In-Between: Genealogy and Learning Your Past with Nadia LaMantia

On this episode of The In-Between we welcome genealogist Nadia LaMantia. Nadia not only proved Elizabeth’s family is Slovak (not Czech) — she also uncovered a whole side of Liz’s dad’s family that was completely unknown.

We chat about what genealogists actually do (it's more than DNA): building trees, reconnecting with culture, helping citizenship claims, and solving real-life mysteries like family rumors, court cases, hidden branches, and medical clues from old documents. We also dig into how ancestors’ experiences — war, loss, migration — shape family dynamics and possible intergenerational trauma.

A fascinating, surprise-filled episode you won’t want to miss.

Check out Nadia's services at https://www.lamantiagenealogyservices.com/. 

Instagram: @lamantia_genealogy_services

Connect with me:
https://in-between.co
@in.betweenpod on Instagram
@elizabethcheney_ on Instagram
@theinbetweenpodcast on TikTok
The In-Between Podcast on YouTube

Transcript

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Elizabeth 0:06

Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to episode of The In-Between. your host, Elizabeth and I am so excited I have yet again, special guest here with me. As you can see, this is Nadia La Mania. She's a genealogist, which. Some of you may think, what's a genealogist? And I'm gonna let her explain all of that. But I've been talking a little bit on the podcast here recently about looking into getting my citizenship by descent, uh, for Slovakia based on my family history and heritage. And, uh, intern Nadia, that's where she comes into play. That's how I would introduced by a friend. she basically has giving me goods, so speak, to pursue this endeavor and live my dream of living in Europe. So without further ado, Nadia, welcome to the in between.

Nadia 0:49

Much for having me. Great to be here. So. You

Elizabeth 0:53

have lived the life that I

Nadia 0:55

am trying to pursue. You've

Elizabeth 0:57

lived in Europe, you met your

Nadia 0:58

husband in Europe, you're about to leave for

Elizabeth 1:00

Europe for like three weeks, right? Yeah. Ugh. So jealous. I just literally get back from

Nadia 1:04

Greece yesterday

Elizabeth 1:05

and I'm like, I'm ready to go.

Nadia 1:06

I'm ready to go again.

Elizabeth 1:07

But.

Nadia 1:07

If you don't mind, let's talk about what genealogy

Elizabeth 1:11

a genealogist is and kind of how you got into that. Of course. So genealogy

Nadia 1:18

is something that can be confusing

Elizabeth 1:20

because there are different types of genealogists. You've got forensic genealogists,

Nadia 1:24

which would be somebody

Elizabeth 1:25

trying to solve maybe a cold case

Nadia 1:27

or something

Elizabeth 1:27

using genealogy or DNA, not, that's not what I do.

Nadia 1:30

Um, you've got. People who, who do

Elizabeth 1:33

like a family tree and,

Nadia 1:35

and the research

Elizabeth 1:36

about

Nadia 1:36

family

Elizabeth 1:36

background. You have people who do genealogy in that. They look at

Nadia 1:41

the DNA side of it,

Elizabeth 1:42

not

Nadia 1:43

necessarily forensic purposes,

Elizabeth 1:45

but

Nadia 1:45

for maybe to solve

Elizabeth 1:47

somebody's looking for a birth parent or something like that. So you

Nadia 1:50

So you have

Elizabeth 1:50

these

Nadia 1:50

categories.

Elizabeth 1:51

What I do

Nadia 1:52

mostly is, is

Elizabeth 1:53

genealogy. That is the

Nadia 1:54

family tree.

Elizabeth 1:56

And just connecting people with their roots through

Nadia 1:58

a lot of

Elizabeth 1:59

research, I, I create a narrative based on all

Nadia 2:02

the documents that I've got access to.

Elizabeth 2:04

to. I, I have a lot of different online databases

Nadia 2:08

and, and

Elizabeth 2:09

newspapers. Newspapers are amazing to find out, just

Nadia 2:12

some

Elizabeth 2:12

wild stuff about the past and at the end people get like a really comprehensive understanding of of their family

Nadia 2:19

and who came before them. That is so

Elizabeth 2:21

cool. Do you feel like most of your clients are kind of looking for what I'm

Nadia 2:27

wanting to pursue, like the dual citizenship

Elizabeth 2:29

or

Nadia 2:30

is

Elizabeth 2:30

it

Nadia 2:30

just a myriad of reasons? Yeah, I've had multiple

Elizabeth 2:34

reasons, which is great. I mean, I think what draws

Nadia 2:37

people to it are really

Elizabeth 2:38

situational.

Nadia 2:39

So you have people who think, well, gosh, I don't know much about the side of my family.

Elizabeth 2:44

My grandfather was never spoken about. Who was that? Where did he come from? These kind of things, just curiosities. And then you

Nadia 2:49

have people just.

Elizabeth 2:50

To general lack of knowledge about their family and at some point that

Nadia 2:54

bothers them and they'd like to know

Elizabeth 2:56

more. And I'm just obviously think that's a great idea because people

Nadia 3:01

don't realize everyone's searching

Elizabeth 3:03

for a community. I think. And

Nadia 3:05

they're searching for who they are and, and people find

Elizabeth 3:08

it in places like religion or

Nadia 3:10

whatever sports team

Elizabeth 3:12

they like, and they

Nadia 3:12

wanna be a part of something. But you know, I think

Elizabeth 3:15

looking inward and who we come from, that's our original village. And then to know more about that I think is really grounding.

Nadia 3:23

But I think that's

Elizabeth 3:24

very interesting. I feel like it can also

Nadia 3:26

help

Elizabeth 3:26

you. Identify your sense of self

Nadia 3:28

in a way, especially for people who, like you said,

Elizabeth 3:30

may not know the grandfather or like in my case, and I'll be, I'll be

Nadia 3:34

completely honest with this

Elizabeth 3:35

on the podcast. I know nothing about my dad's side of the family. I know that. Well, actually,

Nadia 3:40

what's

Elizabeth 3:41

so crazy is I thought

Nadia 3:42

we were checked this whole

Elizabeth 3:43

time and

Nadia 3:43

then you may you helped

Elizabeth 3:44

me realize

Nadia 3:45

no, we're actually Slovakian. So pre Slovakian, yes you are. Because of

Elizabeth 3:50

this new finding.

Nadia 3:51

Well, new finding but just is so interesting. It's got my mother's interest

Elizabeth 3:55

in everything and now she wants

Nadia 3:56

to research her family history 'cause we're

Elizabeth 3:59

very much on mu on that side of the family.

Nadia 4:01

And then

Elizabeth 4:02

'cause in just a little basic research,

Nadia 4:03

'cause you inspired something within Cindy

Elizabeth 4:05

1000%. She's like, I think we might be

Nadia 4:08

related to some Lord in Scotland from however

Elizabeth 4:11

many,

Nadia 4:12

I

Elizabeth 4:12

don't know, generations and years ago. And I'm like, I,

Nadia 4:14

we'll so the professional will get to this. So I feel like.

Elizabeth 4:19

Per like.

Nadia 4:20

Pursuing genealogy services.

Elizabeth 4:22

It can help answer

Nadia 4:23

questions,

Elizabeth 4:24

it can help you get a

Nadia 4:25

sense of yourself. It

Elizabeth 4:26

also is like fun facts that you can

Nadia 4:28

throw it at a party,

Elizabeth 4:29

if I can be honest.

Nadia 4:30

Not that that's the main reason why you should do it, but you'd be surprised

Elizabeth 4:33

what you can learn. I mean, now that I'm thinking about even my therapist when I was telling her about this, she's like,

Nadia 4:37

well, I have a lot of Scandinavian roots. I

Elizabeth 4:39

wanna talk to your person. And I was like, yeah, which reminds me, I need to give you,

Nadia 4:42

I need to give her

Elizabeth 4:42

your information. But all is to say,

Nadia 4:45

I feel like when you

Elizabeth 4:45

start this kind of conversation, it's

Nadia 4:47

something that maybe. People don't necessarily think about. And then once they do, it's like this

Elizabeth 4:53

Pandora's box of information.

Nadia 4:55

Exactly. You're, you couldn't

Elizabeth 4:56

be more right about that. Um, I, I was thinking about it recently and

Nadia 5:01

every

Elizabeth 5:02

client I've had

Nadia 5:03

has

Elizabeth 5:04

had,

Nadia 5:05

had it's kept

Elizabeth 5:05

going. Yeah. Um, either they've started out, I wanna know this, and they're like,

Nadia 5:09

oh, now I wanna

Elizabeth 5:10

know about this side of my family. Or, you know,

Nadia 5:12

their mother.

Elizabeth 5:14

Their, uh, friend or, because I think when people see, like,

Nadia 5:17

you don't realize kind of what you're missing when you don't

Elizabeth 5:19

have this.

