“Fearless Females” – March 3

Today’s prompt: Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.

Well, the most unusual name in my [...]

“Fearless Females” – March 2

Today’s prompt:Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?

I’m cheating, and posting two. While looking through my photos, I realized that I have very few of female ancestors by themselves. There were a couple, but not [...]

“Fearless Females” – March 1

I am working on the posts about the All-Russia Census and farm names, but as a warm-up to get in the spirit of the blogging world again, I’m also going to participate in The Accidental Genealogist‘s “Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month”.

I’ve realized that on this blog I talk a lot [...]

Genealogy Goals for 2010

[This post is written for the 87th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, hosted by Creative Gene.]

While not new to genealogy, I am new to both genea-blogging and having information about my family such that I can conduct meaningful research. Most genealogical research that I have done has been for other people, and any efforts [...]

Surname Saturday – Radziņš

Today I’m featuring one of the new surnames I’ve discovered in my family tree – Radziņš (feminine form Radziņa, the surname of one of my great-great-grandmothers.

Marija Radziņa was born on November 16, 1856. I am not sure yet where she was born, but she married Pēteris Celmiņš sometime before 1878, when their first child was [...]

Mysteries Revealed – And Created

So today was my second day, and first full day, at the Latvian State Historical Archives.

I was able to view the passports I mentioned in my previous post, belonging to Pēteris Celmiņš and Anna Celmiņa (born Liepa), and confirmed that they are the correct individuals, and thus able to add their information to my family [...]

First Day at the Archives

So I have arrived in Latvia, and today I made my first trip to the Latvian State Historical Archives.

And I may have already found something!

Since it takes them a few days to find and bring out the requested documents, for the most part today was just filling out the forms to request the items I [...]

Deciphering Handwriting

While looking at the 1895 Census images last week, I found a record that I believe belongs to one of my great-grandfathers, Brencis Līcītis. The Brencis Līcītis listed here is around the right age. Brencis is a fairly uncommon first name, and Līcītis is even less common so chances are good that this is the [...]

Working With The 1895 Census

I have had a bit of time now to look at some of the Latvian records for the 1895 All-Russia Census, though I am still on holiday. Just can’t keep away from the genealogy!

The form format is predictable, even if the languages in the headers seem to change – the Krustpils headers are solely in [...]

Surname Saturday – Baburs

Participating in my first Geneabloggers daily blogging theme – Surname Saturday!

The surname up this week is Baburs.

The most recent ancestor I have with this name is Karolīne Matilde Baburs, born in Riga and baptized in the Church of Jesus parish in the late 19th century, to Mārtiņš Baburs and his wife Ēde. Mārtiņš’ father, Ādams, [...]