Is there anyone who can help me locate information about relatives (my wife's ancestors) from Lativa
Answers
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Hi Brian!
This is probably the best page to ask questions about Latvian research. Do you have a hometown in Latvia? Do you know which religion they belonged to? If you provide us some of these details, we can help you get started
In the meantime, check out this great Latvian genealogy blog:
http://www.celmina.com/genealogy/2010/04/getting-started-with-latvian-research/
This post walks you through step-by-step with Latvian genealogy.
Just so you know, records from 1900-1950 are likely not available online, so you will have to correspond with the Registry Office Archives of the Ministry of Justice in Rīga.
Once you trace back far enough, you can use some of the church records available on Raduraktsi (http://www.lvva-raduraksti.lv/).
Hope this helps!
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Thanks, Ellie. My wife's grandfather, Artis Artemides Strelis, was born on 22 Dec. 1921 in Kuldīga, Kuldīgas Rajons, Latvia. Accordning to oral family history, he was a refugee after World War II in Germany before he emigrated to New York in USA in the late 40's or in 1950-1951. We know that in 1951, he married another Latvian immigrant, Dzidra Rozitis, in New York City, and they lived in New York and Florida until they died (Aritis in 2007 and Dzidra in 2003). We have located Artis' application for Social Security which lists his parents as Mikelis Strelis and Katrina Salmius. But we don't know anything more about them or the rest of the family. Oral family history suggests that many of them died during the war.
That's what we're starting with. :-)
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Awesome! Since he was a refugee during WWII, I looked him up in the International Tracing Service (Arolsen Archives) and found this!
https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/archive/69327131/?p=1&s=Strelis&doc_id=69327131
Next, you will probably want to contact the Registry Office Archives of the Ministry of Justice to get his birth record. Here is a link to their website. https://www.tm.gov.lv/lv/pakalpojumi/ministrijas-pakalpojumi-1/atkartotu-civilstavokla-aktu-registracijas-apliecinosu-dokumentu-izsniegsana
If you are using the google chrome browser, you can right click and it will translate it to English for you
Give them all information you have - name of town, date of birth, etc. The birth record will hopefully give us some more information about the parents. You can then locate their marriage record.
Once you get back to about 1910, then you can start using the church records available on Raduraksti (http://www.lvva-raduraksti.lv/). Let me know if you have any questions!
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Dear Ellie
I wrote to the Registry Office in Lativa, but I recevied word that I need to contact the Latvian embassy with documents that prove my wife's relation to her grandfather.
In the meantime, do you know if there is any other way to access these records? Do you have any other ideas?
Best,
Brian
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Hi Brian,
I believe that the only place to access those records for the time frame you are looking for is to work with the Registry Office in Latvia. As the records are fairly recent, it makes sense that they would require proof of relationship before allowing you to see the records. But once you establish the relationship, it should hopefully be smooth sailing from there. I would try doing as they suggested and contact the Latvian embassy. You will likely have to provide them with documents that prove the relationship (birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc.). Once you get a copy of his birth record, you should be able to do your research online using Raduraksti which has records from about 1910 and beyond.
Alternatively, you have the name of the village he was born in and names of his parents from the Social Security record, so you could do try and estimate their birth years and see if you can find them in church records. That could be a bit of a stretch, because who knows how accurate the Social Security record was, but it could be worth a shot. You can register for a free account with Raduraksti (linked above). Choose the EN option at the top of the page to view it English and from there select Contents > Virtual Archives > Church Books.
Also, as a side note, I work for FamilySearch and am putting together a "How to" guide, or an instructional guide on how to use Raduraksti and it should hopefully be done in the next few weeks. I'll let you know when it's complete so you can use to help you in your research.
Best of luck to you! Let me know how contacting the embassy goes and if there is anything else I can do to help you!
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hi Latvia records here http://www.lvva-raduraksti.lv/en.html , need just to sign in, check what years are available there, might be older.
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Brian, I found an Artis A. Strelis, born in about 1921 in Latvia, in a passenger list of displaced persons (on Ancestry; see linked). It lists him as single, age 29, a mechanic, of Protestant religion, passport from Wentorf, departure date of 19 May 1950, departure place of Wentorf (Wentorf, Germany settlement camp), arrival place of Bremen-Grohn, Germany, and a destination of Brooklyn, New York. If you click on the collection name and search for his name, he also shows up in another record as leaving Bremerhaven with a passport from Bremen-Grohn on 30 May 1950 and arriving in New York. Dzidra Rozitis, his future wife, is also listed in the collection; she looks to show up four times, each time as an Evangelical Lutheran traveling to Seattle, Washington.
The religion (Protestant/Evangelical Lutheran) is important to know for when you search for records of Artis's parents on Raduraksti, as the records are split up according to the religion.
Artis and Dzidra received their marriage license in Manhattan on 28 July 1951; if you locate their church marriage record (again, in an Evangelical Lutheran church), which would be from shortly after they received the marriage license, that might contain additional helpful information, such as verifying that the passenger list I've linked to above is for the correct Artis A. Strelis. Another good source to look for in the U.S. is the petition for naturalization.
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Thanks for the thoughts, Ellie. I'll start looking at church books as I gather the necessary documentation. :-)
Best,
Brian
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Thanks, Antti. I now have an account.
Brian
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Thanks for the information from the Ancestry site. This is interesting. We have a few photographs that appear to be taken in Germany (German langauge signs in the background) while Artis is in his 20s. This could be from his time in Wentorf. I've started looking for him and his parents on Raduraksti.
Best, Brian
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Great! In case you're scouring Raduraksti before Ellie's "How to"Guide is completed, here's a quick overview of how to access the records: Go to http://www.lvva-raduraksti.lv/en.html and click on Contents, Virtual Archives, Church books (or another record type), Evangelic Lutheran, Parishes, Goldingen, German (Kuldīgas vācu) or
Goldingen, latvian (Kuldīgas latviešu). Most of the records on Raduraksti end around 1906; the German baptisms end later, but I didn't see a Strelis in 1921, so I'm guessing he's listed with the Latvians (the Latvian birth records from that time aren't online, so the Latvian embassy is probably still your best resource). The List of parish members also ends later, although in my perusal I didn't see a Strelis (they're listed alphabetically, with S followed by Š). Since Kuldīga is both a town and a municipality, is it possible that Artis was actually born in the municipality instead? His petition for U.S. naturalization (not the actually naturalization, but the petition, which is usually longer and more detailed) or U.S. church records might list the hometown.
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