Lesbos County, Greece Genealogy

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

History
Lesbos is an island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea and it has an area of 631 sq miles with 199 miles of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait and in late Palaeolithic/Mesolithic times was joined to the Anatolian mainland before the end of the last glacial period. Lesbos is also the name of a regional unit of the North Aegean region, within which Lesbos island is one of five governing islands. The others are Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, and Samos.

Lesbos (Wikipedia)

Geography
Lesbos (Greek: Λέσβος Lesvos), sometimes referred to as Mytilini after its capital, is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It is the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait. Lesbos is a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and is one of five governing islands within it. It is the only municipality of the regional unit. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Lesbos was created out of part of the former Lesbos Prefecture. At the same reform, the current municipality of Lesbos was created out of the 13 former municipalities on the island:
 * Agia Paraskevi (Αγία Παρασκευή)
 * Agiasos (Αγιάσος)
 * Gera (Γέρα)
 * Eresos-Antissa (Ερεσός-Άντισσα)
 * Evergetoulas (Ευεργέτουλας)
 * Kalloni (Καλλονή)
 * Loutropoli Thermis (Λουτρόπολη Θερμής)
 * Mantamados (Μανταμάδος)
 * Mithymna (Μήθυμνα)
 * Mytilene (Μυτιλήνη)
 * Petra (Πέτρα)
 * Plomari (Πλωμάρι)
 * Polichnitos (Πολίχνιτος)

Lesbos, Wikipedia

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 Lesbos 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 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.


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

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

Lesbos County Archives
Nomos Lesbos 8 Noemvríou 21-23 81100 Mytilene Greece Tel.:22510-42053 Fax: 22510-42053 E-mail:mail@gak.les.sch.gr
 * Website
 * Online Records

Writing to Archives
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 Mytilini, Eressos and Plomarion
 * Contact information for the Diocese of Methymna
 * [[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.]]