Latvia Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers describe towns, villages, parishes, counties, rivers, mountains, population, and other geographical features. The place-names are usually in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary.

Gazetteers may also provide:


 * Distances from nearby places.
 * Different religious denominations.
 * Major manufacturing works.
 * Canals, docks, and railroad stations.

Gazetteers are also helpful for determining the county jurisdictions used in the FamilySearch Catalog.

You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and church jurisdictions over those places.

Many places have the same or similar names. A gazetteer can help you determine which is the place you are interested in and describe its location.


 * Hofmann, Harry v. Baltische Postorte 1632-1917/8 [Baltic Postal Places]. Hamburg, 1996. (Book 947.9 E8h 1996). Identifies postal offices for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by their Russian and native names.


 * Feldmann, Hans. Baltisches historisches Ortslexikon [Baltic Historical Dictionary]. Wien, 1985.2 v. Pt. 1--Estland, Pt. 2--Lettland. (Book 947.4 E5fh). A German compilation for Estonia and Latvia that identifies the parish to which a place belonged. It includes parish histories. It is deficient is providing the Russian name for Baltic localities. The entries are in alphabetical order. The text is in German.
 * Cities, towns and villages in Latvia sorted by districts