Lithuanian ancestry and family genealogy search tour

Private tour in Vilnius

Tour Price : $40-200 Duration : 1-78 hours Languages: English, German, Russian, Lithuanian

Family history in Lithuania research tour &possibility to find unique Lithuania historical records, history, and genealogy resources to help you trace your Lithuania ancestors. In order to find out more about your family during the genealogical research and to draw the family relations in the genealogical chart, it is necessary to have the essential facts from the life of the persons involved. The first name and the family name, dates of birth, marriage and death, as well as the place names are considered to be the essential data for personal identification.

The sources of such information could be various documents, e.g. records related to baptising, marriage, death, also, lists of parishioners, estate inventory lists, the population census data, etc. In our country, the main depository of genealogical sources is the Lithuanian State Historical Archives (10 Gerosios Vilties Street, Vilnius). The Archives preserve almost all 18th – 20th cc. church record books from Vilnius, Seinai, Telšiai (Samogitia) Roman Catholic dioceses, and the record books of 1924 – 1940 from Panevėžys, Kaunas, Kaišiadorys, Vilkaviškis Roman Catholic churches. These church books contain records of baptisms, marriages and deaths. The Archives also preserve record books from the churches of other confessions in Lithuania – Russian Orthodox, Old Believers, Jewish, Evangelical Reformed, Lutheran, Moslem, Karaite – with birth, marriage, divorce and death records.

There are also documents of the civil marriage registry offices of 1940 – 2007, documents of the Chancellery of the Convention of the Nobility Representatives of the Vilnius Governorate, of custodial institutions of the nobility and their leaders of the Vilnius and Kaunas counties of these governorates, documents of the Augustavas County nobility leader, also private collections and collections belonging to different families. These are the main genealogical sources of the 18th – 20th cc. preserved in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives: Birth, marriage, divorce and death church records books of various confessions, Pre-marital questioning books, Lists of parishioners, Acts verifying the nobility, Lists of noble families, Estate inventory lists, Lists of auditing, Birth, marriage, divorce, death civil registries, etc. Documents, the access to which is not restricted by the law, are accessible in the reading rooms of the archives for the research into the original documents and digital document copies.

There are 4,758 digital copies of the files containing fonds of various churches and nobility offices, available on the Intranet of the Archives. These are the main genealogical sources of the 20th c. preserved in the Lithuanian Central State Archives: Domestic and foreign passports of the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, Documents of volunteers, conscripts, soldiers and officers of the Army of the Republic of Lithuania, Documents referring to the land reform, Personal files of teachers, pupils and students, Documents of persons abducted as forced labourers to Germany, The population census data from 1942 and 1959, and others. It should be noted that the access to many 20th c. genealogical sources preserved in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives is restricted by the law. Genealogical sources are being preserved not only in the state archives but also in libraries and museums. In the Manuscript Department of the Vilnius University Library, there are record books of some Roman Catholic churches and 230 personal fonds preserved; in the Manuscript Department of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, there are record books of some churches and inventory lists of Lithuanian estates preserved; at the Rare Book and Manuscript Department of the Martynas Mažvydas Lithuanian National Library of Lithuania, there are record books of some Telšiai (Samogitian) diocese churches preserved.

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