Nadia 5:20

And then once you have it, it's, it's just so not

Elizabeth 5:22

only beneficial for you, but then, you know, too, if you have

Nadia 5:26

children, you can,

Elizabeth 5:28

know, yeah, they

Nadia 5:28

know, yeah, they have questions. Here,

Elizabeth 5:29

here are the answers. You know, you, you don't

Nadia 5:31

have

Elizabeth 5:31

to say, well, I

Nadia 5:32

think we

Elizabeth 5:32

might be,

Nadia 5:33

you know, you can present them with,

Elizabeth 5:35

with, what

Nadia 5:36

your

Elizabeth 5:36

family's. Path was, which

Nadia 5:38

is super cool. I completely

Elizabeth 5:39

agree. And like

Nadia 5:40

hearing you say this,

Elizabeth 5:41

I mean it's got my

Nadia 5:42

brain going in so

Elizabeth 5:43

many directions. In the conversations we were having

Nadia 5:44

before you

Elizabeth 5:45

started the

Nadia 5:45

research about the

Elizabeth 5:46

country lines. I don't

Nadia 5:48

know, like history

Elizabeth 5:48

is so fascinating and to know your own personal family history,

Nadia 5:52

even though it's so far removed from you and like your existence in this timeline, in this moment. It is fascinating. It's so cool. It is

Elizabeth 6:00

cool. And

Nadia 6:00

in the vein of it being

Elizabeth 6:02

July 4th weekend, I, one thing I

Nadia 6:05

think is so interesting about Americans.

Elizabeth 6:07

It's just kind of what we

Nadia 6:09

are all really unique. I don't think to say American, you really, it's, I mean,

Elizabeth 6:12

you can understand why people say Italian American. Yeah. You know, Greek American,

Nadia 6:17

whatever it is. Because every,

Elizabeth 6:19

Background is really important in how, you've come to be

Nadia 6:23

who you

Elizabeth 6:23

are as an American.

Nadia 6:25

I like to give this example, so my

Elizabeth 6:27

husband's from Albania and because they were under communism for, uh, 50 plus

Nadia 6:32

years. Everybody was treated the same, so it's like a very interesting example

Elizabeth 6:37

of. Everyone being the same.

Nadia 6:40

They were all poor. They

Elizabeth 6:41

were all, um, assigned jobs.

Nadia 6:43

And, but,

Elizabeth 6:44

but

Nadia 6:44

now you have this group of people who has not

Elizabeth 6:47

intermarried at least for that amount

Nadia 6:49

of time. So you

Elizabeth 6:50

have kind of this culture that's all the same. So when

Nadia 6:53

you go into an Albanian

Elizabeth 6:54

person's house, you

Nadia 6:55

know

Elizabeth 6:55

what

Nadia 6:55

expect. Even if I've never

Elizabeth 6:57

been into that house, I know how they're gonna offer me something to drink. I know they're gonna offer something to eat. I know what kind

Nadia 7:02

of questions

Elizabeth 7:03

they're gonna ask. It's

Nadia 7:04

like this unofficial playbook feel like.

Elizabeth 7:06

Americans you don't know because, uh, it depends how

Nadia 7:10

you are raised, right? It

Elizabeth 7:10

depends what's important

Nadia 7:11

to that

Elizabeth 7:12

family.

Nadia 7:13

And so will

Elizabeth 7:14

they offer

Nadia 7:14

you something to

Elizabeth 7:15

drink? Will they not? Will they say help yourself?

Nadia 7:18

It's in the fridge. I mean, these kinds

Elizabeth 7:20

of behaviors, it's, I think

Nadia 7:22

so interesting. It

Elizabeth 7:22

just as an example of how your cultural

Nadia 7:25

background

Elizabeth 7:25

influences you. You don't, you don't know what's an American

Nadia 7:28

because we're, we're all

Elizabeth 7:29

coming from such different,

Nadia 7:30

um, mixes. So

Elizabeth 7:32

I completely agree. And

Nadia 7:33

not that

Elizabeth 7:33

This is kind of on topic to this, but. I know

Nadia 7:36

there's culture in

Elizabeth 7:37

America and part of the culture

Nadia 7:39

is the melting part of it all, but sometimes, you know,

Elizabeth 7:42

I feel, for lack of better

Nadia 7:45

words, fomo, which I know is not a very professional term

Elizabeth 7:48

here, but.

Nadia 7:49

I feel that like

Elizabeth 7:51

missing out feeling when I see my friends who are from very like strong cultural backgrounds and

Nadia 7:57

they are

Elizabeth 7:58

like the Italian

Nadia 7:59

Americans or the Kurdish Americans, or. Even French Americans, so to speak. I have such ties to this

Elizabeth 8:06

cultural route that I definitely feel like I'm lacking.

Nadia 8:09

And so I think another

Elizabeth 8:10

benefit of now

Nadia 8:11

learning all about

Elizabeth 8:12

my Slavic background,

Nadia 8:13

it's really inspired me to want to learn more

Elizabeth 8:16

about the culture and

Nadia 8:17

history of Slovakia. I mean, shoot,

Elizabeth 8:19

even like

Nadia 8:20

on the flight

Elizabeth 8:21

home from Athens, Greece

Nadia 8:22

yesterday or the day

Elizabeth 8:23

before yesterday, I was thinking.

Nadia 8:25

Can I, can I learn Slavic

Elizabeth 8:26

language? Like how, how big of

Nadia 8:28

a push

Elizabeth 8:29

is that, you know, at 34 years old, can I actually learn a whole new

Nadia 8:32

alphabet and learn the language,

Elizabeth 8:34

especially if I do have this interest in potentially living there one day?

Nadia 8:37

So it's, it's really cool. It's like opened up this little

Elizabeth 8:41

part of myself that I never thought I had, and now I get to explore

Nadia 8:44

and not feel.

Elizabeth 8:46

You know, what's what I'm looking for? Like I don't belong. Yes, exactly.

Nadia 8:49

You now, you now have the information in this book and you, you see how much you do

Elizabeth 8:54

belong. Yeah. You

Nadia 8:55

You see, you see what these roots are. And

Elizabeth 8:57

even, you know, I think it was news to you that your grandfather

Nadia 9:00

actually lived several years in,

Elizabeth 9:02

in Slovakia, right? Yeah.

Nadia 9:04

Um, that was something we found out through my research and

Elizabeth 9:07

so it's not as far removed as it might seem, you know? And to your point about, um, just being.

Nadia 9:13

Feeling like

Elizabeth 9:14

connected to roots.

Nadia 9:14

I don't think

Elizabeth 9:15

too late. I will just share my

Nadia 9:17

story.

Elizabeth 9:17

So I

Nadia 9:18

studying journalism in

Elizabeth 9:19

college and I had to pick. Foreign language that was like, had to be something with my major. So I'm of course, picked Italian.

Nadia 9:27

And through learning that

Elizabeth 9:29

I, I started to study, I

Nadia 9:30

studied abroad influence,

Elizabeth 9:33

I picked up the language, I did not know it before then

Nadia 9:35

I picked it up

Elizabeth 9:36

fluently. Um, so I'm in my

Nadia 9:38

twenties at this

Elizabeth 9:39

point. And then I, um, found out that I was eligible for Italian

Nadia 9:42

citizenship.

Elizabeth 9:44

And, um,

Nadia 9:45

I really, having

Elizabeth 9:46

studied there, wanted to keep living there. And I realized that was my, my

Nadia 9:51

to

Elizabeth 9:51

go back. And, um, so I had to research my family to get the documents that I needed. And it was through that process that, um, that I really. Got deeper into the genealogy and saw how it can be beneficial in

Nadia 10:05

many ways. One

Elizabeth 10:06

thing for me that's been amazing is I've connected with my family in Sicily that after the years apart before, there were easy

Nadia 10:13

ways to communicate and, and these

Elizabeth 10:15

brothers got separated. And now I

Nadia 10:18

can

Elizabeth 10:18

be with these cousins and I've done

Nadia 10:20

dozens of times to see them and they've seen me.

Elizabeth 10:24

We have a great relationship and that's all because of the research that I did. Mm-hmm. That brought us

Nadia 10:28

back together and just, I

Elizabeth 10:30

love that story and I think it's kind of the, the drive

Nadia 10:33

for me to

Elizabeth 10:33

know, like that you can look at the past and it can affect your present. It can change

Nadia 10:39

who you feel like you are.

Elizabeth 10:40

Like you said it. It's there but you hadn't really

Nadia 10:43

known or what to

Elizabeth 10:44

embrace. Exactly. Right. And once you get a chance to embrace it, you know, you might find that it changes your life like it did for me. Oh, that is such a beautiful sentiment. And like I feel inspired just hearing that and not just like the,

Nadia 10:59

the identity piece

Elizabeth 10:59

of it, because I

Nadia 11:00

can see that just the, just in a little bit

Elizabeth 11:02

of like. Freezing through this book and this

Nadia 11:05

book that she put together

Elizabeth 11:06

for me, everybody, but breezing through that and just

Nadia 11:09

excited about the strong

Elizabeth 11:11

ties to that country, even though

Nadia 11:14

I, to

Elizabeth 11:14

be honest, did not know anything about it. Like I didn't even know

Nadia 11:17

what the

Elizabeth 11:17

capital was until you said, by the way, you're not checked for swapping. And I was like. Oh,

Nadia 11:22

okay. But you're not

Elizabeth 11:23

wrong though in thinking

Nadia 11:24

Czechoslovakia because

Elizabeth 11:26

um, Slovakia was

Nadia 11:28

part

Elizabeth 11:28

Czechoslovakia. Yes, yes. So

Nadia 11:29

there is, there's some truth there, but it's changed over time.

Elizabeth 11:32

Very, uh, it's changed over time and so has my

Nadia 11:34

identity just a little bit, but that's okay. But

Elizabeth 11:38

hearing you even talk about connecting to family members, like I, it's just, it's just, I didn't even think about that.

Nadia 11:44

Uh, like, uh,

Elizabeth 11:45

happening, like that

Nadia 11:46

So one of the

Elizabeth 11:47

questions I had was how was setting it benefiting your life or how has it benefited your life? And it's like given you, I guess,

Nadia 11:53

sense of, a different sense of self.

