Kovna Gubernia, Russian Empire Genealogy

Russian Empire

Kovna Gubernia

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Guide to Kovna (Kaunas) Gubernia, Russian Empire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, and tax records.

Historical Background

The Kovna gubernia (also known as Kaunas) was formed 18 December 1842 by Tsar Nicholas I from seven western uyezdi (districts) of the Vilna gubernia. The Kovna gubernia consisted of those seven uyezdi.

Currently, most of the former Kovna gubernia is now located in Lithuania with a small part in Latvia and Belarus.

Getting Started

Before jumping into records for this province, you MUST know the name of the village in which your ancestor lived. If you do not know the town name, one of the best ways to locate it is by research in the country that your ancestor immigrated to. If your ancestor immigrated to the United States, see the U.S. Immigration Records: Finding the Town of Origin article.

In addition to knowing the name of the village in which your ancestor lived, it will also be important to know which religion your ancestor belonged to, as that will be essential in locating church or religious records.

If your ancestor was Jewish, see the Religious Records article. If your ancestor was Catholic (Roman or Greek) Lutheran, or Orthodox, check out the Church Records article.

Historical Geography

Kovna gubernia was divided into seven districts as shown on the table below.

District - Lithuanian	District - Russian	District - Transliterated Russian	Polish
Kaunas	Ковно	Kovno	Kowno
Panevėžys	Поневеж	Ponevezh	Poniewież
Raseiniai	Россены	Rossieny	Rosienie
Šiauliai	Шавли	Shavli	Szawle
Telšiai	Тельши	Telshi	Telsze
Ukmergė	Вилькомир	Vilkomir	Wiłkomierz
Zarasai	Ново-Александровск	Novo-Aleksandrovsk	Novo-Aleksandrovsk

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