Introduction to Lithuanian Genealogy Research

Lithuanian genealogical records abound but unlocking them requires understanding why the same family surname might be written in a variety of ways for different family members or in different centuries. This class provides simple, clear explanations and tips when searching records for Lithuanian genealogy.

• How language, calendars, history, and geography affect where and how to look for your Lithuanian ancestors' records, and what languages the records will be in during different eras.
• How a belated changeover from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1918 may affect the official birthdates of your ancestors.
• Why and how the endings on Lithuanian surnames are different for males, married females and unmarried females in the same family, and why the endings will also be different depending on the position of the name in a church record.
• How to easily tell apart unfamiliar male and female first names in Lithuanian.
• How modern-day spellings of Lithuanian names may be different from the way those names were spelled in the past or spelled by the Polish and German officials who wrote down what they heard illiterate peasants say were their names.