Elizabeth 11:54

It's helped you connect with family that

Nadia 11:56

probably wouldn't have otherwise ever connected to, which that idea just is so

Elizabeth 12:00

exciting to me. Um, how, in what other ways has, and did

Nadia 12:04

this start your career path into this or,

Elizabeth 12:08

okay. Yeah. Um, I enjoyed it so much and

Nadia 12:11

found it

Elizabeth 12:12

so fulfilling that I would, you know, happily be, be doing it for friends and, oh, you don't know. Let me look that

Nadia 12:18

up for you. And then it just, it's

Elizabeth 12:20

a passion

Nadia 12:21

I think you really should. Do

Elizabeth 12:23

something you're passionate about if you have the opportunity for work. So it's something that I feel really blessed

Nadia 12:28

to be able to

Elizabeth 12:28

do because I love it so much. So ways it's benefited or changed my life? Well, certainly having the Italian citizenship,

Nadia 12:36

being

Elizabeth 12:36

able to pass it to my husband and my children like I have, um, I have also. My husband speaks fluent Italian, but the kids, I speak it to them not as their

Nadia 12:45

first language, but I do

Elizabeth 12:46

speak it to them often because I, I want them to embrace their roots and to feel confident when we go there. They have family there, you know, that they

Nadia 12:54

can speak

Elizabeth 12:55

it and, you know, they're,

Nadia 12:56

they're still young kids, but

Elizabeth 12:57

they see my enthusiasm for it, and they're also enthusiastic, so that's been wonderful. And, you know,

Nadia 13:03

it's, it's little things like for my dad, just being

Elizabeth 13:07

able to tell him, you know, you had more aunts and uncles that you than

Nadia 13:10

you didn't know

Elizabeth 13:11

about. Like

Nadia 13:11

he that

Elizabeth 13:12

died as children. I found that out for him.

Nadia 13:14

Yes.

Elizabeth 13:15

whole thing with that. Um, it's wild. Yeah. And just being able to tell him where his name came from. So an Italian family.

Nadia 13:23

For what it's worth.

Elizabeth 13:24

Usually the first son

Nadia 13:26

is named for the

Elizabeth 13:27

paternal grandfather. The second son is named for the maternal grandfather. And so his father was named for his maternal grandfather, but that name was left blank on a, um, when I did the citizenship papers, I got my

Nadia 13:40

great-grandmother's

Elizabeth 13:41

citizenship or her, her birth record from Sicily and there's no father listed. And so that

Nadia 13:47

was

Elizabeth 13:48

of a mystery. Interesting.

Nadia 13:49

And then as it happened, a

Elizabeth 13:51

DNA cousin reached out to my dad

Nadia 13:53

and said, I can't figure out how we're

Elizabeth 13:54

related. I have a really extensive family tree and I don't understand. So then I looked into it, of course, got my attention,

Nadia 14:01

and his ancestor had come from

Elizabeth 14:03

Calabria down to Sicily. He

Nadia 14:05

was still married and they didn't know what, where he

Elizabeth 14:08

went, um, his family. But, uh, he went to SI sleep because he got together with, um, with my ancestor. They had my great-grandma. Um,

Nadia 14:17

his

Elizabeth 14:17

name was Josee, which is Joseph in English. And that is, um, who, who my dad is indirectly named after, because

Nadia 14:26

he's

Elizabeth 14:26

named after his father

Nadia 14:27

But Wow. Um, so. My dad

Elizabeth 14:29

was just found that so meaningful to know, like where the name came from

Nadia 14:33

and just to be able to fill in that gap Yeah. Was, you know, for

Elizabeth 14:36

him it was very meaningful. So you never actually know when you're doing

Nadia 14:39

the research, like

Elizabeth 14:40

who will

Nadia 14:41

find what, um,

Elizabeth 14:42

you know, something that's meaningful

Nadia 14:44

them. Yeah. You can present the information and, you know, I'm actually

Elizabeth 14:47

curious, uh, was there one thing that stood out to you that you found that resonated with you or that you found meaningful that you maybe weren't

Nadia 14:56

expecting? I mean. Honestly, one, the fact that it's Slovakia, I think that was the biggest thing. 'cause this,

Elizabeth 15:03

my whole life, my fun fact is like,

Nadia 15:05

oh, I'm half check. And to learn

Elizabeth 15:08

that, no, actually

Nadia 15:09

on the Slovak side. That really was huge for me. And I think knowing that,

Elizabeth 15:15

like, the more I'm gonna dive into

Nadia 15:17

this

Elizabeth 15:17

the more

Nadia 15:17

I'm gonna learn about Slovakia

Elizabeth 15:18

Slovakian culture, um, and. I, I don't mean this insensitively, but because of the lack

Nadia 15:25

involvement from

Elizabeth 15:26

my father's family in my life, it's cool

Nadia 15:28

to learn all about this, but it's more so just being able to pursue

Elizabeth 15:32

my interests in

Nadia 15:33

culture of Slovakia and knowing that

Elizabeth 15:35

I have a place and I'm not an imposter with it, and which now that I said out loud, that sounds a

Nadia 15:39

dramatic, but you know what I mean, like I do. Yeah. In really high has given me

Elizabeth 15:43

a difference. When I say sense of self,

Nadia 15:45

I don't mean

Elizabeth 15:45

Okay. Elizabeth is now Slovakian and she

Nadia 15:48

is embracing all of

Elizabeth 15:49

the angles of that

Nadia 15:50

and

Elizabeth 15:50

that mindset. No, but it's like a

Nadia 15:52

sense of self of

Elizabeth 15:53

like another part of me

Nadia 15:55

that I never even knew existed. And you know, my whole life

Elizabeth 15:59

I have

Nadia 16:01

been told,

Elizabeth 16:02

you look European. I'm like,

Nadia 16:03

well, what does that even mean? You know

Elizabeth 16:04

what I mean?

Nadia 16:05

And

Elizabeth 16:05

I'm like, and I go, it's your

Nadia 16:07

jawline. It's your cheekbones, it's your eyes, it's

Elizabeth 16:08

your nose. I'm like, and love my brother. She's amazing. And I, I dab

Nadia 16:12

some traits of her, but my whole life I've always been like, I

Elizabeth 16:15

don't look like

Nadia 16:16

my mom.

Elizabeth 16:17

You

Nadia 16:17

know?

Elizabeth 16:18

And when I see pictures of my dad,

Nadia 16:19

I really do take after him. So it's, for me, it's learning. You are truly half European. Like even though you know. His family. Like he lived here and was born in

Elizabeth 16:30

America, but

Nadia 16:31

all of his

Elizabeth 16:32

ties from generations back are all Slovakia. Yeah. That

Nadia 16:34

was really interesting to

Elizabeth 16:35

learn. Yeah. Um,

Nadia 16:37

that

Elizabeth 16:38

it really wasn't that far removed like that many generations back that

Nadia 16:41

they were still living

Elizabeth 16:43

in Slovakia. Either they came here and still went back. Um, so I don't know. I think it's,

Nadia 16:47

for me,

Elizabeth 16:48

it is

Nadia 16:49

this new sense of identity that I get to explore and

Elizabeth 16:52

truly own, not feel imposter about it. And I'm just excited, like, who knows if I'll actually learn svic? Because I looked at the language and I was like, oh my God, I don't, that is not like French or Italian

Nadia 17:03

or Spanish. Um,

Elizabeth 17:06

I'm level eight in

Nadia 17:06

French and Duo lingo. I don't know how Vic's gonna go,

Elizabeth 17:10

but I now have,

Nadia 17:13

like,

Elizabeth 17:13

I've

Nadia 17:13

already started using like when people, like

Elizabeth 17:15

few people that have mentioned you look European, uh, in

Nadia 17:18

the past couple months as we started talking.

Elizabeth 17:20

I now confidently reply, well,

Nadia 17:22

I'm half s

Elizabeth 17:23

Slavic, I'm Slovakian. And I don't know if I feel

Nadia 17:26

the conference to be

Elizabeth 17:27

like, I'm Slovakian American yet. I think if I learn more about the culture and feel more like a part of it, I could.

Nadia 17:32

'cause I don't think,

Elizabeth 17:34

not having grown up Slovakian it.

Nadia 17:36

Can deter from owning that part of

Elizabeth 17:38

yourself even as an adult.

Nadia 17:39

That's right. That's

Elizabeth 17:40

right. Thanks. People

Nadia 17:41

who, who,

Elizabeth 17:42

you know, take DNA tests, right? And they thought, oh, I always identified as Irish, but I'm actually not, you know,

Nadia 17:48

I'm actually German. Right. And it's like, well, what does

Elizabeth 17:51

that mean?

Nadia 17:51

And so you do then

Elizabeth 17:52

realize, like

Nadia 17:53

when you think you're

Elizabeth 17:54

something or you don't know what you are, it, it really fills in a piece of the puzzle that is so important I think, if you can know. And so I'm

Nadia 18:02

really, I really like to encourage people to do.

Elizabeth 18:05

DNA tests as well, as getting the history done with the documents,

Nadia 18:08

just to kind

Elizabeth 18:10

of have the

Nadia 18:10

whole piece of the puzzle and

Elizabeth 18:12

that, you know, helps people identify, um, specific areas.

Nadia 18:16

So it's gotten very specific

Elizabeth 18:18

now where it will even

Nadia 18:19

tell you like a

Elizabeth 18:20

region within a country. Wow.

