Tracing ancestry to Syria

October 16, 2012 11:36 AM

My great-grandfather was born in Syria circa 1886 and came to the US in 1907. I know the city he was from. Any ideas on how to find his relatives in that city?

I never met him, but I'm curious if it is possible to track down any if his relatives. He definitely had a large family. I know that he was from Suwaida in the Houran region, and that he came to the US in 1907 via Mexico. Any ideas? If I could wave a magic wand, it'd be nice to email the mayor -- in English -- and ask if he's familiar with the surname, and go from there. For what it is worth, the city he is from is largely Druze.

posted by starkraven to Society & Culture (2 answers total)

Best answer: I might try searching for his surname on Facebook and then narrowing the search to people in Sweida, Syria. (That's how it's spelled when anglicized.)
posted by amaire at 11:41 AM on October 16, 2012

Best answer: I was on a Greek island where my grandmother is from (and from where just about 100% of my family has left). On the off chance there were some other relatives around, a guy I was speaking to about this handed me a phone book and invited me to look up some family surnames. That required being there, however.

Like amaire says, though, it's not that unusual for us to get messages from people on facebook whose families come from the same small towns and share the same surname to try to figure out what the connection is.

Also, look up any facebook groups for people from Sweida and Sweida-related mailing lists and ask around.
posted by deanc at 11:53 AM on October 16, 2012