Lithuania Church Records

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Lithuania

Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Lithuania, go to the Religious Records page.

Introduction

Historically, the predominant religion in Lithuania has been Christianity, with the largest confession being that of the Roman Catholic Church.[2] There were also smaller groups of Evangelical and Reformed Protestants, Russian Orthodox, Jews, and Old Believer Orthodox. The first census taken in 1923 in independent Lithuania established the following religious distribution: Catholic — 85.7%; Jews — 7.75; Protestant — 3.8%; Greek Orthodox — 2.7%.

The church acted as both a religious and civil agent in recording vital events and church sacraments such as baptism and burial. These records are commonly referred to as church records, metrical records or metrical books. The priests made a transcript of their records for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction. Jewish transcripts were filed with the local town council (gorodskaia duma). Old Believer and Baptist transcripts were sent to the provincial administration (gubernskoe upravlenie). The distinction between the original and the transcript is often ignored by Lithuanian record keepers.

Record Coverage

Population coverage is about 70% coverage for early periods, 90% from about 1830 through the 1940s when civil registration began, with about 50% among minority religions and dissident groups such as Old Believers and Baptists.

Years of record coverage vary depending upon religion and location. See below for some general guidelines:

• Roman Catholic records began as early as 1613, with transcripts beginning in 1826
• Jewish records were required to be kept beginning in 1835. Prior to this point, you may find them recorded in the church books of other religious denominations.
• Evangelical Lutheran/Protestant records began as early as 1641, with transcripts beginning in 1833
• Greek Catholic/Greek Orthodox records began in 1796
• Russian Orthodox records began in 1722
• Old Believers records began in 1874

Location

Lithuanian records may be stored in a variety of places - most commonly the State Historical Archive in Vilnius, but may also be stored in archives of neighboring countries such as the Central State Archives of Belarus (Minsk or Grodno branches). Some of these records are available online as digital images or indexed records. Others may only be accessible via an archive. This Wiki page will teach you about locating the church records.

Information Recorded in Church Records

Different denominations, different time periods, and practices of different record keepers will effect how much information can be found in the records. This outline will show the types of details which might be found (best case scenario):

Births/Baptisms (Gimimo)

In Catholic and Anglican records, children were usually baptized a few days after birth, and therefore, the baptism record proves date of birth. Other religions, such as Baptists, baptized at other points in the member's life. Baptism registers might give:

baptism date and place birth date and place the child's name child's gender

father's name and social estate/status mother's name including her maiden name status of legitimacy name of the priest who performed the baptism

names of witnesses or godparents, who may be relatives the family's place of residence death information, as an added note or signified by a cross (a cross does not always indicate the child died shortly after birth)

Marriages (Santuokos)

Marriage registers can give:

the marriage date the names of the bride and groom indicate whether the bride and groom were single or widowed their ages

birth dates and places for the bride and groom their residences their occupations

birthplaces of the bride and groom parents' names the names of previous spouses and their death dates names of witnesses, who might be relatives.

Deaths/Burials (Mirties)

Burial registers may give:

the name of the deceased the date and place of death or burial the deceased's age place of residence

cause of death the names of survivors, especially a widow or widower deceased's birth date and place parents' names, or at least the father's name

name of the priest

Locating the Parish

Metrical records (also commonly referred to as church records) were kept in the local parish of the church. The term parish refers to the jurisdiction of a church minister. Parishes are local congregations that may have included many neighboring villages in their boundaries. You might find them digitized and available online, or you might have to write to a centralized archive or to the local church where they are stored.

To use metrical records, you must know both your ancestor's religion and the town where he or she lived. You must also determine in which parish the town was located. If your ancestor was Catholic, use the Skaitmeninis bažnyčių žemėlapis (Digital map of churches) to determine the closest parish, as well as if records might be online. See below for instructions on how to use it.

Digital Map of (Catholic) Parishes + Links to Records

Skaitmeninis bažnyčių žemėlapis (Digital map of churches) is a good way to locate parishes nearby your ancestor's town, and to see which churches have online records available. Follow the directions below to use the site.

