Lithuania Church Records

Lithuania

Metrical Books
Research use: Uniquely identify individuals and connections of those in one generation to the next.

Record type: Records of births/baptisms, marriages, and deaths/burials kept by Roman Catholic parish priests. The term is also used to refer to the records of other Christian churches as well as those of Jews and other non-Christians.

General: The church acted as both a religious and civil agent in recording vital events and church sacraments such as baptism and burial. The traditional Christian faith of Lithuania is Roman Catholic. There are small groups of Evangelical and Reformed Protestants, Russian Orthodox, Jews, and Old Believer Orthodox. The priests made a transcript of their records for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction. Jewish transcripts were filed with the local town council (gorodskaia duma). Old Believer and Baptist transcripts were sent to the provincial administration (gubernskoe upravlenie). The distinction between the original and the transcript is often ignored by Lithuanian record keepers.

Time period: Roman Catholic, 1613 (transcripts begin in 1826); Orthodox, 1722; Greek Catholic, 1796; Evangelical/other Protestant, 1641(transcripts begin in 1833); Jews, 1835; Old Believers, 1874; Baptists, 1879–all to 1949.

Contents: Names of the person and other family members, residence, relationships, dates and place of birth and baptism, marriage, death and burial. Baptisms include names of godparents; marriages include the ages of the bride and groom; burials include the age of the deceased and cause of death.

Location: State Historical Archive in Vilnius, Civil Registration Archive, Vilnius (records after 1915).

Population coverage: 70% coverage for early periods, 90% from about 1830 through the 1940s when civil registration began, 50% among minority religions and dissident groups such as Old Believers and Baptists.

Reliability: High.