Genealogy Wise
Genealogy of Lithuania
A kind of 'digital library' and 'strategy center' for those tracing ancestries in and from present-day Lithuania. I've created Discussion forums based on geographies, as this is the only part of GW where you can reply to each other! Here's a quick jump to all the discussion forums, otherwise, scroll through all the resources until you get to them.
Contacting the Archives in Vilnius: Instructions, Experiences, Pitfalls
There will likely come a time that the only logical next step in your research is to contact the Archives in Vilnius. There are smaller Archives in other cities, but by and large, all surviving records have been moved from churches and municipalities to the main Archives in Vilnius. You've probably heard, and been deterred by, the three-year wait until the Archives gets to your request. This time delay is more for a multi-generational genealogical search (which I'm not even sure they do anymore) as opposed to requesting one baptism certificate, or one marriage certificate. That make take a matter of months, not years. If you have a relative in Lithuania who can order the documents for you, it may shave some time off of the process.
The other option is to hire a private researcher, a genealogist in Lithuania. Because of the time delays at the Archives and the costs, many people choose the private researcher route. If you don't have complete information--name, place, date (and who does!!???) to send to the Archives, you may not get anywhere. But that's a challenge a private researcher is paid to undertake.
In any event, the email address to contact the archives is: istrijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
The other option is to hire a private researcher, a genealogist in Lithuania. Because of the time delays at the Archives and the costs, many people choose the private researcher route. If you don't have complete information--name, place, date (and who does!!???) to send to the Archives, you may not get anywhere. But that's a challenge a private researcher is paid to undertake.
In any event, the email address to contact the archives is: istrijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
Joanie D
We again requested research to be done on another branch of the family in 2006 and were put on a waiting list for 3 years (we were told in advance that it would take that long). I was notified in January of 2010 that I'd come up in the queue for the research to begin. We were given the cost to begin the research (1 research = 400 Lt or about $172). This time we wired the money directly to the bank in Lithuania with no problems at all. We used the information supplied to us by the Archives. I received a letter today (April 17) outlining all the registry books and years they searched (approximately 65 areas) and came up with 15 records (birth, death and marriage). They advised that the originals are in Russian, Polish and Latin and that 1 record with translation would cost 72 Lt - 1 record without translation would cost 20 Lt.
Instead of paying to have all the records translated, I am only having one each translated of the birth, marriage and death certificates since most are very similar. I'm hoping that one translation will help me figure out the others. If not, I'll go to my regional Polish Genealogy Society where they have translators available.
All in all, I've had very good success with the Archives in Vilnius and would use them again in a minute. I think they're are extremely thorough and accurate. I could pay a genealogist to do the same thing but it would probably cost me more AND I understand that the process to access the books is very slow and it can take several days to go through only a handful of books. The research that I did at our own Dept of Vital Records was as bad as that! We pay about $10 an hour to do the research and you can only get 3 books an hour or so - then it's lunch time! In a day, I could easily spend between $50-75 to look up information!
I would strongly suggest that you consider the Archives. At this point it is about the only way to get the research done without getting swindled by someone who claims to be able to get the information. I've tried that - never again!
You just need to have patience!
Jo
Apr 17, 2010
Bob Krampetz
Several years ago I wrote to both Belarus and Poland archives (don't recall the name/address) regarding information from Lida - about 1908-1911. A marriage and a birth. Since the church for both was in Lida (then Poland, today Belarus), the Polish archive responded that I had to inquire at the Belarus archive.
The response I subsequently received from the Belarus archive had me abandon hope of learning what I wanted. The letter was in a 3"x4", cheap paper, envelope - with little space for my address, as it was covered in numerous small denomination Belarussian stamps. The letter was even more weird, a 6" x 7" tissue thin paper with only a single line written in Russian (or Belarussian, don't recall) that merely asked me to mail $300 (U.S.) to some individual and their address. Nothing more.
Needless to say, I ignored it and put aside hope of soon learning more about my maternal line.
I will reread the replies here and see if others have found a more 'legitimate' source for information.
Aug 1, 2012
Anthony Lumbis
Last night I sent an email to the State Archives in Vilnius. This morning I received a response from them assigning a number to my request and stating that I would need to transfer 15.66 EURO to a bank in Vilnius before they would begin the search. I have read all the various posts concerning this subject and was wondering if anyone has found an easier more economical method of paying the required fee? Thanks for your help.
Jul 25, 2018