Lithuania Jewish Records: Difference between revisions

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==Find the Town==
==Find the Town==
In order to research your family in Lithuania, it is essential that you have identified the place where they came from. It is not enough to know only 'Lithuania;' you must know the town or shtetl that they came from. In addition to research in the records of the country the immigrated to, you may also want to examine the following sources to help you determine possible town locations.   
In order to research your family in Lithuania, it is essential that you have identified the place where they came from. It is not enough to know only ‘Lithuania;' you must know the town name and the district/province name. The name of a nearby larger town can also be very helpful.   


One of the best ways to determine information about your ancestor's pre-immigration origins is to investigate records in the country of immigration. Records that might give clues about your ancestor's birthplace include vital records like marriage or death, vital records of children or spouses, census, synagogue records, obituaries, naturalization/immigration and so on. Find a Wiki page for the country, state, or county that your ancestor immigrated to in order to discover what types of records might be available for the area they lived in. See [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/archdta11.shtml this page] on Miriam Weiner's Routes to Routes page for additional tips on finding your ancestor's hometown.
See the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/admindist.shtml Administrative Districts and Divisions] article on Routes to Roots Administrative to learn more about jurisdictions in the Russian Empire and their modern-day equivalents.
====JewishGen Family Finder====
====JewishGen Family Finder====


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====Miriam Weiner's Surname Database====
====Miriam Weiner's Surname Database====
Over her 30+ years of working in Eastern European archives, Miriam Weiner collected vast amounts of material and can be searched using the '''[https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/lnintro.shtml Surname Database.]'''
Over her 30+ years of working in Eastern European archives, Miriam Weiner collected vast amounts of material that can be searched using the '''[https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/lnintro.shtml Surname Database.]'''
*Use the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/lnsearch.php Standard Surname Database] if you know your ancestor's given name, surname, or town name. This database is comprised of name lists from local historians and heads of Jewish communities, name lists from books, and name lists from various archives.
*Use the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/lnsearch.php Standard Surname Database] if you know your ancestor's given name, surname, or town name. This database is comprised of name lists from local historians and heads of Jewish communities, name lists from books, and name lists from various archives.
* Use the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/ocrsearch.php OCR Surname Database] (optical character recognition) to search for your ancestor's surname. The search of the database is done using Cyrillic spellings, but the search form allows you to enter the name in Latin letters and automatically transliterates it into Cyrillic for you. This database is comprised of information from business directories, address calendars, telephone books, typed name lists, and name lists from books and from archives.
* Use the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/ocrsearch.php OCR Surname Database] (optical character recognition) to search for your ancestor's surname. The search of the database is done using Cyrillic spellings, but the search form allows you to enter the name in Latin letters and automatically transliterates it into Cyrillic for you. This database is comprised of information from business directories, address calendars, telephone books, typed name lists, and name lists from books and from archives.
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