Lithuania, Jewish Birth Records from Various Towns, 1837-1940

Source Information

LitvakSIG
LitvakSIG.org, comp. Lithuania, Jewish Birth Records from Various Towns, 1837-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
Original data: This data is provided by LitvakSIG, an independent organization, in partnership with JewishGen.org. Some of these records are also available on Family History Library microfilm rolls 2157888-2343143, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

About Lithuania, Jewish Birth Records from Various Towns, 1837-1940

This database contains over 20,000 births from the following Lithuanian towns and years:


Ariogala (Ragole)
  • 1858: 18 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2288943/1.

Biržai (Birzh)
  • 1852, 1861-63: 123 records. FHL Microfilm Numbers 2157888/3; 2187651/1.
  • 1865-78: 846 records. FHL Microfilm Numbers 2205126/3-4; 2270865/4.
  • 1879-87, 1893: 906 records. FHL Microfilm Numbers 2205137/2; 2270865/4.
  • 1891: 145 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2199343/1.
  • 1894-95: 209 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2268931/1.
  • 1896-1914: 1,291 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2290696/4.

Joniškelis (Yanishkel)
  • 1899: 10 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2331186/2.

Kedainiai (Keidan)
  • 1822, 1848, 1851-52, 1854, 1856-60: 506 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2289446/5.
  • 1862-63, 1865-67: 297 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2289446/6.
  • 1868-71, 1873-88, 1892: 2,419 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2289447/1-3.
  • 1895, 1897, 1899, 1901-03, 1906-10, 1912-14: 1,040 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2332782/1-3.

Kupiškis (Kupishok)
  • 1900, 1905-07: 280 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2331378/5.
  • 1908-14: 274 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2331378/8 and 10.
  • 1920-40: 414 records. Not microfilmed.

Linkuva (Linkeve)
  • 1865-1878: 649 records. FHL Microfilm Numbers 2205127/4-5; 2205137/4.
  • 1914, 1922, 1924-25: 120 records. Not microfilmed.

Moletai (Maliat)
  • 1853-71: 400 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2157888/3.

Panevežys (Ponevezh)
  • 1859-60, 1867: 598 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2205129/1.
  • 1875: 152 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2205129/3.
  • 1878: 175 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2270245/3.
  • 1925-40: 2,216 records. Not microfilmed.

Pasvalys (Posvel)
  • 1854-55: 53 records. FHL Microfilm Numbers 2157888/4; 2157999/3.
  • 1866-74: 484 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2205129/4-5.

Plunge (Plugian)
  • 1901-05: 426 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2287039/2.

Pumpenai (Pompian)
  • 1855, 1858, 1860-61, 1863-64: 140 records. Various FHL Microfilm Numbers.
  • 1865-87: 1,326 records. FHL Microfilm Numbers 2205128/3-4; 2328284/2.

Pušalotas (Pushelot)
  • 1885-1912: 475 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2328520/4.
  • 1922-39: 97 records. Not microfilmed.

Raseiniai (Rasayn)
  • 1845: 251 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2157888/2.

Rokiškis (Rakishok)
  • 1874-96: 1,282 records. Not microfilmed.

Salociai (Salat)
  • 1874-75: 45 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2205129/3.

Šilale (Shilel)
  • 1914-39: 319 records. Not microfilmed.

Širvintos (Shirvint)
  • 1854-61, 1863-72: 388 records. Various FHL Microfilm Numbers.

Vilkija (Vilki)
  • 1880-87, 1889-93: 782 records. FHL Microfilm Numbers 2291270/1-2; 2270647/4 and 6.

Vilna uyezd 3rd okrug
  • 1892-95: 345 records. FHL Microfilm Numbers 2205056/2-3; 2205057/1.

Žeimelis (Zhemel)
  • 1860: 13 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2192860/1.
  • 1861: 20 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2187651/1.
  • 1862: 11 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2187652/1.
  • 1864: 22 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2187654/2.
  • 1865-70, 1873-75: 223 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2205127/2-3.
  • 1876-80: 207 records. FHL Microfilm Number 2270469/6.

About the Records:

According to the Regulations of 1835 in the Russian Empire, one of the duties of an official state rabbi (a "crown rabbi") was to carry out, solely by his offices, all the rites of circumcision and naming of infants, weddings, dissolution of marriages, and burials "(in populous cities a rabbi could have assistants to carry out those rites)"; to keep metrical books in all its sections and to submit copies of them annually to gubernia authorities, in Hebrew and Russian language.

The records during the Czarist period (i.e. those before 1918) were written in both Russian (Cyrillic alphabet) and Hebrew script, although some records are in Russian language only. The records during the period of Lithuanian independence (i.e. those created between 1919 and 1940) were written in the Lithuanian language, with some Hebrew and Yiddish.

Information listed in this database includes:

  • Name of the child (Where there are two names separated by a slash ("/"), one is transliterated from the Russian, one from the Hebrew (in the pre-WWI Czarist records); or the second name in square brackets is the Lithuanian nominative form (in the post-WWI records)

  • Father's Given Name, Paternal Grandfather's Given Name

  • Mother's Given Name, Maternal Grandfather's Given Name

  • Mother’s maiden surname (usually given if mother is not married)

  • Date of Birth — Day, month and year of birth, in dd/mm/yyyy format

  • Hebrew Date — Day and month of birth, according to the Jewish calendar

  • Place of birth — Town, Uyezd (district) and Gubernia (province)

  • Comments — which may include the status (class) and/or occupation of the father

  • Place registered — the town where the birth was recorded

  • Year — the year that the birth was registered

  • Record — the Registration number of birth (number is proceeded by "F" for female or "M" for male)

  • Microfilm / Item — the FHL microfilm number and microfilm item number, if a microfilmed record; or "Not Microfilmed" if not

  • Image # — The Image number on microfilm, if available (this will enable you to locate the record on the microfilm)

  • Archive / Fond — The Archive and Fond citation — the source of the birth record. "LVIA" = Lietuvos Valstybes Istorijos Archyvas (Lithuanian State Historical Archives), in Vilnius; "KRA" = Kaunas Regional Archives