The Family Tree Project

As time goes on, so does our work. In the last year and a half since we have stepped up our work, we have added over 21,000 new names to our “family tree”. This is something that we have no intention of slowing down with. We are striving to connect all the people in the Bela Krajina region of Slovenija to show everyone that even if we’re not family, we are still connected in some way.

As time has progressed, our ambitions and goals have also evolved. While our genealogical research goals remain unchanged, we have discovered a very enticing side project which will go hand in hand with our research. We are in the process of compiling the stories of the people of Bela Krajina.

The history that is written in books is generally written by the victors of war and those who had the means to tell their own stories through writing. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always give a fair representation of all of the people, their lives, their ambitions and the reason why we are who we are.

Our goal is to meet and interview the people of the senior generation to get a first hand version of what life really was like in various parts of the region. Unfortunately, time is not on our side and we must expedite this work as that generation is growing older and slowly diminishing in size.

With this additional objective, we hope to expose a greater picture of the life of the people of the Bela Krajina region with stories that date back as much as one century to give us a true picture of what life was like in this part of the country through the years.

As always, we appreciate any contributions and donations made to this project and with what we hope to accomplish.

A year has passed since we stepped up our work. We have published 7 different villages spanning 2 parishes and are working on our third right now.

We have definitely been noticed by many people trying to find their roots from all over Slovenia, Canada and the United States. It has been very fulfilling to be able to help people discover who they are by helping them get connected to their families in Slovenia.

We have completely collected records for 3 parishes and now have at least 4 more set in our sights. With a tree that has over 25,000 people, we are working hard to increase that number and give more people the ability to find their ancestors and their relatives. Despite the volume of work that we have already done, the goal is to absorb as much genealogical information as possible from all over Slovenia starting in the Bela Krajina (White Carniola) region in the south.

We have not limited ourselves simply to studying families but also the lives these people led, how they lived and why they lived the way they did. The history of the region is just as important to our work as the people. While helping to find their roots, we want to be able to tell them something about those people and how they lived.

Our fund raising campaign has been successful so far and we hope to be able to raise more money in order to help this work move forward at a quicker pace. Every bit of support is appreciated and goes directly into our work in an attempt to connect every Slovenian worldwide to the places that they came from.

Click here to contribute to our passion:

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Moving forward, the plan is to go full force into researching the genealogical past of Bela Krajina (White Carniola) as well as some other parts of Slovenia. This is something that was never done before but it realistic with the proper support.

We have already started working quite intensely into the southern region, mostly around the parishes of Vinica and Preloka. There is a great deal more that we need to do in order to get this project rolling.

Work will continue on the Vinica parish but will continue onward into Sinji Vrh, Adlešiči, Dragatuš, Podzemlj, Stari Trg and eventually Črnomelj, Metlika and the surrounding area and Semič and the surrounding area.

While most for-hire genealogists will research your family’s history with an associated cost, our goal is to research everyone’s family history. The information will be freely available (with restrictions according to privacy laws) to everyone. As research continues, our findings will be published online.

This is an enormous undertaking but it is not unreasonable. This work involves a great deal of accuracy and discipline so as we move forward, we also hope to bring on others to help us in our work.

We have set our goal and know what we want to accomplish. We can only make it happen with your support!

Thank you in advance.