Samos County, Greece Genealogy
Guide to Samos County ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.
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History
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the 1 mile wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality.
The island was governed by the semi-autonomous Principality of Samos under Ottoman suzerainty from 1835 until it joined Greece in 1912.
Samos (Wikipedia)
Geography
Samos (Greek: Σάμος) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the 1.6-kilometre (1.0 mi)-wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. Samos, Wikipedia
Municipalities
Most of the research you do will be at the municipality level, by contacting the Mayor's Office of the municipality.
| 1. Samos is the only municipality in the county of Samos. |
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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)
Municipal Archives - Samos County
The Archives of the Prefecture of Samos
Patriarhou Damianou G.A.K. Department
831 00 Samos< Greece
Tel: +30 22730 24220
Fax: +30 22730 28682
Email: mail@gak.sam.sch.gr
The Archives of the Prefecture of Samos
The Archives of the Prefecture of Ikaria
Agios Kirykos
833 00 Ikaria, Greece
The Archives of the Prefecture of Ikaria
Greek National 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.
Central Archive
General State Archives (GSC)
Dafni 61
15452 Psychiko
Greece
Phone:+30 210-6782200
FAX:+30 210-6782215
Email:archives@gak.gr
Samos County Archive
Nomos Samos
Ktírio próin Fylakón
83100 Samos
Greece
Phone:22730-24220, 22730-28682
Fax:22730-28682
Email:mail@gak.sam.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
Writing to a Diocese
Records may be either at the diocese archives or still at the local parish church. Usually only the most recent records are still at the parish.
Information on addressing the letter, enclosing money, and a form letter in Greek, with its English translation are found in this .pdf:
- Form Letter to a Diocese
- Asking for a Marriage record
- Follow up Thank You letter
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 :