Click on Skaitmeninis bažnyčių žemėlapis (Digital map of churches)

To locate nearby parishes:

• Click on the first tab, Lithuanian Churches (Lietuvos bažnyčios)
• Type in the name of the town in the search box located in the upper left hand corner. You do not need to type using special characters. As you type, options will start to auto-populate in the drop-down box. Options will be listed by category: Bažnyčios (Church), Parapijos (Parish), Dekanti (Deanery) or Kita (Other).
  • If the town shows up under the Parapijos (Parish) category, this means that there is a Roman Catholic parish within the town itself.
  • If there is not a parish in the town itself, it may show up under the category Kita (Other). In this case, click on the name of the town to see it on a map. Use the green parish markers and deanery boundaries (teal lines) to help you determine which parishes are closest to your town.

To see what records are available online:

• Click on the third tab, Search by sources of church metrics (Paieška pagal bažnytininų metrikų šaltinius)
• On the map, places with the red church symbol have known sources online. Places with the gray church symbols do not have records online.
• Click on the red church icon for a town, and it will link to a list of available online records and where they are found. The list can be two pages with the first page quite blank, and the info you need on the second page. An arrow ">" on the far right takes you to the second page.
• On the second page is a list of "Related records". To the far right, the arrow ">" leads to a description page of the record.
• On the description page "More info" takes you to images of the actual records.

Locating Church Records

Once you have determined the location of the parish (see the heading Locating the Parish in this Wiki article for more information), you are ready to start locating records. See below for a variety of different websites and other resources in which you may locate records.

If you know which gubernia or province of the Russian Empire your Lithuanian ancestors lived in, check the Vilna Gubernia Church Records or Kovno Gubernia Church Records pages for more area specific links, information, and resources.

Digital Copies of Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog

Watch for digitized copies of church records to be added to the collection of the FamilySearch Library. Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a FamilySearch Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations. To find records:

a. Click on the records of Lithuania.

b. Click on Places within Lithuania and a list of towns will appear.

c. Click on your town if it appears, or the location which you believe was the parish which served your town or village.

d. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.

e. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. . The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the record.

ePaveldas: Online Catholic Church Records

• ePaveldas Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Collection is a digital repository and collection of items of Lithuanian heritage and culture, includes almost 4,000 Roman Catholic Church register books. Images, no index. Incomplete.
  • To learn how to use the Online Catholic Church Records available at ePaveldas, check out the "How to" Guide.
  • First, read through the Instructions.
  • Then test your knowledge with the short Assignment.
  • The Answer Key is provided to check your answers.

Metrikai: Online Catholic Church Records

Metrikai is a Lithuanian site that indexes metrical records from throughout Lithuania. It's a newer website and is constantly being updated with new indexes and information, so check back often. The website is only available in Lithuanian; however, for non-Lithuanian speakers, you can use Google Translate to help you navigate the site.

Website Translation

• If you use the Google Chrome browser, simply right click anywhere on the page and select the option Translate to English.
• If you prefer to use another browser, just go to https://translate.google.com/, and change the language settings to translate from English to Russian. Copy and paste the URL of the website you want translated into the English box and click on the link that appears in the Russian box. This will take you to a translated version of the site.
• In the upper right hand corner, above Powered by Google Translate, click on Select Language and find your language of choice.

For help using the site, follow the instructions below.

1. Go to https://www.metrikai.lt/index.php
2. If needed, translate the website into English (or your preferred language) using the information above.
3. Check to see if records for your parish location have been indexed by looking at the list of parishes on the left hand side (the black column with locations followed by RKB (Roman Catholic), and a number). The number following each parish name represents the number of records indexed from that location. If you do not see your parish in the list, check back in the future. If you do not know the name of the parish, you can search using just a surname in the search box on the main page.
4. If your parish does appear in the list, click on it.
5. In the search box that appears at the top of the page, type in the surname in the Keyword (Raktinis žodis) box. If desired, you can add additional search terms or filter by record type.
6. Press enter or click Search (leškoti).
7. Search results will appear in a columnar format. Keep in mind that Google Translate may not correctly translate all information. See the table below to help you navigate some of the common information that may appear in the columns.

