My name is Ana Zekants. I grew up in the USA, spent several years in Japan and have now made my life in Australia. I am an artist, a teacher, a mom, an amatuer historian and am now turning my hand to writing.

I have created this website as a precursor and companion to a book I am working on based on the two branches of my husband’s Latvian ancestry: the Zekants family and the Rozentals/Rozenvalds family. I have spent more than 12 years researching these families and in so doing have learned many interesting ways in which Latvian history interconnects with other Baltic countries and indeed the world.   

I come from a long line of genealogists and so grew up understanding how interesting and how important family history is. I studied art history as an undergraduate and have a MA in Linguistics. Researching and writing about family history is a melding of these two passions: history and language.

I knew virtually nothing about the Baltic region before meeting my husband over 20 years ago. Learning about the journey that his grandparents took after WWII, emigrating from Europe to Australia was fascinating. With the encouragement and support of my husband’s family I started a search that would become my passion.

I have taken courses along the way with professional Latvian researchers to improve my skills in understanding how to use relevant online resources and also how to read the old German, Latvian and Russian records myself. Unfortunately, I do not speak these languages but I have learned the skills to make important connections and make this history come to life.