At present this site provides a family tree for the Cytera side of the family only. I will in future conduct research on my other three grandparental names: Suchto, Dubicki and Gutowicki, but you will have to settle for just Cyteras for now.
The Cytera family name is believed to come from the Greek island Kythera, but how and when it came to appear in eastern Poland no-one really knows for sure. Kythera has many spelling variations, initially due to its transcription from the Greek to Roman alphabets, but also due to the pronounceability of the word in Slavic languages. To confuse matters further English has many accepted names for the island due to its various colonial eras. This is not always shared in other western languages however. For instance, in French it is consistently referred to as “Cythère”, which explains why the French pronounce my name consistently and the English don’t!
Click here to go to the island’s official site
And there's some general family history stuff here: Kythera family
And if that’s all Greek to you click here for some other information on the island (in Polish).
There are many curious links on the Internet to the Cytera name, many of them quite exotic. Here is just a sample:
At the top of the family tree is the name of a couple Michał and Maria, who were my Polish great-grandparents. To the side you will see two arrows: this is because Michał and Maria each already had children when they met, and so there are many half-sibling relationships in the tree. You can access the families of “Michał only” or ”Maria only” by clicking on either of these side-arrows. Alternatively you will see that Michał and Maria had three sons together: Leon, Ludwik and Antoni, who curiously each ended up living and having family in three different countries: Germany, the UK and Poland respectively. You will see this reflected in the names of their descendants. Click on the arrow corresponding with any of the three to access their respective families. You will see that you can switch between siblings easily from any of their three screens, or you can click the “home” icon in the top right to go back to the beginning.
At any stage if you see that a name is highlighted (coloured) you can click on it to get a picture of that person. On the whole I have used recent pictures where possible. You will also sometimes see a clickable P where I have a picture of a group of family members.
Click here to view the Cytera family tree. You will need to be using Microsoft Internet Explorer to view this part of the site as this is a slide show.
If you have more information or comments then click here to contact me.
Last updated: 16/3/2008