I have previously written about searching for homesteads on maps, but this time I want to share my recent experience. In August and September, many Latvian descendants visit Latvia to discover their family history. For me, this was an interesting time—I met various people from different countries, and together we searched for old homesteads. How do I search, and what can I recommend to others?
Where to start?
Most often, I start with the website vesture.dodies.lv, which seems to be the largest collection of historical Latvian maps on the internet. On the right side, you can activate various map layers. The two main maps I usually use first are:
1934 Latvian Road Map
1920–1940 (75K) Latvian Army Map
The 1934 map isn’t very detailed, but it clearly shows the parish boundaries of the time. These boundaries are important because often the first information about a homestead comes from the pre-war period.
Sometimes the family already knows the name of the house and parish, other times it’s found in, for example, the 1935 or 1941 census. Since many homes share the same names in different parishes, it’s crucial to pay attention to the specific parish boundaries.
Variations of house names in different documents
For example, it was known that a certain family lived in the “Kalei” house in 1943. This information was provided by the archives, based on reports from the LSSR Extraordinary Commission regarding residents of Kursīši parish deported to Germany during the German occupation.
The archive document was originally in Russian, and the house name was thus translated into Russian. For someone unfamiliar with both Latvian and Russian, it might be difficult to match the house name on the map, as in Latvian the house was called “Kalēji.”
This particular farm was marked on the 1934 road map, but strangely enough, it didn’t appear on the 1920–1940 Latvian Army map (75K).
Soviet-era maps
Soviet-era General Staff maps (Latv. Ģenerālštāba kartes) are very detailed and often useful for searching for homes. I looked for “Kalēji” on such maps—in editions from 1947, 1963, and 1986. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a 1947 map for this area, and the house wasn’t marked on the 1963 map. However, it was found on the 1986 map (25K).
Why some maps show houses and others don’t is unknown to me, but the conclusion is clear: don’t give up if you can’t find something on one map. Check if the house appears on a map from another period!
Modern technology helps
To find the homes in real life, I use the Balticmaps.eu app. Although this app is paid, it is much more detailed than Google Maps and helps pinpoint the location of homes even if they no longer exist. In this case, the Kalēji farm longer exists, but the map still shows the location of the abandoned house.
Name search tools
Both Balticmaps.eu and vesture.dodies.lv maps have a search function that helps find homes by name. When I couldn’t see “Vidiņi” on the old maps, I entered the name into the search, and I quickly found it. If the farm name is very common, it can be harder to find the right parish, but if the name is rarer, the search becomes easier.
“Vidiņi” didn’t appear on the 1934 or 1920–1940 maps, but it was marked on the 1947 General Staff map. This confirmed that this was a historical homestead, not a modern construction.
Conclusions and recommendations
Use maps from different periods: To get a complete picture of ancestral homesteads, it is important to use maps from different periods as they can vary.
Be cautious with variations of house names: House names can change or be written differently in various documents. For example, a house called “Bronza” in older documents was later called “Branze” and during the Interwar period “Branči.” In modern maps, the house is called “Brancas.”
Pay attention to the historical affiliation of the farm: Sometimes identical names can exist in several places, so you need to know which manor or parish the house used to belong to.
Don’t be afraid to use modern technology: The Balticmaps app is very helpful if you’re searching for homes in the field.
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