask in your interviews and letters where various family members are buried. As you visit each cemetery, examine each tombstone carefully and photograph the graves which contain the family names and probable family graves. Tombstones will reveal date of birth and death, but will rarely indicate any connections between the people. Copy information from each stone and look for other family members or associated families buried nearby. You will need to speak to relatives to make the connections between the names.
Consult sources of records
In Sri Lanka, record keeping has been very poor and distributed. Hence it is not possible to sift thru any available old manual government records to pick up family details. Sri Lanka is also not geared towards Genealogical Research, and unlike western countries no facilities exist to support the researcher. Manual registers such as church records are the best bet if you know the church where family members were baptized etc. I was blessed to have found a gentleman by the name of Andrew Bultgens, who scoured church records for me and collected a quite a collection of birth, and baptism certificates. Sadly, the gentleman migrated and there are no professional genealogical researchers who can do the ‘digging’ for you. The same may be available with some of the larger temples where records are kept. It may be worth trying this option. Having not pursued that I am not qualified to comment.
In the olden days Christian families were not distributed as at now, and resided around a particular area, and belonged to a particular church. Hence the records in many cases are concentrated in a few churches. For Catholic records, the central archives of the Archdiocese of Colombo is the place to start your research. The Colombo Anglican Cathedral Library also contains typed pages of Anglican Marriage and Baptism Indexes. These have been compiled in 1972 by a retired Government Archivist, Mr Sam Mottau according to information available in the internet. The Methodist Church has also consolidated all of its pre 1982 registers in Colombo. Visits to Churches in other towns also may reveal important details. However a personal visit and tactful handling will be needed to get access to these records. It is prudent to take across the documentation you have done up to now, and an introduction from your own Parish Priest. Since the Easter Sunday bombings, security is high in most churches, and access to the record rooms may be now difficult.
The Department of National Archives, at Reid Avenue, Colombo 7 (adjoining Race Course) is another treasure trove. Material from a few remaining Portuguese Thombos, Dutch Records and British Archives are available, but will require a knowledgeable person to interpret. They will issue copies on request for a nominal fee. The Dutch Records reproduced in the site was provided by the department, however I had the exact reference numbers from research material published earlier and an English translation. The National Archives of Sri Lanka also holds Land settlement records, genealogical records (thombos), manuscripts such as old government correspondence and temple records of many old well known temples.
It also has a full collection of British-era secondary genealogical and family history records, such as Government gazettes, voter registers, newspapers and almanacs. Amongst useful material are old English, Sinhalese and Tamil newspapers, which contain a lot of family information such as obituaries, births and key events, your family may have been involved. These are on micro-fiche machines and you may need to go thru by the year of publication, a laborious process if you don’t have a year/month of the publication.
Burgher Community Records
The Burgher community is the only community that kept meticulous records and these are available at the Dutch Burgher Union. The genealogies published in the Journals of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon (DBU) since 1908, have now been digitized and made available online.
https://thedutchburgherunion.org/dbu-genealogy/#d
The Victor Melder Sri Lanka Library is also another go-to Site. This library, located in Melbourne, holds an extensive collection relating to Sri Lanka. Another resource is the Kyle Joustra Library (The International Ceylon database) in Australia. If you are from the Dutch Burgher community, you are sorted, look no more, the above gentlemen will help you out.
The Victor Melder Library: https://www.vmsl-library.com/
The Kyle Joustra Library: https://ceylondatabase.net/genealogy.html
Books and articles
Books and articles about social studies contain details of families. Most of these books have been identified and included in the Reference page. In certain instances these books contain direct references to certain families and is one of the best places to start. Most books are in reprint and available for purchase. However some old books are difficult to find.
Fergusons directory, is another who’s who of the country, especially in the mercantile sector. Copies of this will be available for reference in many libraries.
Caste Studies, and the caste supremacy debate of yesteryear, also left a trail of details on prominent families. The documents reproduced in the Karava page acknowledges some of the key papers, and the reader is encouraged to pursue the books necessary to understand the caste history, the family belongs to.
Online Books (e-Books)
Rapid digitisation as well as expiring copyrights, is making some of the old ‘Ceylon’ books available online. However the availability is changing so fast, and more and more hard to find editions are being published online, that you may have to do your own research. Some of these publications are also not made available to Sri Lanka, and you may have to use VPN software to access from one of the authorised countries.