Nadia 18:22

Your people come from because. It's

Elizabeth 18:24

not the same for everyone. There's

Nadia 18:25

not always the same

Elizabeth 18:26

type of paper trail that we

Nadia 18:28

can trace. Mm-hmm. It just really depends where

Elizabeth 18:30

your people came from, when they came from there. There are a lot of resources out there, but

Nadia 18:34

you know, due to

Elizabeth 18:35

wars and things,

Nadia 18:36

you know.

Elizabeth 18:36

Right. You just, at a certain point there's some more paper trail. So DNA can be a

Nadia 18:40

nice,

Elizabeth 18:41

um, help

Nadia 18:42

that.

Elizabeth 18:42

I love

Nadia 18:42

that. Are interested. I just wanna

Elizabeth 18:44

say, I think the biggest blessing that your

Nadia 18:46

work gave me was.

Elizabeth 18:49

Having my whole

Nadia 18:50

life felt so removed from my dad side of

Elizabeth 18:52

family,

Nadia 18:53

and so like, it's, it's,

Elizabeth 18:55

I

Nadia 18:55

don't wanna be

Elizabeth 18:56

dramatic and talk

Nadia 18:57

so

Elizabeth 18:57

harshly about how it affected me, but it is like just a

Nadia 19:00

missing piece. You gave me this gift of knowing,

Elizabeth 19:04

and I think that is the power

Nadia 19:06

in what I have gained from this knowledge. It's like I feel more whole and it's also really freaking cool. I'm so, so happy that

Elizabeth 19:14

you feel that way. I could help you in that way. And I know that

Nadia 19:18

there are a lot of

Elizabeth 19:18

people out there with questions, and it may not be a, it may be about the whole side of

Nadia 19:23

family, or it may just be like a specific. Thing where

Elizabeth 19:26

it's like,

Nadia 19:26

what happened there? I don't know. And they think because they

Elizabeth 19:29

don't have connection to talk to about it, that they will never find out. But that's another part of

Nadia 19:35

this with when we

Elizabeth 19:36

talk about, traumas and things within families, you can oftentimes get to the bottom of, of, uh, what happened

Nadia 19:42

in a situation, with your

Elizabeth 19:44

ancestors or, It's something that, um,

Nadia 19:48

really be a feeling for people, I think on, on a number of levels, depending on,

Elizabeth 19:52

you know, what your, your situation is. But, but certainly having

Nadia 19:56

the whole picture Yeah. Gives you a context

Elizabeth 19:59

that you didn't have,

Nadia 19:59

there's something about not knowing that leaves this huge void. Yes. And it's like it

Elizabeth 20:04

could be anything. Right. That's what

Nadia 20:05

talking about.

Elizabeth 20:06

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Having known that there was such strong ties to what I thought was Czech Republic, but now learning,

Nadia 20:12

you

Elizabeth 20:12

know. Learning that those like, yes, it's a different country,

Nadia 20:16

which that's one thing,

Elizabeth 20:17

but learning that those

Nadia 20:18

ties are still strong. Like

Elizabeth 20:19

you have all of this

Nadia 20:20

literal complete family history and

Elizabeth 20:23

heritage to a whole different

Nadia 20:25

country,

Elizabeth 20:25

different culture, just because him and his

Nadia 20:28

siblings were raised here in America, but.

Elizabeth 20:30

Pretty much everything past

Nadia 20:32

that was mostly Slovakia.

Elizabeth 20:33

Like, that is so cool. It's so interesting.

Nadia 20:36

And, and you can go there. Yes. You know where you would go if someone

Elizabeth 20:41

Slovakia. Exactly. So that what, what

Nadia 20:45

you just said about trauma,

Elizabeth 20:46

that's something that we've talked about, like when we first started talking about the, the benefits of genealogy and learning about your history. It can help you unpack and learn and hopefully even

Nadia 20:56

heal from generational trauma. And

Elizabeth 20:57

so I wanted to kind of hit on that.

Nadia 20:59

What have you seen, whether it's in your own experiences, but or with clients' experiences, like how has

Elizabeth 21:05

that played out? Yeah, I can give you a few examples. So

Nadia 21:08

absolutely, you know, once you, you start going

Elizabeth 21:11

back, you're gonna find things. It's not all roses of course, but it's helpful to

Nadia 21:15

know.

Elizabeth 21:15

So one client I had, his mother I found, had been, she was in her home.

Nadia 21:21

People

Elizabeth 21:22

came to the door, they tied her up, they held a gun to her, they robbed her. She was early twenties. I didn't know if he knew about that. I didn't know

Nadia 21:30

if that's something

Elizabeth 21:31

his mother had

Nadia 21:31

shared with him. You know,

Elizabeth 21:33

a little bit of cautiousness there. But I found it was something he knew, but he never knew what

Nadia 21:37

happened to

Elizabeth 21:38

the

Nadia 21:38

criminals. And so

Elizabeth 21:39

I was able to give a little bit of closure. Sharing

Nadia 21:43

what sentences they received for the crime that committed against

Elizabeth 21:46

his mother,

Nadia 21:47

and just something like

Elizabeth 21:48

that. Um, can be just to,

Nadia 21:50

just to know because you

Elizabeth 21:51

think whatever happened

Nadia 21:52

to those people,

Elizabeth 21:53

They did

Nadia 21:53

that to my mom. And then what, like, she obviously,

Elizabeth 21:56

I mean.

Nadia 21:57

I, I haven't speak

Elizabeth 21:59

spoken to her personally, of course, but I, I just don't know how

Nadia 22:01

something like that wouldn't really

Elizabeth 22:02

affect you in your life. Right. Um, going forward. Um, so just to know

Nadia 22:07

that there was a bit, there

Elizabeth 22:08

was some justice served in that case, and just to know what that was,

Nadia 22:11

I think

Elizabeth 22:12

is,

Nadia 22:12

helpful.

Elizabeth 22:13

Uh, another client, came to me with some questions about her grandfather and

Nadia 22:18

a bit of

Elizabeth 22:18

a unclear past about him and kind of some rumors about some other children. I was able to confirm some things for her. Her grandmother was a second wife.

Nadia 22:28

It turns out he

Elizabeth 22:29

had gone back with the first wife and had another child secretly while he was with a second wife. So I was

Nadia 22:35

able to.

Elizabeth 22:36

Find

Nadia 22:36

baptisms and give her

Elizabeth 22:37

names. And so these are her aunts. Um, you know, and there were a few children. He had another child with another family member of the white second wife that was unexpected. And so anyway, these are her aunts now that she can decide what

Nadia 22:52

wants to do with that, but she knows that they're out there at least.

Elizabeth 22:55

So these are things

Nadia 22:56

that. It's something

Elizabeth 22:57

that happened with her grandfather, but it's still relevant today because these people,

Nadia 23:01

some of them are still living and yeah, you

Elizabeth 23:03

know, she can decide if she wants

Nadia 23:05

to do anything

Elizabeth 23:05

with that, but at least

Nadia 23:06

the rumors

Elizabeth 23:07

are put to rest, right? And so

Nadia 23:08

these kinds of

Elizabeth 23:09

things, um, really bother people over time,

Nadia 23:11

just like, is that true? Is

Elizabeth 23:12

that not true? And so genealogy can really help answer some

Nadia 23:16

of those questions,

Elizabeth 23:17

especially with like the, I would say court cases and potential like police involvement,

Nadia 23:22

things like that, reports.

Elizabeth 23:23

I think that's very fascinating. Another thing that comes to mind, I'm curious, like family

Nadia 23:28

medical history,

Elizabeth 23:29

how have you seen that play out? Yeah, that is also something that comes up because you do start to see patterns. I bet you see patterns and then you think, you know,

Nadia 23:38

these are things, this knowledge

Elizabeth 23:39

is something I

Nadia 23:40

wouldn't know to look

Elizabeth 23:41

for this obscure disease in my family. Right? But now

Nadia 23:44

that I

Elizabeth 23:44

know it exists. When they ask, do you have any

Nadia 23:47

family history?

Elizabeth 23:48

Maybe that's

Nadia 23:48

a difference between you getting checked for something

Elizabeth 23:50

and not, and being very,

Nadia 23:52

Vigilant with that. Not sure

Elizabeth 23:54

you wanna cut this part out, but for you, I wanted

Nadia 23:56

to

Elizabeth 23:56

mention, I saw, um. Particular

Nadia 23:59

had you seen a pattern? I have

Elizabeth 24:01

not yet. I, I, I have breezed through the book. I've not been able, 'cause it came in right before I left, so I am about

Nadia 24:06

to learn something,

Elizabeth 24:07

hit me with it. Okay. Um,

Nadia 24:10

so you

Elizabeth 24:10

have a

Nadia 24:11

colorectal

Elizabeth 24:12

cancer in, what's that? Um, in the family, uh, it's a certain type

Nadia 24:17

of cancer,

Elizabeth 24:17

but I noticed three people had it and they had it young. They had it like around 40 years old. Hmm.

Nadia 24:23

What kind of cancer is it?

Elizabeth 24:24

Colorectal it, it's through

Nadia 24:26

the colon.

Elizabeth 24:27

And, um, okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Duh. So, so yeah, your great-grandmother was about

Nadia 24:32

40. Um,

Elizabeth 24:34

she passed away from it. Her brother passed away from it, and I believe their father passed away from it. And so it's something that like you may think,

Nadia 24:41

I don't have to think

Elizabeth 24:41

about that until I'm much older because. There are screenings for that, you

Nadia 24:45

know,

Elizabeth 24:45

once you're 60 or something. Right. But in their case it, it hit early and I noticed it. And again, if you want me to cut this up. No, I love it. Come on, hit with it. Um, you know, you had some uncles die young and so I don't know, like my dad's brothers I did

Nadia 24:58

know that.

