Latvia Occupations

Guild records
Research use: Identify family groups and ages. Records go beyond metrical books as a linkage source and are considered by genealogical researchers to be as important as metical books.

Record type: Membership and family records of those belonging to a guild.

General: Records of merchants, craftsmen, tradesmen, skilled laborers, and persons bound by indenture to serve others for a prescribed period to learn an art, trade, or skill. The records reflect the Germanic heritage of the Hanseatic League in the Baltics.

Time period: 1500s-1920.

Contents: Names of skilled and unskilled laborers of all types of occupations, craftsmen, apprentices, ages or dates of birth, places of origin and residence, family relationships, types of skills, etc. Many records list all the family members with marriage dates of couples and birth dates of their children.

Location: State Historical Archive in Riga.

Population coverage: 30% coverage.

Reliability: High.

Preservation of records/vulnerability: The records are well preserved in a good facility. They were little used during the period of Russian control, 1940-1990.