These Ottoman archive pages are  based on the last Ottoman census begun in 1879 and ending sometime in the early 1880s.

The original documents are so large that to translate and copy on to an A 4  turned out to be impossible, therefore each original document is divided into 3.

The first paper numbered 206 has been translated by staff at the national archives of Vakif. Sadly not many people in Cyprus can read the old Ottoman scripts which means the translations are often slow and painstaking. The information  include year of births, marriage,  arrivals,  place of residence (by plot number) national service, tax valuations, number and type of animals owned, year of deaths, land registry numbers relating to ownership of land etc. Its the most comprehensive documented research ever carried out on Lurucina

On page 3 the records are a variation of teachers salaries, (not yet translated) court cases and an Ottoman dictionary in order to help readers understand better the contents of the documents.

In order to comprehend the importance of this, when the 1831 census documents (awaiting their arrival) are finally translated and examined the jigsaw puzzle relating to our origins may finally be completed and understood. Its becoming clearer however that in spite of the village being founded in the 12/13th centuries and having gone from Lusignan, Venetian and Ottoman rule the vast majority of  today's family roots in Lurucina seem to have begun around the mid 1700 to late 1700s. What happened to the original inhabitants is still unanswered at this time and moment.

A new and important element in the search for the families of Lurucina is that for the first time all the Greek speaking population born or living in the village between 1786 & 1880s are now included in this research. It remains for our former Greek speaking families to check, examine and hopefully contact me on the email provided on this site to offer any information on the generations after the 1880's so I can add them to the families of Lurucina.

An Important point to remember is that the census is NOT A FAMILY TREE. It lists the names of individuals residing at a particular house. In other words like the census's of modern times different members of  a family lived in different houses. It remains for us to establish and add their birth, marriage details to the family tree pages. This will be completed in due course. In the meantime I hope everyone enjoys searching for their own family roots.

In order to put things into perspective I have added certain historical events that occurred in years of certain individuals for example ''When Mustafa 'Gazmalevri' -father of Mehmet Gatsura) was born in 1813 Simon Bolivar becomes dictator of  Venezuela and Mexico declared its independence''. Amazing to think that Mexico and many countries as we know them today hardly existed when our ancestors were born. History is an amazing subject, but only by analysing issues impartially without certain political or ideological prejudices of our present mind set can we truly understand our past. If and when that happens the shadow that hangs on  our past will become all the more clearer.

Ismail Veli 'Kirlapo'

An important thing to bear in mind is that many individuals were often registered when an official visited the village, therefore the registration of  births/deaths etc could possibly have been a year or 2 later . If the concerned family were accurate in giving  information to the officials then the year of birth/death could be accurate, this however is not conclusive fact, therefore an element of error cannot be ruled out. The dates on the right hand side are normally the date of births of younger persons registered on another page. These will be explained on each relevant page (still being completed)

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