Squeaking in for Surname Saturday (in somebody else’s timezone…)… Today, I bring you the launch of the Latvian Surname Project! The most common search term that brings people to my blog is “Latvian surnames”. Therefore, I thought starting a resource
Surname Saturday – Radziņš
Today I’m featuring one of the new surnames I’ve discovered in my family tree – Radziņš (feminine form Radziņa, the surname of one of my great-great-grandmothers. Marija Radziņa was born on November 16, 1856. I am not sure yet where
Mysteries Revealed – And Created
So today was my second day, and first full day, at the Latvian State Historical Archives. I was able to view the passports I mentioned in my previous post, belonging to Pēteris Celmiņš and Anna Celmiņa (born Liepa), and confirmed
Surname Saturday – Baburs
Participating in my first Geneabloggers daily blogging theme – Surname Saturday! The surname up this week is Baburs. The most recent ancestor I have with this name is Karolīne Matilde Baburs, born in Riga and baptized in the Church of
Families Unknown
When doing your research, have you ever come across a family – not your own – that appears to have a story to tell, and you want to find out what that story is? This has happened to me while
Limbaži
My maternal grandfather was from Limbaži, in northern Latvia. All I know about his family comes from my mother and my grandfather’s sister. I have not yet been able to find any official record of the family. However, since I
Bringing Out the Great-Grandfathers (part 1)
It is time for me to do a bit of an introduction to my own family – the mysterious entity that inspired my interest in genealogy and the pursuit of it as an eventual professional career. My family history, as
The Big Three
BÄ“rziņš, Kalniņš, Ozoliņš – these are what I call the “big three”. They are the most common Latvian surnames. With these names more than any others it is imperative that you know where your ancestor was from. But what do