Cephalonia or Kefalonia County, Greece Genealogy
Guide to Cephalonia or Kefalonia County ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.
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History[edit | edit source]
Geography[edit | edit source]
Cephalonia or Kefalonia (Greek: Κεφαλονιά or Κεφαλλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (Κεφαλληνία), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It was also a former Latin Catholic diocese Kefalonia–Zakynthos (Cefalonia–Zante). The capital of Cephalonia is Argostoli. During the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit of Kefallinia was created from part of the former Kefalonia and Ithaca Prefecture. During the same reform, the current municipality of Cephalonia was created from the eight former municipalities:
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Municipal Archives[edit | edit source]
Quite comprehensive records for your family, perhaps for several generations, are kept by the mayor's office of each municipality. Civil registers of birth, marriage, and death since 1925 are kept there. In addition, an important record, unique to Greece, the Dimologion is similar to a "family group record". Census records, contracts, and other records can be found.
Information About Important Records in Municipality Archives[edit | edit source]
Click on the links for an explanation on the types of records you will look for at the municipality level.
- Modern Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers
- Male Registers (Mitroon Arrenon)
- Town (Resident) Registers (Dimotologion)
Writing to Municipal Archives[edit | edit source]
- Municipality address for Cephalonia
- Form Letters to the Mayor of a Municipality
- Asking for a Birth record
- Asking for a Death record
- Asking for Family Structure (Dimitologion)
- Follow up Thank You letter
Greek National Archives and the Cephalonia (Kefallinias) County Archives[edit | edit source]
- The Greek National Archives (GAK or GSA) has a central office in Athens, and local offices throughout Greece. These offices have copies of Male Registers, Town (Resident) Registers, School Records, and other documents of interest to family historians. Civil registers are not preserved in the Central Service (CS). Some records are online. Others are not online, but the staff will search them for you upon request.
- See How to Navigate the Greek National Archives.
- Online records
- Central office contact information for services
Important Records of GAK[edit | edit source]
- Electoral Registers, 1870s
- Election Collection John Vlachogianni (1864-1925)
- Electoral lists of Kranaia Argostoli, Eleios-Pronnoi, Leivathos and Omala
- Electoral Archive Hellenic Parliament (1844-1893, 1915)
- Electoral lists of Kranaia Argostoli, Eleios-Pronnoi, Leivathos and Omala
- Ladas Collection Election Collection George Lada (1843-1873)
- Election Collection John Vlachogianni (1864-1925)
Georgia Stryker Keilman has been translating the Vlachogiannis collection into English. Check these first to possibly save time. The translations can be accessed on her website by clicking on the following links for the Index to Greece Historic Election List Archives:
- Index to Greece Historic Election List Archives, Part 2
- See Kranaia Province, which includes Argostoli, Eleios-Pronnoi, Leivathos and Omala
Central Archive[edit | edit source]
General State Archives (GSC)
Dafni 61
15452 Psychiko
Greece
Phone:+30 210-6782200
FAX:+30 210-6782215
E-mail:archives@gak.gr
Nomos Cephalonia
Germeni and Kontomichalou 1
28100 Argostoli
Greece
Tel. - Fax: 26710 28 405
E-mail: mail@gak.kef.sch.gr
Writing to Archives[edit | edit source]
Again, not all records will be online. You can write and request searches for records. Instructions, form letters, and their translations are found here.
- Form Letters to the Greek National Archives (GAK)
- Requesting Birth information
- Requesting Marriage information
- Requesting information about the family structure and death of an ancestor
- Follow up Thank You letter
Greek Orthodox Church Records[edit | edit source]
Important Church Records[edit | edit source]
- Book of Births: date of birth, place of birth, gender, name, surname, father’s name, date of baptism, godfather and priest, notes
- Book of Marriages: date of marriage, groom’s name, groom’s age, groom’s father’s name, groom’s mother’s name, bride’s name, bride’s age, bride’s father’s name, bride’s mother’s name, priest, place of birth, notes
- Book of Deaths: date of death, name of the deceased, father’s name, age, notes
Writing to a Diocese[edit | edit source]
Records may be either at the diocese archives or still at the local parish church. Usually only the most recent records are still at the parish.
Information on addressing the letter, enclosing money, and a form letter in Greek, with its English translation are found in this .pdf:
- Form Letter to a Diocese
- Asking for a Marriage record
- Follow up Thank You letter
How to Read the Records[edit | edit source]
You do not have to be fluent in Greek to read and understand these records! Only a few vocabulary words are involved. True, the alphabet is different. But you learned one alphabet, and you can learn another alphabet!
- Greece Handwriting and Text will teach you the alphabet in print and handwriting and give you some computer translation tools.
- The article, This simple Greek Word List, features a short list of key terms. You should learn to recognize these.
- Other words will be used on a "look it up when you come to it" basis. For this, more thorough word lists can be found at :
