How can I find any info on my Romani heritage?

Question

Does anyone know of any web sites, books, or, well, anything, that could help me find out anything about my being Romani? It's through my father's side of the family and the country is Hungary. My father passed away in 2005 and the other family members are either dead or not close to me at all. Thanks, any help would be good.

Answer 1

My approach here is consistent that for solid information, you need to use records, and those records will be concerning specific persons.  It's normal to ask family members IF they are available.. but researching the records does not rely on that.

The obvious (to me) is to document your father, using his relevant records.  IE.. when and where he was born, and names/ dates, etc for his parents.  If the parents are born in Hungary, then focus on locating applicable documentation.

I've heard the comment that there are no records about Romani/Gypsy, so forth.  My thinking is that you have no way to know this is true, unless you have actually made a search for the documents and find they don't exist.  Even then.. not finding a record is NOT the same as them not existing.

If you would like to post the details of your father.. someone would likely be happy to do a search for relevant records, such as those that could be available on ancestry.com.

Answer 2

i have the same problem- my great grandma's maiden name was Romany-  which is impossible to trace- since there is no 'true' surname of Romany. As you know 'Romany' or 'Romani" is that of a race -gypsies. I believe that the family changed their name to that when they came to America-but I have little info and feel like i have been running into a brick wall.  good luck with yours.

Answer 3

I wish you a lot of luck; the problem being most Gypsy families never recorded births and deaths the way most other state governments do.  Although the Romanian government attempted to do this in the early 1900s nothing came of it.

And by the way Romani does come from the Romanian area of Europe.  

Unless your gypsy relatives in this country abided by the laws and registered the births and marriages you have a daunting task ahead of you.  You may want to contact the Gypsy royalty, who I last knew to be living in the Long Beach California area; not sure where they are at this time.  But someone in that area may know ...

Answer 4

Here are some links that may be useful:

http://www.cyndislist.com/easteuro.htm

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~romwgw...

Do you know which city/town your father was from?  If not, you may find this on his birth certificate or immigration records.  

You could edit your question with more information on your father or the other deceased family members, such as approximate birth years, where/when they immigrated to (countrystate/county) and someone here may be able to find some records on ancestry.com to help you.

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EDIT:

Sorry about that, lets try again.

This mailing list is for anyone with a genealogical, cultural or historical interest that concerns Austro-Hungarian Romani traditions, culture, folklore, heritage, or why not old recipes and daily life.  

To subscribe, follow this link and scroll down to no. 11

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jfulle...

These links  are Romani US census records and migration information

http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feat...

http://lockeroots.home.comcast.net/~lock...

http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pa...

Here are links to forums for people researching common ethnic groups, surnames and origins:

http://genforum.genealogy.com/gypsy/

http://boards.rootsweb.com/thread.aspx?m...

These websites are all about Romani customs, traditions and historical facts::

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/trad...

http://www.romani.org/

I hope this is what you are looking for.