That is exactly what happened with our genealogist Olga Gorbenko. She spent five years searching for data on ancestors who resettled from Ukraine to Siberia. The archives of that region burned in the Second World War. Olga posted the information on genealogy forums and waited. A young woman replied: 'I know these people. The woman you name is the sister of my ancestor.' She had kept a great-grandmother's diary describing the family's move to Siberia in detail no archive holds.
Where to publish your data
The All-Russian Family Tree (VGD, vgd.ru) is the largest Russian-language genealogy forum. Search a surname and a settlement, say 'Ivanov Kineshma', or find the surname thread by its first letters. This is where most Russian-language researchers gather.
FamilySearch (familysearch.org) is a non-profit platform backed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It holds millions of digitised archive documents and lets you build family trees open to other researchers. If a relative anywhere in the world does genealogy, they may well be here.
Familio and MyHeritage are a Russian and an international platform for building family trees. Post your tree and you get automatic notices of matches with other users.
'Immortal Regiment' (moypolk.ru): if an ancestor went missing in the Second World War, create a page for him here. People often find relatives separated by the war through this resource.
How a DNA test works for finding relatives
A DNA test is a strong tool when documentary sources are spent. It compares your genetic profile with a database of other users and finds matches. The more shared segments, the closer the kinship. The test does not replace archive documents, but it can confirm a relationship that is hard to prove on paper, or lead to living relatives who hold what you need.
One of our cases: the genealogist Olga Sukhanina ran a parallel search for four years with a researcher from Irkutsk, both studying different branches of the Gapanovich line. The archive documents pointed to a shared ancestor, but there was no direct proof. A DNA test closed the question for good: they are relatives, fifth cousins, separated by almost two hundred years and thousands of kilometres. In 2025 they met for the first time.
The principle: the more traces, the better
Publish your data everywhere you can. Do not expect a fast result; searching through forums is a long game. Olga Gorbenko waited five years. But the result was worth the wait. The more information you put in different places, the higher the chance that the right person finds you, even if they are looking for their own ancestors, not for you.
What to put in a post
Give the surname (every known spelling), the ancestors' approximate life dates, the region, religion and social estate. Describe exactly what you are looking for and what you already have. End with: 'Happy to exchange data with anyone researching this same branch.' Mutual exchange is the basis of the genealogy community.
Want to find relatives or restore ties lost generations ago? The genealogists at Family Relic help both with the search and with publishing your data. Find out at myrodoslovie.ru
