Preveza County, Greece Genealogy

Guide to Preveza County ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

History
Preveza is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region and its capital is the town of Preveza. After the Balkan Wars, the area was awarded to Greece in 1913, at which point the prefecture was created. The prefecture included the island of Lefkada, until the latter was split off in 1955 as a separate prefecture Lefkada.

Preveza (Wikipedia)

Geography
Preveza (Greek: Περιφερειακή ενότητα Πρέβεζας) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital is the town of Preveza. Preveza was established as a prefecture in 1915 (Greek: Νομός Πρέβεζας). As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Preveza was created out of the former prefecture Preveza. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganized, according to the table below. Preveza, Wikipedia

Villages

 * List of settlements in Preveza

Municipal Archives
Most of the research you do will be at the municipality level, by contacting the Mayor's Office of the municipality. 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 Preveza
 * [[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, Historical Archives of Epirus, and County Archives of Preveza

 * 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.


 * See [[Media:GAK - How to Navigate.pdf|How to Navigate the Greek National Archives.]]
 * Online records
 * Contact information for services

Central Archives
General State Archives (GSC) Dafni 61 15452 Psychiko Greece Phone:+30 210-6782200 FAX:+30 210-6782215 E-mail:archives@gak.gr

Local Archives
Historical Archive of Epirus Δ. Φιλοσόφου και Γλυκήδων 45221 Ioannina Greece Tel.: 26510 34469 Fax: 26510 30967 E-mail: mail@gak.ioa.sch.gr Nomos Preveza Karamani 1 Preveza 48100 Greece Tel. - Fax: 26820-24662 E-mail: mail@gak.pre.sch.gr
 * Website
 * Online Records of Region of Epirus

Writing to the Greek National Archives (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. Information on addressing the letter, enclosing money, and a form letter in Greek, with its English translation are found in this .pdf:
 * Contact information for the Diocese of Nikopolis and Preveza 
 * Contact information for the Diocese of Paramythia, Philiata, Geromerion, and Parga
 * [[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.]]