Xanthi County, Greece Genealogy

Geography
Xanthi was established as a prefecture in 1944, when it was split off from the Rhodope Prefecture. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the prefecture was transformed into a regional unit within the East Macedonia and Thrace region, with no change in its boundaries. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganized, according to the table below. Rhodope was established as a prefecture in 1930, when the former Thrace Prefecture was divided into the Rhodope and Evros prefectures.

Xanthi borders the Bulgarian provinces of Smolyan and Kardzhali to the north, and the Aegean Sea to the south. The regional unit of Kavala lies to the west, Drama to the northwest and Rhodope to the east. Xanthi, Wikipedia

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 Xanthi County
 * List of former toponyms in Xanthi Prefecture (County) Village names during the Ottoman Empire, etc. Many settlements in Macedonia region in Northern Greece had Greek and non-Greek forms. Most of those names were in use during the multinational environment of the Ottoman Empire. Some of the forms were identifiably of Greek origin, others of Slavic, yet others of Turkish or more obscure origins.

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 Xanthi 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 and Xanthi 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

Xanthi Archives
G.A.K.- Archives Xanthi Postal Address: Venizelou 30 Xanthi 67100 Greece Phone: 25410 62 555 Fax: 25410 62 555 E- mail: mail@gak.xan.sch.gr
 * Website
 * Online records for Rodopi

Writing to the Greek National Archives (GAK) or the Xanthi Office of the GAK
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 Xanthi and Peritheorion 

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.]]