Migrated my old blog here. Content – Eclectic Mix of Genealogy, Bipolar Depression, Mental Health, Mental Illness, DNA, History, First Nations (aka Native Americans), Military History, World War II, Cemeteries, CrowdFunding, Christianity, Authors/Writing, and Gaming (RPGs, Board Games, Wargames, etc.).
I am not sure some of my family mysteries can be solved no matter how much money, time, and effort MyHeritage or any other company puts into it.
Do you have a mystery in your family that you are itching to solve? Maybe you’ve found a war medal tucked away in an old box and you don’t know whose it was, or perhaps you found a mysterious locket with initials you don’t recognize. There can be a number of different mysteries that you have in your family, and we want to hear about them!
We want to help you find the answers. Our dedicated team of researchers will help a few select winners research and solve their family mysteries! Send your mystery to us at stories@myheritage.com for a chance to have it solved.
Elusive Family Mysteries
Here are some possible mysteries you may have in your family:
Do you have a family member with whom your relatives lost contact with during a war and you want to track down their descendants?
Would you like to learn the truth about a family legend that has been passed down for generations?
Are there war medals that were once in your family that you would like to find?
Do you have old handwritten letters sent to or by someone you don’t know?
Has your family lost art during wartime?
Have you found an old diary written by someone you’ve never heard of before?
We are calling on all families to share your family mystery, whether it’s similar to one of those listed above, or something completely different.
Past Research Successes
In the past, MyHeritage has helped families solve historical mysteries. Here are just a few examples:
Genealogical Detective Work Solves Looted Art Mystery
Last year, the Dutch Museum Association audited their collection of artwork to determine which works were presumably stolen from their original, Jewish owners by Nazis during WWII. They published a list of 170 pieces of artwork that were discovered in the audit. MyHeritage set out on a pro bono initiative to search for living descendants of the original owners, who are the rightful heirs of the stolen artwork. Laurie Greene is one such heir. The MyHeritage team called Laurie and surprised her with the news that she is eligible to claim 133 illustrations that were stolen from her great-uncle, Mommie Schwartz, a famous Dutch-Jewish painter.
–snip–
The KGB, the Iron Curtain, and a Decades-Old Family Mystery Finally Put to Rest
After countless attempts to locate long-lost family members who disappeared in the former Soviet Union 80 years ago, Rani Markovich always assumed that he would never be able to reunite with his grandfather’s lost family. All this changed when Rani enlisted the help of MyHeritage Founder and CEO, Gilad Japhet. With rare KGB records and detective work conducted on the ground and on Facebook, the family’s decades-long mystery was finally solved, culminating in a triumphant family reunion in the USA.
A Story of Survival and a Silver Matchbox
Elda Bivas Gambash searched for the descendants of a man named Shimon Luria for over thirty years. Shimon saved her grandfather’s life during WWI by giving him food during his captivity.
–snip–
Shimon had also given her grandfather a silver matchbox that her grandfather cherished throughout his life.
–snip–
Thanks to MyHeritage, the Gambash family was finally able to pay tribute and thank the family for Shimon’s generosity.
Mitch Yurkovich was adopted as a baby and was always curious about his biological family. He searched for them for many years. In turn, his parents were always hoping that Mitch would come back home, having no record of Mitch’s whereabouts due to his closed adoption. Imagine his surprise when a DNA Match led him to his biological parents, who were still together, and who had married and had two more children! Thanks to MyHeritage, Mitch met his mother, father, and siblings for the first time.
–snip–
MyHeritage Returns WWI Medal to Soldier’s Family
MyHeritage helped return a World War I British War Medal to a soldier’s family. 40 years ago, the medal was found in Australia by Rob McCaw while using a metal detector in a field. Since then, Rob had tried to find the medal’s rightful owner. With the help of MyHeritage, Rob found the soldier’s descendants and was finally able to return the medal to them.
