Vilna Gubernia Church Records

Introduction
One of the predominant faiths in the Vilna Gubernia was that of Roman Catholic, although there were also groups of Evangelical Lutherans and Reformed Protestants, Russian Orthodox, Jews, and Old Believer Orthodox. These churches acted as both religious and civil agents in recording vital events. Transcripts of metrical (church) records were sent to the ecclesiastical court or provincial administration, and Jewish records were filed with the local town council. Years of record coverage vary depending upon religion and location. See below for some general guidelines: Metrical records may be stored in the State Historical Archive in Vilnius or the Central State Historical 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. Find your ancestor's religion below to learn more about how to find metrical records.
 * Roman Catholic records began as early as 1613, with transcripts beginning in 1826
 * Russian Orthodox records began in 1722
 * Greek Catholic records began in 1796
 * Evangelicals/Protestant records began as early as 1641 with transcripts beginning in 1833
 * Jews were required to keep records beginning in 1835. Prior to this point, you may find them recorded in the church books of other religious denominations. For more information about Jewish records see Vilna Religious Records.
 * Old Believers records began in 1874

Digital Copies of Roman Catholic Church Records through FamilySearch
Digital images of Roman Catholic metrical records for several uyezdi of the former Vilna gubernia are available online. Records may be available for your ancestor's parish, or they may be included in an uyezd wide collection of metrical records. You should check both places for records. Follow the instructions below for more information.

How to Locate Parish Records

 * 1) Go to https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog
 * 2) In the Place box, type in the name of the parish. Or click here and follow the instructions below to use the places within feature.
 * 3) Click on Places within Russia, Vil'na.
 * 4) From the list that appears, select the uyezd that your ancestor lived in.
 * 5) Next, click on Places within Russia, Vil'na, [Uyezd].
 * 6) Browse the list to locate the name of your ancestor's parish.
 * 7) Once you have located your parish, look for the heading entitled Church Records. Click on that. Then, look for titles that include "Metrical books" and have the Roman Catholic Church listed as the author.
 * 8) Once you have located your desired record, click on it.
 * 9) This will take you to the catalog entry page for your desired record. Scroll down to the Film/Digital Notes section. Locate the type of record and time frame you are in need of.
 * 10) The final Format column will let you know how the record can be accessed. A digital camera indicates the records are available online, while a digital camera with a key indicates the record is available, but with additional viewing restrictions. You may be able to view the record at a Family History Center. Click here to locate a Family History Center near you. Finally, a microfilm icon indicates the record is only accessible at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. View the Family History Library website for more information about the record look-up service. Be sure to take note of item numbers found in the Film section. Occasionally, microfilms were divided into separate items to conserve space. Look for black "title" cards with a large number on them that indicate the beginning and end of an item. This will help you find the location of the proper records on the film.

How to Locate Uyezd Records
Uyezd, or district level metrical records are available through FamilySearch for the Lida and Vilna uyezds. These records are typically organized by uyezd, year and record type, and then within the film, by parish.

Digital Copies of Roman Catholic Church Records through ePaveldas
ePaveldas Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Collection is a digital repository containing almost 4,000 Roman Catholic metrical books, with many for areas within the former Vilna gubernia.

To learn how to use the records available at ePaveldas, see the Online Catholic Church Records: ePaveldas "How to" Guide.

Indexed Roman Catholic Church Records through 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 were part of the former Vilna Gubernia. To learn how to use the site, see the Geneteka Indexed Records and Geneteka: Accessing Records "How to" Guides. For records specific to Vilna gubernia, search by parish, or choose Lithuania (Litwa) or Belarus (Białoruś).

Indexed Roman Catholic Church Records through Metrikai
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 For help using the site, follow the instructions below.
 * 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.


 * 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.

Roman Catholic Metrical Books in Archives
In some cases, metrical books may still remain in archives. See the following archival finding aids to help you locate records. For help writing to an archive, see Russia Archives and Libraries.

State Historical Archives of Belarus

 * Vileĭka Uyezd
 * Disna Uyezd
 * Oshmiany Uyezd
 * Sventsiany Uyezd

State Historical Archives of Lithuania in Vilnius

 * Lida Uyezd
 * Lists of fonds in the State Historical Archives of Lithuania - look for fonds with "metrical books" or "Roman Catholic" in the title. Download the PDF and search for information about records your town or uyezd. See especially "Churches of the former Roman Catholic Diocese of Vilnius, an index of metric books now in the territory of Belarus."