Greece Civil Registration: Difference between revisions

:::'''Research in Greece: Using Civil and Church Records, by Gregory Kontos'''<br>

:::This presentation covers Civil Records found in Town Halls, records at the General Archives of Greece (GAK) and Church records. Learn about each record collection, what they contain and how to access them.

==Definition==

Greece's civil registers mostly cover the 1840s–1940s. Beginning about the 1840s, civil registration was formally established, requiring that separate records of birth, marriage, and death be kept by the local government. A separate record-keeping administration, Lixiarheion, was not fully established until 1925, when a national department for government registration of vital records was established. Even then, the practice of civil registration was not fully established in all areas until 1931.

The most important civil records for genealogical research are birth, marriage, and death registers. Contemporary civil registration records usually contain the following information.'''<br>

Birth records generally give the child’s name; date the birth was reported; place of birth; hour, date, and day of the week of birth; date, place, and parish of baptism; the father’s name, occupation, religion, citizenship, and residence; the mother’s name; and the godparents’ names.

*[[Media:Birth Certificate Greece 1.pdf|'''Click here''']] to see a visual example of a birth certificate and its translation.

Civil officials recorded the marriages in registers, usually preprinted forms bound in a book and kept in the civil office. Marriage registers give the date of the marriage, the names of the bride and groom, their ages, their places of birth, their residences, their occupations, their citizenship, their religion, whether this is their first or a subsequent marriage, and their parents’ names.<br>

*[[Media:Marriage certificate Greece 1.pdf|'''Click here''']] for a visual example of a marriage certificate and its translation.

Death records are helpful because they may provide important information on a person’s birth, spouse, and parents. Death records generally give the name of the deceased person; date recorded; time, date, and day of the week of the death; place and cause of death; birthplace; age; residence; occupation; religion; citizenship; marital status; spouse’s name; father’s name; and mother’s name. Women’s maiden names are not mentioned in death records. '''Civil death records often exist for individuals for whom there are no birth or marriage records. '''

*[[File:Greece death certificate.png|700px]]

*[[Media:Death Certificate Greece 1.pdf|'''Click here''']] for another visual example of a death certificate and its translation.

==== Male Registers (Mitroon Arrenon)====

When Greece became an independent state, communities began keeping registers of males (Mitroon Arrenon), which list all the males born in a particular community. They were kept for voting and military purposes. Male registers were created for all communities in Greece. As new areas became part of Greece, their communities also began keeping male registers. In some areas, male registers were reconstructed from other records back to 1825. (Source: Greg Kontos, Research in Greece Using Civil and Church Records, HELLENIC GENEALOGY CONFERENCE. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgnuo4xVM6Q&feature=youtu.be Video]

====Female Registers (Mitroon Thilaion)====

Some areas also kept a female register (Mitroon Thilaion), which usually started at a later date than the male register. These registers were created retrospectively and therefore may be missing some people. Male and female registers give the following information: name of the person, father’s name, year of birth (later registers list full date of birth), place of birth, and mother’s given name. The entries are listed chronologically by the date of birth.

==== Town (Resident) Registers (Dimotologion)====

====Family Status (Oikogeneiaki Katastasis) ====

===1. The records are in the local (municipal) mayor’s office.===

===2. Copies may also be found in the county archives (Nomarhia). ===

===3. Some records are collected by the General State Archives of Greece (GAK) ===

 

The [http://www.gak.gr '''Archives of Greece'''] 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)

===4. The records may be available on microfilm in FamilySearch Records ===