You are no doubt familiar with the problem—you come across an interesting article in a historical newspaper, but it’s not only printed in...

In many congregations, only short-form marriage registers are available. These usually list only the names and surnames of the bride and...

In an older blog post , I already wrote about the transition from German to Russian in church books. In this post, I will explain how to...

On June 3, 1891, an order was issued in the Russian Empire that from now on Lutheran church books should also be kept in Russian. The...

In this week's post, I want to share a small piece of advice that I also gave to my course participants. For a family researcher, it is...

This week I encountered a case that reminded me once again - documents cannot be blindly trusted! They need to be verified, and we must...

Reading through my family history, I discovered a sad coincidence - in two generations, my ancestors married during wartime, and instead...

This week I thought about an interesting fact that led me to read the conscription rules of the Latvian Legion. Specifically, of two twin...

Regular readers of my blog may have noticed that I often mention writing a book. Yes, step by step, I am documenting the results of a...

This week I researched a family that emigrated to Canada in 1899. Having left when Latvia was still part of the Russian Empire, family...

Was one of your ancestors a parish elder? What was a parish board, and what did the parish elder do? This blog post will explore these...

If you are interested in exploring not just family genealogy but also the broader history of your family and the local area, it is worth...