Latvian Genealogy Blog

Two Names, One Person? Created by Dall-E Perhaps you’ve encountered a situation where a soul revision list includes just two names—Juris Mārtiņš, for example. But which is which? Are these two given names, or is one a surname? This week I was researching the soul revision lists for Bābele Manor (Germ. Barbern). I read these revision lists in the German gothic handwriting nearly every week, and mix-ups like this one — a name that could be a patronymic or a second given name —

Recently, I received a question: how does one transition from church records to revision lists? How can you determine which revision list...

Have you come across the terms "half-manor" or "cattle manor"? What are they, how do they differ, and why should a family researcher know...

Many of us have ancestors from the border regions – and our origins may be sought on the Estonian, Belarusian, or Lithuanian side. Accordingly, documents must be searched for in the archives of these countries. How do you search for your ancestors on the Estonian side? Created by Image Creators In my opinion, those who have Estonian ancestors or Latvian ancestors from Estonia are lucky. The digital site of the Estonian National Archives and the Tallinn City Archives, Saaga, i

What are soul revision transfer lists and how to read them? What do the German column headings mean?

This post is a short information what revision lists are and what the numbers and column headings mean. Soul revision lists are the most...