Elizabeth 24:59

I don't know what they died from though. That's the thing. 'cause I don't have access to their medical records. But

Nadia 25:04

you may try to find out

Elizabeth 25:06

if you're not sure if that was something that affected them. Interesting. So these kinds of things just to be aware of. Yeah. I mean, could be nothing to do

Nadia 25:14

with you, but Right. Could be something.

Elizabeth 25:16

the cancer

Nadia 25:17

the cancer thing, that's pretty. Close in

Elizabeth 25:19

the timeline or I don't, I keep saying timeline, but like genealogy line, you know, of like, um, generations back. Like that's not that many, it's not that far back. Yeah. And it's not,

Nadia 25:28

you know, something that

Elizabeth 25:29

younger people typically think about. No. So I'm not thinking about that. Right. I'm thinking about can I get through this week? Right,

Nadia 25:34

exactly. I'm curious with addiction type stuff and I am speaking from a personal

Elizabeth 25:39

place 'cause I know that

Nadia 25:40

there is a lot of addiction

Elizabeth 25:40

on my dad side of the family, but how do you, do

Nadia 25:43

you ever see that show up in like history? Generational or genealogy research. So where we

Elizabeth 25:49

might see that might be in newspapers and you know, it would have to be pretty bad

Nadia 25:54

for it to

Elizabeth 25:54

be in a newspaper probably.

Nadia 25:56

Yeah. And so, because

Elizabeth 25:57

a lot of times documents won't

Nadia 25:59

that

Elizabeth 25:59

what you might find is on a death certificate mm-hmm. Might find cirrhosis to liver for like alcohol and things like that. And so that would be your sign. Yeah. Um. Something like that. Or if someone died from an overdose or Okay. That type of thing,

Nadia 26:13

which

Elizabeth 26:14

I think that could still benefit others to

Nadia 26:16

like

Elizabeth 26:16

not just healing trauma unknowing, but also family history.

Nadia 26:20

'cause I think

Elizabeth 26:21

that's definitely something important. Interesting. That's so

Nadia 26:24

interesting. So for trauma, to go back

Elizabeth 26:27

to that,

Nadia 26:28

you have

Elizabeth 26:29

a lot of people who were participating in World War ii Yes.

Nadia 26:33

Yes. As soldiers

Elizabeth 26:35

and saw a lot of crazy stuff. Along with, you know, obviously an

Nadia 26:40

would

Elizabeth 26:40

be Holocaust survivors

Nadia 26:42

and their children. So we know that,

Elizabeth 26:44

Those kind of

Nadia 26:45

traumas they spill over into the next generations. You don't go through something as

Elizabeth 26:50

insane as, as like those types of wars and

Nadia 26:54

what those involved without having any kind of

Elizabeth 26:57

residual effect, whether that is alcoholism, whether it is unresolved anger, whether it is being very secretive.

Nadia 27:04

Those things, you know, the children do receive those.

Elizabeth 27:07

But there's an interesting, um, concept that's coming out now called epi genealogy,

Nadia 27:12

which is a study

Elizabeth 27:13

of intergenerational genetic trauma being passed. So it's something that I'm not an expert on, but it, there is scientific research now happening

Nadia 27:23

that

Elizabeth 27:23

suggests that the traumas that people have gone through in the past can affect their children, like on

Nadia 27:28

a,

Elizabeth 27:29

like a. A molecular level, let's say, not just the environment and the behaviors that we see, but rather also can. Can have an effect

Nadia 27:38

with genes.

Elizabeth 27:39

So interesting. Um, that's so, it, it is good to know you may be, you know, experiencing something that is

Nadia 27:45

passed

Elizabeth 27:46

down that you don't realize. And so having a context of your family, uh, and what they went through can be helpful even for that. So that makes so much sense. And also just thinking

Nadia 27:56

when

Elizabeth 27:56

you talk about the World War II

Nadia 27:58

II and those kind

Elizabeth 27:59

of traumas

Nadia 27:59

and things that. Your family experienced maybe? Yeah. You

Elizabeth 28:03

can't necessarily research alcohol addiction, but

Nadia 28:06

you can research.

Elizabeth 28:07

Okay, so my dad's grandfather and his

Nadia 28:09

family went through all of

Elizabeth 28:10

this and, and their parents and grandparents went

Nadia 28:13

through this war and this

Elizabeth 28:14

and this playing over

Nadia 28:14

into the molecular level, and

Elizabeth 28:16

we know that. The body keeps

Nadia 28:18

the score,

Elizabeth 28:18

you know, trauma stays in the body. It can kind of maybe start to put the puzzle pieces

Nadia 28:22

together of

Elizabeth 28:23

like what led to potential addiction

Nadia 28:26

and, you know, potential mental health issues.

Elizabeth 28:28

Like, I'm gonna study that when I really

Nadia 28:30

deep dive

Elizabeth 28:31

into the book.

Nadia 28:31

'cause it's not that I'm looking

Elizabeth 28:33

for answers to that, But I do know that my

Nadia 28:35

dad and his siblings, like his brothers. Most of them

Elizabeth 28:39

struggled with alcohol addiction. It wasn't just him. Okay. So

Nadia 28:42

that points to something

Elizabeth 28:43

Yeah. From the generation previous. Yeah. Which, um, you know, I didn't find

Nadia 28:48

anything

Elizabeth 28:49

that was in the papers in terms

Nadia 28:51

of,

Elizabeth 28:51

your grandfather's specific behavior, but certainly we found that he was in World War

Nadia 28:57

ii.

Elizabeth 28:57

He did say that he.

Nadia 28:59

I think was in

Elizabeth 29:00

five different missions

Nadia 29:01

to go on to

Elizabeth 29:02

a Philippine island.

Nadia 29:04

What he saw there, what

Elizabeth 29:05

he did there, I don't know. I do

Nadia 29:07

know he was in a

Elizabeth 29:07

traumatic car accident in the 1950s before he had children. Wow. Um,

Nadia 29:12

that would probably answer some things. So I know he was older.

Elizabeth 29:15

I know that they

Nadia 29:15

were older when

Elizabeth 29:15

we had

Nadia 29:16

the kids. Yeah. My dad, his siblings and so,

Elizabeth 29:19

and

Nadia 29:19

they had

Elizabeth 29:19

several. Yeah. And, um, so could he, could, he was in the war and the car accident, could he have had some.

Nadia 29:26

You know, anger

Elizabeth 29:27

that he experienced. It's certainly possible, even knowing that those things happened, it gives, you know, some context to

Nadia 29:34

about, you

Elizabeth 29:34

know? Right. What was it like growing up

Nadia 29:36

with someone who

Elizabeth 29:36

had those things and happened to them? He had, your grandpa, I think, had a sister die. Uh, yeah,

Nadia 29:42

that was him. He had a

Elizabeth 29:43

sister die, uh, 12 years old. I'm sure. That was very upsetting.

Nadia 29:47

He also was moved from one country to another country back to

Elizabeth 29:50

this country. So, you know, all

Nadia 29:52

those kinds of things. Wow.

Elizabeth 29:53

Um, you, you start to be able to put together someone's life and just think how might that have, you know, affected him and his children? Yeah. Wow. And both your grandparents lost their

Nadia 30:06

mothers very young. Um, I did not,

Elizabeth 30:09

yeah. So I only met them once, apparently when I was a

Nadia 30:11

a baby. I remember

Elizabeth 30:13

talking to my grandmother once when I was like eight years old on the phone, and

Nadia 30:16

she was such a sweet

Elizabeth 30:16

lady. I remember my mom telling

Nadia 30:19

me they were older

Elizabeth 30:20

when like they had my dad, and I think he was

Nadia 30:22

one of the

Elizabeth 30:22

youngest. That's how it all plays out. So

Nadia 30:25

I, if anyone listening. Is

Elizabeth 30:28

has strong family history of these kind of things, whether it's alcoholism, whether it's just general trauma. I mean, there's so many ways in which I can go,

Nadia 30:37

clearly just listening to this,

Elizabeth 30:38

we've already kind of put together

Nadia 30:39

a puzzle piece that might, might be the right way or maybe we're off in a whole different direction.

Elizabeth 30:44

But I mean,

Nadia 30:45

from what you just described, that's, that's definitely

Elizabeth 30:48

a way

Nadia 30:48

to affect somebody. And I

Elizabeth 30:49

can

Nadia 30:50

only

Elizabeth 30:51

imagine. So I can see how that really helps. And it's also a lot to think about your client that

Nadia 30:56

learned about the

Elizabeth 30:57

whole other level of a family, other, like, that's, that's

Nadia 31:01

crazy. But also how, how healing, how, um, it's not just a rumor

Elizabeth 31:06

anymore, right? It's

Nadia 31:07

this is true. I don't

Elizabeth 31:08

have to wonder.

Nadia 31:09

Yeah. This

Elizabeth 31:09

is

Nadia 31:09

who these people

Elizabeth 31:10

were. These are their names.

Nadia 31:12

Just being able to, to know

Elizabeth 31:14

something

Nadia 31:15

rather than just thinking this happened or it

Elizabeth 31:17

didn't happen. I don't know why. I don't

Nadia 31:19

know anything.

