So last month I posted a “Plan of Attack” for finding more about the origins of my great-grandmother Anna Liepa. So, how has it gone? Not all that well, I’m afraid. The house book for Romanova iela 62/64 did not
Plan of Attack: Finding Anna Liepa in the RÄ«ga Records
My most difficult ancestor is my great-grandmother Anna Liepa. The reason for this is because she was born in RÄ«ga, and RÄ«ga is a big place. This means that any record search inevitably takes forever, since there are many records
Day of Remembrance – Jewish Victims of the Holocaust
This post should have been up yesterday, but I was out of town for most of the day and returned with a splitting headache, so I hope you’ll accept the post today instead. On July 4, 1941, numerous synagogues across
Project Update – June 2, 2010
The Latvian Surname Project has been updated! The total name count is now 800, I added 200 new names including TRĪSTILTIŅŠand PODNIEKS. Today I am also launching a new project, the Latvian Farm Project. The goal of this project
Making Sense of Exonyms
So after puzzling through the various alphabets and orthographies, you have been able to establish what your ancestors’ names would have looked like back in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This is a great first step towards tracking them
Village of My Ancestors: Krustpils
[This post was written for the 27th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, hosted by Al’s Polish-American Genealogy Research.] For this edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, I will be talking about
Importance of Farm Names
Before I went to the Latvian State Historical Archives for the first time, I didn’t pay much attention to farm names. Sure, I knew the name of the farm where one of my grandfathers grew up, but I didn’t attach
Britons in 1870s Latvia?
I’ve been looking through the church records for the Sece Lutheran congregation, in southern Latvia. South of the Daugava river, between the towns of Jaunjelgava and JÄ“kabpils. My great-grandfather Brencis LÄ«cÄ«tis is allegedly from around this area, born in the
Surname Saturday – Kukurs
This edition of Surname Saturday is about the surname Kukurs. I have chosen this surname for two reasons – a person with this surname in my family tree is currently giving me trouble, and I happened across the definition of
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