Personal Information	Event Type and Dates	Additional Information from Record	Record Citation Information
Name (bolded) amžius (age) lytis (gender) šeimyninė padėtis (marital status) užsiėmimas (occupation)	Įvykiai (event) Gimė (birth) Gimė apie (approximate birth) Gyveno (residence) Tuokėsi (marriage) Mirė (death) Palaidota(s) (burial place)	Jaunasis (groom) Jaunoji (bride) Tėvai (parents) Tėvas (father) Motina (mother) Įvykio liudininkai (witnesses of the event) Miręs/mirusi (deceased) Gyvas/gyva (living) m. (years)	RKB (Roman Catholic Metrical Book) gimimo (birth) santuokos (marriage) mirties (death) Įrašo Nr. (record number) Internetinė nuoroda (online link) FS/DGS/[DGS number and/or item number] (FamilySearch microfilm/DGS - search the FamilySearch Catalog to find it) LVIA/1528/#/# (Lithuanian State Archives, fond, delo and opis number)

Bažnytiniai dokumentai Lietuvoje (Church Documents in Lithuania)

The Bažnytiniai dokumentai Lietuvoje Wiki page contains records for various location throughout Lithuania and Poland. There are several parishes with documents in the former Vilna Gubernia, most notably in the Troki and Vileĭka districts. The Wiki page is organized by location. Simply click on the name of your parish (keep in mind the parish names are in genitive case, so they may appear a bit differently than you are used to). Simply click on your parish name, and then select the year and record type desired.

Genmetrika

Genmetrika is an "independent" archive, meaning that individuals can contribute their own photos of documents. Due to the nature of the collection, keep in mind that the date ranges and localities represented are broad. Check back often as new metrical books are added frequently. Metrical books are available in a few different places on the site, as shown below:

• Birth/Baptism registers - there are currently over one-thousand digitized birth/baptismal books.
• Marriage registers - there are currently over one-thousand digitized marriage books.
• Death/Burial registers - there are currently over eight-hundred digitized death/burial books.
• Mixed books - metrical books that are mixed record books containing birth/baptism, marriage, and death/burial all in a single book.
• Metrics in Lithuanian Churches

Pasvalia

Pasvalia includes Roman Catholic Church records for various years and places. The website is in Lithuanian, but can be easily translated using Google Translate. If using the Google Chrome browser, right click anywhere on the page and select the option Translate to English.

To access church records, click on the green Documents (Dokumentai) button at the top of the screen. Next, click on Book of Metrics (Metrikų knyga). Thumbnails of church record books will appear. To see what kinds of records and for which parish location, hover your mouse over a book and a box will appear providing further information about the book. To view the digital images, click on the thumbnail image. You'll be brought to a page containing additional information about the church book. Click on Download File (Atsisiųsti bylą) to download a copy of the book.

There are also lists of parishioners available. To access these, again click on Documents (Dokumentai) and then choose List of Parishioners (Parapijiečių sąrašas). There are also other types of non-church related documents that you may find useful in your research.

Geneteka

Geneteka contains over 30 million indexes from many regions of Poland. Although it is a Polish website, and focuses on indexing Polish records, it contains indexes for areas that are now in modern day Lithuania. To learn how to use the site, see the Geneteka Indexed Records and Geneteka: Accessing Records "How to" Guides. Search by parish, or choose Lithuania (Litwa) or Belarus (Białoruś). Keep in mind that Geneteka primarily indexes Catholic records, although you may find records of other denominations there.

International Association of Germans from Lithuania

The International Association of Germans from Lithuania is committed to help individuals locate their German ancestors from southwestern Lithuania. Their free searchable database contains thousands of Lutheran church records from southwestern Lithuania. Click here to search the index. Click here to see what records are included in the database, and what records are up and coming. The site is constantly updating and adding new information, so check back often for new information. Click here to learn more about the organization.

Polish State Archives

The Polish archive system consists of many regional archives throughout Poland under the umbrella of the main Polish State Archive in Warsaw. The website incorporates the holdings of all regional archives to help users find and locate records. There are some records for areas that are now in Lithuania. To learn how to use this website, see the Szukaj w Archiwach - The Polish State Archives Website "How to" Guide.

Find MyPast

If your ancestor served in the British Armed Forces and had children abroad in Lithuania, you may find records in the following Findmypast collections.

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, index & images ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages,, index & images ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials at Findmypast - index & images ($)

Writing the Parish for Records

In some cases, you will not be able to find records online or at archives. In this case, records may still be kept at the local parish or at a diocese office. Below you will find some useful links for locating contact information.

You will need to write to or email the diocese, or local parish priests to find more recent records not deposited in the National Archives. Use the Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters. Then use an online translator, such as Google Translate to help you translate your message into Lithuanian. As a general rule, you should write inquiries in the language of the person receiving them. Do not expect them to understand or reply in English.

