Slovakia Ancestry Connection

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Last year, my son and I researched our ancestry. We traced ancestors back to Slovakia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Calyetta Family: Bratislava, Slovakia

I wrote an article about our ancestry discoveries (link here) and posted it on my site. This is the sequel to that post: The Family Tree, Dug Up: Part II.

Last Sunday night, I received a phone call from a Florida number. I hesitated, not recognizing it. I answered. The voice on the other said “Hello, Jeff, I’m your father’s sister.” I was shocked, of course. I knew that I had several aunts on my father’s side and even knew them when I was very young, but this was, literally, a blast from the past.

My aunt told me that she had seen my article on ancestry and decided to send me some pictures. The address she found was old, so the pictures were returned. She searched for my phone number and called. We spoke for some time and she told me some very interesting things, including the fact that she eloped at age 16 — right here in the town I live — Fort Pierce, Florida! An unbelievable coincidence. We agree that we would get together in a few weeks and I am looking forward to that and to learning more about my Slovakian past. I received a few pictures and have included them here.

Plant the Tree of Ancestry

Mary and Robert Benyak

My advice to anyone who is researching ancestry is to post your information online. Don’t just search for other people, leave a trail back to yourself just in case your family is looking for you, too. It’s a fascinating journey of discovery. I can’t wait to meet my “lost” family and learn more about my great-grandfather, Robert Benyak, who, my military son was able to identify by the uniform he wears in a photo (that’s Robert and Mary, whose family [Calyetta] is pictured above), was a Corporal in the Austro-Hungarian Army in the late 1800s.

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Originally published at Jeff Macharyas.