Finding Family on Facebook

In October of 2010, I got the idea to make a list of all the descendants of my great-grandparents Michael and Xenia Greshko. These are the folks who immigrated to the U.S. around 1902 from Galicia, Austria and settled in Pennsylvania. They had 10 children, my grandpa Bill Gresko was their 7th, and I'd always been vastly curious about them and the whole family.

All genealogists say to "start with what you know," so I began by laying out the family tree with the 10 kids and their spouses. Then I wrote down my own aunts and uncles and cousins since I am in contact with most of them. That was a pretty big group! My grandpa's descendants have been very proliferative. I also knew the daughter of my grandpa's sister (Joyce), so I got her address from my cousin, looked up her phone # with the online directory, and gave her a call. She was a delight, making me laugh with stories of her life in New Jersey. She was able to give me the info on her own family, that two of the Greshko siblings had not had any children, and the address of another of my grandpa's sister's sons. I sent this cousin a letter.

Lacking the patience to sit and wait, I began randomly searching names of relatives on Google, Dex directory, and of course, Facebook. My first success came with my cousin Andy Greshko. Somewhere in my mind, I'd stored that my first cousin, Michelle, had met one of our Greshko relations when she lived in Georgia. I even remembered that her name was Cheryl, so I began searching for "Cheryl Gresko or Greshko" on Facebook. I found a Cherie Greshko living in Georgia and sent her a message asking if she could be related. I also checked her friend list and saw that she was friends with an Andy Greshko, which is the name of the youngest Greshko child. I sent him a friend request, too.

Andy was the first to respond with this message: "Howdy from your Eastern cousins!"

Cherie quickly jumped on once she saw Andy and I were friends and I had a joyous couple of days sharing info back and forth. Their dad died very young and they didn't know much about the rest of the family, so they were eager to learn more. It was especially fun to me to learn that Andy has a daughter who looks exactly like our Aunt Alice! I told them about my search and they filled me in on their immediate family and were able to give some clues about others.

My next success came with an email from the cousin I'd sent the letter to: Jason Carriere. Jason told me he'd "google searched" me after receiving my letter and learned all about me from my blog! He and his wife were willing to get to know the rest of the family and to help with my quest. I asked them if they were on Facebook (they were) and they quickly accepted my friend requests. It was wonderful to see pictures of their kids and to learn their likes and interests so easily. I encouraged them to take a look at my profile, too. Jason was able to help me locate his only other Greshko first cousin (on Myspace) and to fill in the rest of his family. He and his wife are funny and smart and have two beautiful kids and we're all hoping to meet in person soon!

By this time, December was quickly approaching and I was preparing my Christmas cards. I also started making the descendancy list document that I hoped to send to everyone. I "friend requested" all of the cousins and sent messages asking for their mailing address. Everyone responded - it was amazing!

It was now the first week of December, and I had found all the family except for that of my grandpa's older brother Pete. I had the names and birthdays of his 5 children. The only lead I had was a letter from his daughter Carol to my grandparents written 12 years earlier which located her in Bullhead City, AZ. I sent a letter to the address on the envelope, but ...nothing. I contacted my dad's sister, Myrna, who is also a genealogist, and she told me that Carol was near her daughter and her kids in Apache Junction, AZ. Repeatedly searched sites all over the internet, again, with no luck.

One day on Facebook, I was randomly searching for the 5 names of the kids (again) when I found a "Peter Michael Gresko" whose age matched the age of the son. I sent him a friend request explaining who I was and asking if we were related. He also had a "Carol Gresko" among his friends, so I sent her a message, too. After two anxious days of waiting, Pete accepted my friend request. Once he did, Carol quickly responded and sent me a message. "I saw that you are friends with my brother Pete and that you have Gresko in your name. Are we related?" "YES! I think we are!" I replied.

Over the next few days with Carol's help, I was filled in on a whole line of family that I had known nothing about: 30+ descendants. Many of them were on Facebook and quickly accepted my friend requests. I finished the descendancy chart, printed it out, and sent it along with my own Christmas letter to 33 Greshko families. Over the last month, I have received Christmas cards back from many of these relations, often with a note thanking me for the chart and for finding them. I was tickled to receive a photo of my cousin Jason and his family and to see that he has the same dark, curly Gresko hair that my dad and Grandpa have! Several of the families have twins (which runs in the family) and so many of the boys have the classic Gresko "look" - very handsome men!

Thinking back on this whole process, it is just amazing to realize how quickly I found everyone, especially in genealogy timelines. In less than two months, I found over 50 people that I had known nothing about and was able to contact them and receive replies back. I've seen pictures of them, learned about their interests and families, and been able to establish a connection that I plan to nurture in the coming years. I am so grateful for the men in the family who were the first to respond to my friend requests, and the women who saw those friendships and quickly jumped on board to give information. How blessed I have been by this whole experience!

I spent Christmas with my dad and while we were there, I signed him up for Facebook. "It was the men who responded first, Dad. You've got to be on there so that we can find our family."

He happily agreed.