Achaea County, Greece Genealogy
Guide to Achaea County ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.
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History
Achaea, sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia is one of the regional units of Greece.
It is part of the region of West Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras.
Achaea (Wikipedia)
Geography
Achaea (/əˈkiːə/) or Achaia (/əˈkaɪə/), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaïa (Greek: Αχαΐα Achaïa, [axaˈia]), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Achaea was created out of the former prefecture Achaea (Greek: Νομός Αχαΐας). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganized, according to the table below. Achaea, Wikipedia
Municipalities
Most of the research you do will be at the municipality level, by contacting the Mayor's Office of the municipality.
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Villages
Municipal Archives
Quite comprehensive records for your family, perhaps for several generations, are kept by the mayor's office of each municipality. Civil registers of birth, marriage, and death since 1925 are kept there. In addition, an important record, unique to Greece, the Dimologion is similar to a "family group record". Census records, contracts, and other records can be found.
Information About Important Records in Municipality Archives
Click on the links for an explanation on the types of records you will look for at the municipality level.
- Modern Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers
- Male Registers (Mitroon Arrenon)
- Town (Resident) Registers (Dimotologion)
Greek National Archives, and County Archives
- The Greek National Archives (GAK or GSA) has a central office in Athens, and local offices throughout Greece. These offices have copies of Male Registers, Town (Resident) Registers, School Records, and other documents of interest to family historians. Civil registers are not preserved in the Central Service (CS). Some records are online. Others are not online, but the staff will search them for you upon request.
Important Records of GAK
- Electoral Registers, 1870s
- Election Collection John Vlachogianni (1864-1925)
- Electoral Archive Hellenic Parliament (1844-1893, 1915)
- Ladas Collection Election Collection George Lada (1843-1873)
Georgia Stryker Keilman has been translating the Vlachogiannis collection into English. Check these first to possibly save time. The translations can be accessed on her website by clicking on the following links for the Index to Greece Historic Election List Archives:
Central Archives
General State Archives (GSC)
Dafni 61
15452 Psychiko
Greece
Phone:+30 210-6782200
FAX:+30 210-6782215
Email:archives@gak.gr
Achaea County Archives
Nomos Achaea
Maizonos 174 and Korais
26222 Patras
Greece
Tel.: 2610312539
Fax: 2610317550
Email: mail@gak.ach.sch.gr
Greek Orthodox Church Records
Important Church Records
- Book of Births: date of birth, place of birth, gender, name, surname, father’s name, date of baptism, godfather and priest, notes
- Book of Marriages: date of marriage, groom’s name, groom’s age, groom’s father’s name, groom’s mother’s name, bride’s name, bride’s age, bride’s father’s name, bride’s mother’s name, priest, place of birth, notes
- Book of Deaths: date of death, name of the deceased, father’s name, age, notes
How to Read the Records
You do not have to be fluent in Greek to read and understand these records! Only a few vocabulary words are involved. True, the alphabet is different. But you learned one alphabet, and you can learn another alphabet!
- Greece Handwriting and Text will teach you the alphabet in print and handwriting and give you some computer translation tools.
- The article, This simple Greek Word List, features a short list of key terms. You should learn to recognize these.
- Other words will be used on a "look it up when you come to it" basis. For this, more thorough word lists can be found at :