This post is the first in a series that I’ll be making about events in my ancestors’ lives, on the days that the events took place. My reasons for this series are twofold – first of all, it helps me
Anatomy of a Birth Record
So you want to use Raduraksti, but you’re intimidated, because you don’t know German or Russian. That’s okay! With a bit of work, you can find everything you need to know from these records, without needing to be fluent, or
Getting Out of Riga
RÄ«ga is the capital city of Latvia and the largest city in the Baltics. Since Latvian records are largely unindexed, this means that locating an ancestor in RÄ«ga is like looking for a needle in a haystack. If your ancestors
Paying Attention to Details
It is too easy, especially when reading records that require interpretation of handwriting in an unfamiliar language, to pick out the main details – date of birth and parents – but ignore the details that are “not strictly necessary” –
Working With Revision Lists
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the Kurland revision lists are up on Raduraksti. Good news – the Livland (Vidzeme) revision lists are up too! Now here is your guide to making sense of these documents! I’m going
Latvians Abroad Museum and Research Centre
I came across this initiative awhile ago, though I can’t remember where: “LatvieÅ¡i PasaulÄ“ – Muzejs un PÄ“tniecÄ«bas Centrs” (Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre in English, LaPa-MPC for short). Their goal is to create a museum in Latvia
One Year!
One year ago today, I created this blog! I never imagined I’d get the response that I have. Turns out there are a lot more people looking for their Latvian roots than I thought! I know the past couple of
Kurland Revision Lists!
I was looking around on Raduraksti, and I saw that they have posted what appears to be the full collection of the revision lists for rural Kurland (modern-day Kurzeme and Zemgale). They can be accessed by going “Saturs” -> “DvÄ“seļu
Surname Saturday – “Aiz”
Welcome to Surname Saturday on Discovering Latvian Roots! Today we’re going to look at Latvian surnames beginning with the prefix “aiz-“. This is a prefix that can mean various things depending on the context, but most commonly it means “beyond”,
Surname Saturday – “Ä€bele/Ä€bols/Ä€boliņš”
Welcome back to Surname Saturday on Discovering Latvian Roots! Sorry I’ve been quite busy recently, but now I’m starting to be able to get back to genealogy and genealogy blogging. Today we’re going to look at names relating to three