Did my ancestors have an estate? No, of course not. But life in the countryside in the 19th century was closely linked to the estate....

Now and then, in church books, you come across words that you don't find in modern dictionaries. How to understand their meaning? Where...

Remember the story of Arvīds Pūrs, who was conscripted into the Latvian Legion of the Germany Army and ended up in England after the war?...

If you've come across a family member's passport from the interwar period, you may have noticed stamps and records related to their place...

For every serious genealogist, there comes a time when a visit to the archive is necessary. Not all documents are digitized; a...

If you have decided to research your family roots in Latvia, often the first step will be to request birth, marriage, or death...

Have you got German-Baltic ancestors? In such situations, it's quite possible that some family members moved away from the Baltics and...

Have your ancestors been Russians, Belarusians, or Lithuanians living in Latvia? If so, there might be records in the archives detailing...

Exploring one's family history becomes truly special when it leads to discovering more about ancestors through dry birth, marriage, and...

During this summer, I had several research projects with an aim to prepare a family tree as wedding gift. It's truly a beautiful and...

Summer is the time for travel, and perhaps you, as Latvian descendants, are planning to visit Latvia. How can you quickly find the first...

If you are looking for information about family members who participated in the Second World War, there are several memory institutions...

What are soul revision transfer lists and how to read them? What do the German column headings mean?

This post is a short information what revision lists are and what the numbers and column headings mean. Soul revision lists are the most...

Most people are curious to see exactly where their ancestors lived. Does the farm still exist? Or what is in its place?...

In the 1890s, Russian, instead of German, was required as the administrative language in the Baltic governorates. Church books had to be...

If your ancestors were from Latgale Region, they were probably Roman Catholic. Earlier Catholic church books were written in Polish, but...

Reading church book records in German and Russian is the first challenge when researching Latvian ancestry. See below for visual help on...

In the 1840s, many Latvians in Vidzeme Region converted to Orthodox Christianity. They received new Orthodox names. How to identify your...

Is your name a "real" Latvian given name? To the disappointment of many Latvians even names that we think are real Latvian names are...