Elizabeth 31:20

You know, you have some context, then you

Nadia 31:22

kind of

Elizabeth 31:22

rationalize what you,

Nadia 31:24

the hand you've been dealt. Right. Right. And,

Elizabeth 31:26

and kind of the hands other people have been dealt and kind of how they played those hands. Yeah. Um,

Nadia 31:32

and what does that

Elizabeth 31:32

mean for you and your family? And now I also wanna go back even farther in the family history. 'cause it's like you

Nadia 31:38

start getting into. You know, hundreds of years

Elizabeth 31:40

ago, and it's, you find people in the middle of Yeah. Of things in history that

Nadia 31:44

only just

Elizabeth 31:45

read about and you

Nadia 31:45

think my family was there. That's crazy. So,

Elizabeth 31:48

question on that. How, if someone wants to go back hundreds of

Nadia 31:51

years,

Elizabeth 31:52

do you research that? 'cause clearly there weren't newspapers that

Nadia 31:55

long ago. There were some

Elizabeth 31:56

places really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, the

Nadia 31:59

American, um, news goes back, uh, well when you think

Elizabeth 32:02

about it. You know, for a while Meco was

Nadia 32:06

coast, really only. And so you do have a lot of, um,

Elizabeth 32:10

written history

Nadia 32:10

there that's

Elizabeth 32:11

been archived. Um, you have, uh, then

Nadia 32:15

have European,

Elizabeth 32:16

um, if you

Nadia 32:17

go

Elizabeth 32:17

back to Europe, I found

Nadia 32:18

some things

Elizabeth 32:19

from quite long ago that were in the newspaper there too. It certainly does depend what country and, uh, you know, not every country that had those things have them. Available publicly. So, you know, it really, it depends for each person what,

Nadia 32:33

um, what their

Elizabeth 32:34

family's path

Nadia 32:35

was and, and kind of

Elizabeth 32:37

what records were kept. I mean, you think

Nadia 32:39

about.

Elizabeth 32:40

Even just thinking about my husband's country, Albania, they didn't have

Nadia 32:43

last names.

Elizabeth 32:44

I found out until like a hundred, like years ago. I mean,

Nadia 32:48

you were just, wow. Your

Elizabeth 32:49

name son of this person. Wow. And so

Nadia 32:51

you know how you keep records in that case? Yeah.

Elizabeth 32:53

How many John's son of Thomas to say in English? Just like, could you, could you have, you know? Yeah. So

Nadia 32:59

that, that's

Elizabeth 33:00

tricky. But there are people that

Nadia 33:01

are experts in that

Elizabeth 33:03

kind of decoding

Nadia 33:04

of what you.

Elizabeth 33:05

Um, know how each each country system works. So yeah, it's, it's always a, an interesting

Nadia 33:11

journey when I'm looking at all. Oh, I'm sure. What's

Elizabeth 33:13

the farthest back you've ever gone, like how many years? With my clients, I've gone to the fifth.

Nadia 33:19

Whoa, that's so cool.

Elizabeth 33:21

Yeah, that was, you know, and that was England and England had a

Nadia 33:24

lot of records, but you really

Elizabeth 33:26

do kind of need to come from people that had had a, some type of

Nadia 33:30

influence. At

Elizabeth 33:31

that time to

Nadia 33:32

get it,

Elizabeth 33:32

anything written

Nadia 33:33

down that makes sense from that period sense. Um, otherwise you see, um, a lot

Elizabeth 33:36

of people are,

Nadia 33:37

uh, have

Elizabeth 33:38

someone in their family

Nadia 33:39

does the

Elizabeth 33:39

digging on the genealogy, but, my training as a journalist has helped with, fact checking. So,

Nadia 33:45

Oh. Just because

Elizabeth 33:45

somebody said that says, it's like, I need proof, I need my document, I

Nadia 33:49

need something. I'm not just gonna

Elizabeth 33:50

tell you because somebody said that, obviously. So I, you know,

Nadia 33:54

I, I always am.

Elizabeth 33:56

Fact base and yeah. Need the evidence. And so I go

Nadia 33:59

as far back. 'cause you're the best person for

Elizabeth 34:01

the job. Well, I enjoy it. You really do.

Nadia 34:03

I mean, you,

Elizabeth 34:03

you can tell when people are interested because they

Nadia 34:05

either look very engaged or you start to see like

Elizabeth 34:08

a

Nadia 34:08

glazed No, this is fascinating. I,

Elizabeth 34:11

I picture

Nadia 34:12

you like, you know, when you see

Elizabeth 34:12

like the, the crimes, the crimes. Scene is

Nadia 34:15

like all the red, like ties, like that is like the family history in

Elizabeth 34:18

way. You do have

Nadia 34:19

to be able to

Elizabeth 34:20

Yeah. Make those connections and things.

Nadia 34:22

And we are all connected really. I mean,

Elizabeth 34:24

I've had, you know,

Nadia 34:26

we, we talked

Elizabeth 34:27

briefly,

Nadia 34:27

like I realized that our,

Elizabeth 34:29

my great-grandfather and your great-grandmother came to America. On

Nadia 34:33

the same vessel now, it wasn't the same

Elizabeth 34:35

trip, but they both came over on that trip. They both

Nadia 34:37

came over

Elizabeth 34:38

at third, third class passengers and

Nadia 34:40

just to know, like they were walking those

Elizabeth 34:42

ing halls. Mm-hmm. And

Nadia 34:43

here we are, you know, all these years later chatting

Elizabeth 34:46

and, and

Nadia 34:47

I think

Elizabeth 34:47

just people don't realize how many connections there are. You know, even though you, your family's Akan, mine's Italian, they both. Immigrated to work

Nadia 34:55

in the coal mines. Yours in

Elizabeth 34:57

Pennsylvania. Mine in Iowa. But, but there are a lot of shared, you know, connections. Yeah. Between people. If you, if you knew about it, you

Nadia 35:04

could pull

Elizabeth 35:05

that outta your back pocket at a

Nadia 35:06

party. Oh really? Because my

Elizabeth 35:08

family, da, da da, you know? Oh yeah. The fun facts are gonna be fun. Facting from now on, don't even, like, I'm gonna be so obnoxious at parties from now on.

Nadia 35:15

Oh, well, I'm actually a

Elizabeth 35:16

Slovakian American. Um, and I can speak Slovakian or slog, excuse me. Just

Nadia 35:21

kidding.

Elizabeth 35:21

That's still a very high

Nadia 35:23

expectation of a golden I have, but

Elizabeth 35:25

either way, you never know. Um, when you're highly motivated,

Nadia 35:28

you'd be surprised. Yeah. You know,

Elizabeth 35:29

then, you know, who knows if it

Nadia 35:30

unlocks some deep,

Elizabeth 35:31

deep internal, like

Nadia 35:33

generational thing or it's like I just

Elizabeth 35:35

pick it up so easily. I'm kidding. I highly

Nadia 35:37

doubt that. But wouldn't that be

Elizabeth 35:38

so cool? But, uh, that

Nadia 35:39

is, it's so fascinating

Elizabeth 35:41

and I do

Nadia 35:42

feel like you being a journalist makes you very qualified for this

Elizabeth 35:45

type of job. 'cause you know how to dig. And I like to Yeah, because

Nadia 35:49

you need to like to, yeah. Because

Elizabeth 35:50

sometimes you dig and dig and you find nothing and then, and sometimes it's

Nadia 35:53

detrimental

Elizabeth 35:54

how much you dig. 'cause you then

Nadia 35:55

you keep finding

Elizabeth 35:56

stuff. Yeah. And then you dunno where

Nadia 35:57

to stop. Yeah. And you, you know, you're like, I have spent way too much

Elizabeth 36:00

time on this particular thing I wanna explain. You know, and it's your own interest. And it's also wanting to get

Nadia 36:07

the

Elizabeth 36:07

most to your client

Nadia 36:08

about

Elizabeth 36:09

what you can tell

Nadia 36:10

them. Because it just, it's

Elizabeth 36:11

like the information is just waiting

Nadia 36:13

there and you just

Elizabeth 36:13

need to like grab

Nadia 36:14

it and put it together. Share this story so, so much more

Elizabeth 36:18

than what

Nadia 36:18

you can learn from just DNA testing.

Elizabeth 36:20

I feel like.

Nadia 36:21

Absolutely. It's huge because it's, it's,

Elizabeth 36:24

you know, it's the backstory. You

Nadia 36:26

know, that cousin that came to me

Elizabeth 36:27

like, for example, and was like,

Nadia 36:29

um,

Elizabeth 36:29

to me and my

Nadia 36:30

dad, like, how do we fit

Elizabeth 36:31

in? And it, he had the DNA, but he

Nadia 36:33

didn't have the story. And then

Elizabeth 36:34

I was able to give him the story. This is where your ancestor

Nadia 36:37

went. This is, I was able to show him this. Street that he lived on

Elizabeth 36:41

until he died. And so now we've met this cousin. Um, it turned out we

Nadia 36:46

both were

Elizabeth 36:47

in Chicago at the same time and we had coffee, and

Nadia 36:49

it just, you know, it's just another piece

Elizabeth 36:51

of your puzzle and it just, uh, um, it just adds to your life, I think. Absolutely.

Nadia 36:57

Um,

Elizabeth 36:58

Like I, like I said already many times

Nadia 37:00

What this,

Elizabeth 37:01

I keep referring to the book. What

Nadia 37:03

this has given me is I actually

Elizabeth 37:05

my mother this. I was like, even though my dad was not present, little did I

Nadia 37:08

know that he would give

Elizabeth 37:09

such a gift. Of just his existence. That's right, that's right. And you have a

Nadia 37:14

lot of strong women in your

Elizabeth 37:15

family.