Listed below are some sources:
A free digital library for the Dutch period of India, Sri Lanka and VOC archives. It also has the VOC treaties and other books https://cortsfoundation.org/digitheek-en
Google Books – Digitized Old books on Ceylon is available and It’s possible to search for them by using the Google e-books site, http://books.google.com/
Use the advanced search function, http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search to specify author, years of publication, and full-text only versions. Use the “Google eBooks only” tick on the side of the page to ensure you’re directed to only full-text online books.
Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/,
The Open Library at http://openlibrary.org/.
Online Family Trees
Already published family trees are a great way to start connecting the details you have built up with the research done by others. Peruse some of the sites listed below to connect.
Genealogical Trees of Sri Lankan Sinhalese Families
http://www.worldgenweb.org/lkawgw/sincont2.htm
Sri Lanka Genweb – An excellent Sri Lankan genealogy website which gives information on Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Burgher, Colombo Chetty and other families:
http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Elkawgw/index2.html
Online Records
Another way to build up family tree information is to scan the birth, death and marriage records that have been digitized and brought online. However this is a tedious process as thousands of records need to be browsed to find connected ancestors. The best is to fine tune the search using place names in addition to the surname. First browse images and record all entries with supporting details such as parents name, spouse, dates etc and subsequently match and build the family tree. Additional details that may come up in your searches include travel records from shipping registers. I was able to find the voyage details, exact dates and the address in UK of my parents visit to UK, just after the Second World War.
Of the websites available, the ones below can be recommended as the best:
(1) FamilySearch is the family history site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It offers free access to the world’s largest family history collection (4+ billion searchable names and 2+ billion digitised records). These can include indexes and original images of birth, death and marriage records; census; probate and court; military; migration and naturalisation records and more. The searchable database consists of family trees and records including. You can search individual records, family tree entries and catalog records. Select search and search records, family tree and catalog sections. The catalog records contain Registrar Generals entries from Sri Lanka.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/
(2) Ancestry (ancestry.com) is another site which offers facilities to create or browse existing family trees, birth, marriage & death records, census, and immigration/travel records.
(3) The Kubristan Archive:
Document your sources:
It is important from the very beginning of your research to know who told you what, when they told you, and where each piece of information came from. Believe me, years later you will not remember anything. As part of your interview, remember to ask about documents, pictures, or old papers relating to your family. If you have any of these items yourself, bring them along to share with the people you’re interviewing. It may help to build their confidence in you and jog their memories. I have documented key interviews with the heading ‘Personal communications’ and with the names and relationships of the participants.
Most of the time the people are reluctant to let go of these family documents. So, ask permission and take a photograph, photocopy or better still, scan the original and return it back immediately. Immediately after the interview, transcribe your notes while everything is fresh in your mind. This is also a good time to note things you didn’t have time or forgot to ask, so you’ll be prepared for a follow-up interview. Going through the acknowledgements page of key contributors, you will notice how many of them are now dead and gone. Luckily their contributions lay documented and shared.
Bring it Online
Bringing the research online was one of the best decisions I made. While I attempted this in 2001 to learn web development, the immense response I got from family members encouraged me to enhance and pursue this further. News soon spread around the world, and many people contacted me and helped me to add a huge amount of material and connections to the database. Thus bringing your research online allows a wider audience to collaborate and help you out. Contributions received helped me to develop this to be the most researched site in Sri Lanka for a family name. As the author and webmaster, I am ever grateful to the contributors, and all such contributors have been acknowledged in a special page.
Today it is not difficult to develop a website. Many online resources such as blogsites and web tools such as WordPress (on which this site is built), is available to the genealogist. Small web-developer outfits can also do this for you for a nominal fee. There are also special Family Tree software, which help you to document and connect the family trees. This software allows you to create GEDCOM files, which allow you to share it with others, as well as upload to worldwide genealogy websites. If all this is high-tech for you, creating a simple Facebook page for your family history will enable people spread around the world to connect with you and help update the tree.
These are the main points I can share with anyone hoping to start their own research.
Wish you best of luck.
Fonny
Creator / Webmaster – www.defonseka.com