Pieria County, Greece Genealogy

Geography
Pieria (Greek: Πιερία) is one of the regional units of Greece located in the southern part of the Region of Central Macedonia, within the historical province of Macedonia. Its capital is the town of Katerini. Pieria is the smallest regional unit within Macedonia. Pieria, Wikipedia
 * Pieria was invaded and became a part of the Ottoman Empire.
 * During the Greek War of Independence in 1821, Pieria took up arms along with the rest of Greece, but their struggle failed and Pieria did not join the rest of Greece until the Balkan Wars in 1913.
 * Until 1947, Pieria was part of the Thessaloniki Prefecture (at that time the largest Greek prefecture), as a province. Pieria saw an economic boom in agriculture and business. During the Greco-Turkish War, it saw an influx of refugees from Asia Minor, now a part of Turkey, and several places were named after their former homelands including Nea Trapezounta from Trebizond (now Trabzon) and Nea Efesos from Ephesus (now Efes).
 * The village of Elafos in the municipal unit Elafina, formerly a community in the Imathia prefecture, was united with Pieria in 1974.
 * As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Pieria was created out of the former prefecture Pieria (Greek: Νομός Πιερίας). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganized, according to the table below.

Municipalities
Most of the research you do will be at the municipality level, by contacting the Mayor's Office of the municipality.

Villages

 * List of villages in Pieria County

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)

Writing to Municipal Archives

 * Municipality addresses for Pieria County
 * [[Media:Lica Catsakis Form Letters to the Mayor of a Municipality.pdf|Form Letters to the Mayor of a Municipality]]
 * Asking for a Birth record
 * Asking for a Death record
 * Asking for Family Structure (Dimitologion)
 * Follow up Thank You letter

Greek National Archives, the Historical Archives of Macedonia, and Pieria County 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 Service Γενικά Αρχεία του Κράτους (ΓΑΚ) Δάφνης 61, Τ.Κ. 154 52, Ψυχικό. Greece Phone:+30 210-6782200 FAX:+30 210-6782215 E-mail:archives@gak.gr
 * See [[Media:GAK - How to Navigate.pdf|How to Navigate the Greek National Archives.]]
 * Online records
 * Contact information for services

Historical Archives of Macedonia Address: Al. Papanastasiou 21 P.O. 18001 546 39 Thessaloniki Greece Tel. 2310 855255 Fax: 2310 868186 Nomos Pieria Prousis 10 Katerini 60133 Greece Tel.: 23510-77770, 23510-46125 Fax: 23510-77770 E-mail: mail@gak.pie.sch.gr
 * Website
 * Online Files of the Historical Archives of Macedonia
 * Website

Writing to the Greek National Archives (GAK) or the Historical Archives of Macedonia
Again, not all records will be online. You can write and request searches for records. Instructions, form letters, and their translations are found here.
 * [[Media:Lica Catsakis Form Letters to the Greek National Archives (GAK).pdf|Form Letters to the Greek National Archives (GAK)]]
 * Requesting Birth information
 * Requesting Marriage information
 * Requesting information about the family structure and death of an ancestor
 * Follow up Thank You letter

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.
 * Contact information for the Diocese of Kitros, Katerini, and Platamon

Information on addressing the letter, enclosing money, and a form letter in Greek, with its English translation are found in this .pdf:
 * [[Media:Lica Catsakis Form Letter to a Diocese.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 :
 * [[Media:Lica Catsakis 10 The Language.pdf| Catsakis, Lica. Chapter 10:THE LANGUAGE. Family History Research in Greece.]]
 * [[Media:Lica Catsakis 11 Numbers and Units of Time.pdf|Catsakis, Lica. Chapter 11: NUMBERS AND UNITS OF TIME. Family History Research in Greece.]]
 * [[Media:Lica Catsakis 12 Appendix A Glossary.pdf|Catsakis, Lica. GLOSSARY. Family History Research in Greece.]]