Nadia 37:16

Yes. Did you read

Elizabeth 37:17

about them? Uh, a little bit.

Nadia 37:18

Like there

Elizabeth 37:19

is a lot of, Resentment on that side of the family because of the lack

Nadia 37:22

of involvement,

Elizabeth 37:23

the lack of knowledge, the lack of really care. And I can now jump past

Nadia 37:28

like my dad's siblings and

Elizabeth 37:29

family and look at the history and. Feel part of that, even if I didn't

Nadia 37:33

feel a part of it from them. Does

Elizabeth 37:35

that make

Nadia 37:35

sense? Really believe

Elizabeth 37:36

your ancestors would've embraced you even if, if

Nadia 37:39

you don't feel that

Elizabeth 37:39

that current side has in

Nadia 37:41

the way that you would like

Elizabeth 37:42

it. You know, the, the sense I got from them

Nadia 37:45

they were extremely family oriented. Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth 37:47

They had a lot of hardship. Yeah, I did hear about that. Deaths and things and, um, but, but they seemed very much like

Nadia 37:55

to take

Elizabeth 37:55

care of their own. And so just to

Nadia 37:57

feel embraced

Elizabeth 37:58

by them if no one else. I mean, it's, it's a comforting feeling and, and again, uh, to know your, to know your Slovak

Nadia 38:05

culture and, it

Elizabeth 38:07

gives you a

Nadia 38:07

sense of, it's

Elizabeth 38:08

a deeper rooting than, like you said, you've been feeling so big time, thousand

Nadia 38:13

You don't

Elizabeth 38:13

need

Nadia 38:13

little strand

Elizabeth 38:14

necessarily too. Exactly. Be a

Nadia 38:16

part of the whole fabric. So,

Elizabeth 38:18

and I think that

Nadia 38:18

is the biggest gift that you've given, is that connection to that. So, um, do you feel

Elizabeth 38:23

that way? No, and I, and

Nadia 38:24

I mean

Elizabeth 38:24

that, I'm not

Nadia 38:25

saying

Elizabeth 38:25

that 'cause you're my podcast, I really do mean that. And yeah. It's just, it really is, for lack of

Nadia 38:30

better words. Cool. But it's, it's really, um, it paints a bigger picture of yourself that you didn't know existed. So. It's so and so many people can

Elizabeth 38:37

benefit from this. I feel

Nadia 38:38

it's a shame

Elizabeth 38:39

that um, it seems a lot of times older people are

Nadia 38:43

Right? It's like not until they reflect later

Elizabeth 38:44

on, it's like,

Nadia 38:45

I think as young people, it's so beneficial.

Elizabeth 38:48

but we're

Nadia 38:48

about who we are, who we want to be, and

Elizabeth 38:51

just having this like deeper base of.

Nadia 38:53

of.

Elizabeth 38:54

Um, who we come from and, and what that means and what they did to get us

Nadia 38:58

where we are

Elizabeth 38:58

because it's really the sum of

Nadia 39:00

all their

Elizabeth 39:00

decisions that brought us where we are and, you know, allowed us to, to live.

Nadia 39:04

And so it, it is substantial and, and

Elizabeth 39:07

has played a big role in your life, whether you've thought about it or not. So just having that knowledge is like very powerful.

Nadia 39:14

I completely agree.

Elizabeth 39:15

And it, it all, just hearing this and

Nadia 39:17

also like knowing what

Elizabeth 39:18

I know now,

Nadia 39:19

it empowers me

Elizabeth 39:20

to like wanna be stronger.

Nadia 39:22

More successful? Yes. But it's more like when I go through hardship, when I have

Elizabeth 39:27

mental health battles or this or that,

Nadia 39:28

it makes me want to push forward more to, you know, heal whatever generational traumatized that

Elizabeth 39:34

still may be lingering.

Nadia 39:36

'Cause

Elizabeth 39:36

you know more than we did then kind of thing and. It just,

Nadia 39:41

it makes

Elizabeth 39:41

my resiliency,

Nadia 39:43

which sometimes I get frustrated by

Elizabeth 39:44

that you have to be so resilient or this or that. It makes me feel more empowered to continue on that path. You know what

Nadia 39:50

I mean? Certainly knowing what the people before you endured. Yeah. Um,

Elizabeth 39:54

you know, I totally agree. I have a great grandmother and when I learned about everything she endured, I just thought,

Nadia 40:01

oh my

Elizabeth 40:01

God. When people, like about the good old days, I'm like, whatcha

Nadia 40:03

talking about?

Elizabeth 40:05

what?

Nadia 40:05

are talking

Elizabeth 40:06

about?

Nadia 40:06

Right. Lemme tell you

Elizabeth 40:07

about my great grandma

Nadia 40:08

really quick. This is the one who's

Elizabeth 40:11

got the illegitimate father. So she grew up

Nadia 40:13

in a

Elizabeth 40:13

very small Catholic Sicilian town with parents who weren't married and everyone knew it. I think, oh God, a scandalous, um, that's a scandal right there. She,

Nadia 40:22

you know, was born into that. Then

Elizabeth 40:24

she gets married in that town. She has two children. They come here three weeks after. Arrive, her son dies.

Nadia 40:30

So he got sick on the journey. He was three years old.

Elizabeth 40:34

Um, so that's one child. She ends up having my grandfather, uh, after that I think, I think he was, she was pregnant with him.

Nadia 40:41

him.

Elizabeth 40:43

Like around the

Nadia 40:43

time this

Elizabeth 40:44

child died, so you're pregnant, you've just lost a child. She ends

Nadia 40:47

up losing two more

Elizabeth 40:48

children. Her husband dies in the, um, Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which a lot

Nadia 40:54

of millions of people died. This new, she doesn't speak language. She's

Elizabeth 40:58

had all these tragedies. She gets

Nadia 41:00

in an

Elizabeth 41:00

arranged marriage

Nadia 41:01

with another Sicilian moves. Um,

Elizabeth 41:04

and

Nadia 41:04

he ends up getting

Elizabeth 41:05

shot in the face, which I found out. Um, he

Nadia 41:08

had a, he lived, oh, wow.

Elizabeth 41:10

He had

Nadia 41:10

glass eye and my father never knew

Elizabeth 41:12

why. And I was like, that was his

Nadia 41:14

grandfather. And he's like, that's why. He's like, nobody

Elizabeth 41:17

about it. It's just like he had a, so it's like he gets shot, her

Nadia 41:22

other daughter dies. My grandpa ends up being the only surviving. Child,

Elizabeth 41:26

you know, of all these tragedies

Nadia 41:29

and you just

Elizabeth 41:29

think, God, it was one thing

Nadia 41:31

after another for this

Elizabeth 41:32

poor woman, and yet she

Nadia 41:34

carried on. You know, was

Elizabeth 41:36

very influential figure,

Nadia 41:37

I understand

Elizabeth 41:38

to her kids,

Nadia 41:39

her son and grandchildren and, and very strong

Elizabeth 41:42

woman. And so, yeah, it's just to know these, you know, things, it

Nadia 41:45

just makes

Elizabeth 41:45

you feel like, what am I complaining about, like for myself, sometimes you think like, oh, I don't, you know, this

Nadia 41:51

like a first world problem, something that I'm upset about. Right? And it, it just kind of really

Elizabeth 41:55

puts in perspective. Not that we

Nadia 41:57

don't

Elizabeth 41:57

all have our challenges. Of course we do, right. But, but just to know kind of things that.

Nadia 42:02

Your

Elizabeth 42:03

family went through before you got here and they made it and you'll make it. Yeah.

Nadia 42:07

it's

Elizabeth 42:07

just, you know, it's just kind of a positive reinforcement. That's what I was

Nadia 42:11

kind of taking from that, like

Elizabeth 42:12

hearing that it like yes,

Nadia 42:13

it's not just our little promise you

Elizabeth 42:15

were there, but if anything can also help

Nadia 42:17

you feel

Elizabeth 42:18

like you're

Nadia 42:18

not alone. Exactly. That's kind of what

Elizabeth 42:20

I hear from you and you're not Yeah. And these people went through what they did,

Nadia 42:23

so you could be here so you could, you know, be their

Elizabeth 42:27

legacy and just, oh, that makes me like emotional. Oh,

Nadia 42:29

Think

Elizabeth 42:30

about, oh my gosh. Um, I don't know why that like got me for some reason, but that's, maybe, that's

Nadia 42:35

kind of what I think from learning about this

Elizabeth 42:37

side of the family. Again,

Nadia 42:39

I don't know much

Elizabeth 42:40

about my dad and his siblings. I know some

Nadia 42:42

of them have

Elizabeth 42:42

had a little bit of success, but

Nadia 42:44

I, I don't know. 'cause I also feel a little awkward saying this on the podcast,

Elizabeth 42:48

but

Nadia 42:49

we can talk about everything before then and feeling

Elizabeth 42:51

like my purpose

Nadia 42:53

is what I make of it, but my legacy can be to just be. A light and to whatever hardships of that family endured and

Elizabeth 43:01

I can

Nadia 43:01

take all that. That brought me to this

Elizabeth 43:03

point in my existence and continue on

Nadia 43:05

with what my

Elizabeth 43:06

heart and goal is, is

Nadia 43:07

to be a good person and put love and put all of,

Elizabeth 43:09

you know,

Nadia 43:10

to

Elizabeth 43:10

help people with their hardships,

Nadia 43:11

so to

Elizabeth 43:12

But I don't know, like that

Nadia 43:13

is a beautiful sentiment to

Elizabeth 43:15

think about. Wow.

