In many congregations, only short-form marriage registers are available. These usually list only the names and surnames of the bride and...

In an older blog post , I already wrote about the transition from German to Russian in church books. In this post, I will explain how to...

On June 3, 1891, an order was issued in the Russian Empire that from now on Lutheran church books should also be kept in Russian. The...

For genealogists, invaluable resources can be found not only in archives but also in museums and libraries. This time, I will focus on my...

In genealogy, small details often lead to big discoveries. Genealogists are naturally passionate, and I’ve also found myself, in my...

Recently, I received a question: how does one transition from church records to revision lists? How can you determine which revision list...

This time, I want to explain with an example why it's important to pay attention to godparents in baptismal records. Godparents can...

Last time, I wrote about Latin abbreviations, but this time I want to look at some Latvian abbreviations in church books. It seems that...

Recently, a colleague and I were examining a death record that was partially in Latvian and partially in Latin. Here is what we found and...

Do you think that in the past everyone lived "happily ever after" and never got divorced? Recently, I saw a 1906 marriage record with a...

If you've looked through the church records on the Raduraksti website, you may have noticed the parishioner registers. What can be found...

In this blog, I have looked at both baptism and marriage records. Now, it's time to look at death registers in German. What is indicated...

For Kurzeme and Vidzeme family researchers, German language skills are a must. In this post, I will help decipher what is written in the...

Many of us have ancestors from the border regions – and our origins may be sought on the Estonian, Belarusian, or Lithuanian side....

If you have been researching your family history for a while, looking through various parish records, you've likely encountered...

Reading and interpreting the records of Riga's church books can be more complicated than those of rural congregations. This is due to the...

This week, I had the chance to delve into the records of Mazsalaca Lutheran Church, and twice was not able to find the baptismal record I...

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

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...