Catholic

Earlier records can be held at the diocese, with more recent records still kept in the local parish. To locate the mailing address or e-mail address for a diocese or local parish, consult:

Diocese Websites

These contain contact information for the diocese as well as lists of parishes, and in some cases their contact information

• Diocese of Telsiai
• Diocese of Siauliai
• Diocese of Vilkaviskis
• Diocese of Kaisiadorys
• Diocese of Panevezys

Other links

• The Catholic Directory: Lithuania
• Google Maps search results for Catholic churches in Lithuania Be sure to scroll through all the pages. There will be several pages with 20 entries each.

Lutheran

• Google Maps search results for Lutheran churches in Lithuania
• Google Maps search results for Reformed churches in Lithuania

Orthodox

• Google Maps search results for Orthodox churches in Lithuania
• St. Vardan Armenian Apostolic Church

Other Protestant

• Google Maps search results for Methodist churches
• Google Maps search results for Baptist churches

General

• Maps.me Church Listings for Lithuania
• Google Maps search results for churches in Lithuania Be sure to scroll through all the pages. There will be several pages with 20 entries each.

Reading Records

Lithuanian records can be written in a variety of different languages. Genealogical sources in Lithuania reflect Russian political domination and are primarily in Russian. There are also some records in Latin, German, Polish, and Hebrew. Lithuanian language is used only in twentieth century records.

For word lists and help researching in Lithuanian records, see:

• Russian Genealogical Word List
• German Genealogical Word List
• Latin Genealogical Word List
• Polish Genealogical Word List

Reading Roman Catholic Records

Below are examples and translations of typical column headings in Roman Catholic Metrical books in Lithuania. Keep in mind that the format of the information within the columns may vary.

Birth Record - Russian

1. Surname: the surname of the father is usually written out horizontally in this column. Rotate the page, and scan for your surname on each entry.

2. Entry number

3. Entry number

a. Male

b. Female

4. Date

a. Birth date

b. Baptism date

5. Baptismal information: when [date is written out long in a year, month, and day format] where [typically parish], who [name of child], and by whom baptized [priest].

6. Birth information: who were the parents [(social estate of father), (father's name) and (mother's name) (mother's maiden name) (father's surname) when [date is written out long in a year, month, and day format] and where [birthplace].

7. Witnesses: there are typically two witnesses.

8. Optional Notes

Marriage Record - Russian

1. Entry number: the surname of the groom and/or the bride are written out horizontally in this column. Rotate the page and scan for your surname(s) on each entry.

2. Date of marriage: just the date (numeral) is recorded in this column. In some cases, you may find the month written out on the first entry of the month, otherwise, you will find the full date recorded in column three.

3. Date and location of marriage and marriage banns: when [date is written out long in a year, month, and day format], where [typically parish], by whom married [name of priest].

4. Information about the bride and groom - groom: [social estate/standing/occupation], [groom's name], [marital status - bachelor or widower], [age], [residence]; bride: [residence or parish (genitive case)] [marital status - maiden or widow], [bride's name], [age].

5. Information about the parents of the bride and groom - [social estate/standing/occupation], son of [father's given name (genitive case)] and [mother's given name (genitive case)] born as [mother's maiden name (genitive case)] [father's surname (genitive case)]; with the daughter of [social estate/standing/occupation], [father's given name (genitive case)] and [mother's given name (genitive case)] born as [mother's maiden name (genitive case)] [father's surname (genitive case)]; names of witnesses.

Death Record - Russian

1. Entry number: in addition to the entry number, the surname of the deceased is usually written out horizontally in this column. Rotate the page, and scan for your surname on each entry.

2. Date of death: just the date (numeral) of the death is recorded in this column. In some cases, you may find the month written out on the first entry of the month, otherwise, you will find the full date recorded in column three.

3. Age: age is recorded in years, watch for abbreviations such as г. (year), мец. (month), нед. (week), д./дней (day), ч. (hours)

4. Name of the deceased and information about the date, location, and cause of death: when [date is written out long in a year, month, and day format], where [location of death], from [cause of death (may be in genitive case)], who [name of deceased], whether they received the holy sacrament.

5. Information about the deceased and those they left behind: [social estate/standing/occupation], [name], [age], left behind [name of children or spouse]

6. Name of the priest and when/where buried: [name of priest], [date of burial], [place of burial].