Nadia 43:17

I did not

Elizabeth 43:18

think I would get emotional

Nadia 43:19

on this episode, but here we are. I'm like, oh, whip it in real, real in

Elizabeth 43:21

real quickly. So, oh my God. Um, no, it's a very touching, um, experience

Nadia 43:27

to, to, to

Elizabeth 43:29

connect and that's why I think more of us need that. I mean,

Nadia 43:32

people are looking

Elizabeth 43:33

for, um, like I

Nadia 43:34

said.

Elizabeth 43:36

Uh, a community

Nadia 43:37

or like,

Elizabeth 43:38

they get involved in like,

Nadia 43:39

uh, you know, this

Elizabeth 43:40

team and they

Nadia 43:41

put all their energy to that and it's

Elizabeth 43:42

like, you wanna be a part of, so, but you are part of something and you already are a part

Nadia 43:46

of it, whether you

Elizabeth 43:47

know what it is or

Nadia 43:48

you've, you've

Elizabeth 43:49

given

Nadia 43:49

it any

Elizabeth 43:49

thought. Um,

Nadia 43:51

you know, it's there and it's yours and it's so

Elizabeth 43:55

interesting and unique

Nadia 43:56

for every person. Yeah. And,

Elizabeth 43:57

um, yeah, it's so valuable and so I'm so glad that it's touched you and it

Nadia 44:02

really has, um,

Elizabeth 44:03

not. I,

Nadia 44:04

Oh, I, I've said this

Elizabeth 44:05

already, but it's even

Nadia 44:07

just this conversation is helping me

Elizabeth 44:09

realize

Nadia 44:10

the

Elizabeth 44:11

bigger impact that this knowledge

Nadia 44:13

is, is giving me. Um, 'cause I think part of the reason I got emotional is there

Elizabeth 44:18

is so much resentment for me personally to that side of the family. And

Nadia 44:22

it's really beautiful to be able to zoom out of that and see the beauty from even the

Elizabeth 44:28

hardship, from the struggle, from all of

Nadia 44:30

the stuff, for lack of better words, they endured.

Elizabeth 44:34

That brought me here in this moment with you. And I think that's the beauty of it. And yeah, I'm excited to learn more about this background of mine and the cultural aspect of it. And you know,

Nadia 44:44

it's 'cause it's more than just me trying to get a passport. It's,

Elizabeth 44:47

and, and I think that's where my interests have now changed. 'cause

Nadia 44:50

when we first

Elizabeth 44:51

started talking, it was more just like, I wanna get an

Nadia 44:53

EU passport. I

Elizabeth 44:54

wanna pursue this.

Nadia 44:54

This is so cool. Whatever, whatever.

Elizabeth 44:56

now it's like I get

Nadia 44:58

to

Elizabeth 44:58

learn.

Nadia 44:59

About me. That's right. And

Elizabeth 45:01

certainly for me, having gone through the process now I can tell you that you do, like, you have the passport, but you do

Nadia 45:08

feel connected.

Elizabeth 45:09

Yeah. You do feel like, these are my people. This

Nadia 45:11

is why I have the passport. This, because these are my people

Elizabeth 45:13

and that's

Nadia 45:14

I

Elizabeth 45:14

I have the right to it. There's something very special about that you feel, uh,

Nadia 45:18

an acceptance.

Elizabeth 45:19

Certainly.

Nadia 45:20

And being embraced in the

Elizabeth 45:22

way that like,

Nadia 45:23

this is yours

Elizabeth 45:24

and you do want to,

Nadia 45:26

uh,

Elizabeth 45:27

connect with that. So, yeah. Big time. Oh, man.

Nadia 45:31

Well, one of my questions was gonna be what would

Elizabeth 45:35

you say to encourage others

Nadia 45:36

to be interested in their own family history and

Elizabeth 45:38

legacy? I feel like you've already kind of talked about that, but

Nadia 45:41

maybe we round this out in closing

Elizabeth 45:42

statements of.

Nadia 45:44

What? What do you have to say to

Elizabeth 45:46

anybody listening who maybe this

Nadia 45:47

piqued their interest? Maybe they know a little bit like similar to me, like you just

Elizabeth 45:52

know a little

Nadia 45:52

piece of it, but

Elizabeth 45:53

it actually is so

Nadia 45:53

much more. I mean, even in this conversation alone, like I think that's why my emotions keep kind of

Elizabeth 45:58

coming to the surface

Nadia 46:00

is I just keep

Elizabeth 46:01

going back

Nadia 46:01

to the

Elizabeth 46:01

resentment of how I feel towards that side of

Nadia 46:04

family and learning that.

Elizabeth 46:05

There is actually

Nadia 46:06

a whole

Elizabeth 46:07

beautiful perspective that I can take on it and that is so healing

Nadia 46:10

and I'm gonna sit there so I don't cry, but I think that is very important. So I'll give you the floor to speak to. How, what would you say to anybody and why you think this is important? Closing statements. I think everyone gets something a little bit different out of this experience, but, but the main thing is the same, just a

Elizabeth 46:28

deeper

Nadia 46:28

sense

Elizabeth 46:29

self. I think if

Nadia 46:30

you're struggling with thoughts of who am I, who do I

Elizabeth 46:33

wanna be? Even having a role model, somebody that you found out about when you've done this research, that

Nadia 46:38

you can go and say, yeah,

Elizabeth 46:39

that's where I get that strength from. I feel this a bit. And now I know where that comes from. You really will see a lot of patterns. And again, it's

Nadia 46:47

healing. It

Elizabeth 46:48

can be comforting, it can be very informative, and you know, it's not

Nadia 46:51

something to

Elizabeth 46:52

wait until you're, you know, older, um, to really embrace because it,

Nadia 46:58

it's so powerful,

Elizabeth 46:59

even as a younger person to, to have this information. And going forward, and you feel just, you feel stronger as a person in, in knowing your roots and um, and what you can be capable of and what those

Nadia 47:12

were capable of. And here you

Elizabeth 47:13

are and you have, you know, this whole path in front of you

Nadia 47:16

yours to

Elizabeth 47:17

side. And that they took their,

Nadia 47:19

their paths the way they

Elizabeth 47:21

did and it brought

Nadia 47:22

you here. And, and like you said, it, it's a very deep emotional,

Elizabeth 47:26

um, experience,

Nadia 47:27

but, but one that's so worth

Elizabeth 47:29

it. And,

Nadia 47:30

and that's

Elizabeth 47:31

I would say to people is just.

Nadia 47:33

um, once

Elizabeth 47:34

you do

Nadia 47:34

it, you'll know what we mean and. I encourage you to seek out your family, whether it's

Elizabeth 47:39

through me or your DNA test initially, or whoever you think would have information. And certainly ask your people that are older in your family that have

Nadia 47:48

information. Try to get

Elizabeth 47:50

some now before it's too late, if you have that possibility. 'cause certainly I can find things out, but you know, the more you're able to, to

Nadia 47:57

ask, then the, the

Elizabeth 47:58

better, equipped you are to, to. Search and um, I love that. Well, Nadia, for anyone listening, if they're

Nadia 48:04

interested in learning more about your services, how can they reach you?

Elizabeth 48:07

I'm on Facebook, I'm

Nadia 48:09

on Instagram, lamantia

Elizabeth 48:11

genealogy services, um, as my website. And certainly reach out any of

Nadia 48:16

those places

Elizabeth 48:16

and I'd be happy to help you Free link all at the show, Don send any of the content so they can find you there. But thank you so much.

Nadia 48:23

Thank you so much

Elizabeth 48:23

for such a, um,

Nadia 48:26

informative

Elizabeth 48:27

episode

Nadia 48:27

of. A piece apart,

Elizabeth 48:30

a whole legacy that I bet most of us had no idea

Nadia 48:33

existed. I know I, for

Elizabeth 48:35

wand. Um, and I'll see you in that EU passport.

Nadia 48:39

Good. I'm so happy to be

Elizabeth 48:41

here. Thank you for letting me share this with me. No, thank

Nadia 48:44

you so much. You are such a, you're doing, I was like, you're doing

Elizabeth 48:47

the Lord's work, but truly like.

Nadia 48:50

Here I was thinking we're gonna go, on this episode, we're gonna talk about generational trauma.

Elizabeth 48:53

And here I am, like literally about to cry on my own episode because I just, the impact of what your work does. So I'm glad that our

Nadia 49:00

crossed and I hope that you

Elizabeth 49:02

can help more people and hopefully

Nadia 49:03

we, we resonate with some people listening.

Elizabeth 49:05

Um, 'cause I'm already,

Nadia 49:06

I already

Elizabeth 49:06

have people coming to mind that I'm like, I want less

Nadia 49:09

them to use your services. 'cause I think there is

Elizabeth 49:12

a lot of healing that

Nadia 49:12

be

Elizabeth 49:12

done from that. I don't wanna say I'm

Nadia 49:14

completely healed, but I could already feel my perspective

Elizabeth 49:16

shifting on my dad's side of the family because of what you've given me. That's wonderful question. It's, it's

Nadia 49:22

it's healing. So even if it's not

Elizabeth 49:23

related directly to generational trauma, it can help your own. So I think that's important. So thank you.

Nadia 49:28

Thank you.