What are Vital Records, and where are they available?
Vital records include birth, marriage, death, and divorce records. A rabbi, generally elected by the Jewish community, recorded these events. In Kovno and Vilna guberniyas each record was written in Russian Cyrillic. Some records were then repeated or duplicated in Hebrew or Yiddish, while some records were only in Russian. In Suwalki Gubernia the vital record was first recorded in the Synagogue. Someone then went, with two witnesses, to the Civil Office, and turned in the record. For a Birth, the father went to report the event, usually with two witnesses. For a Marriage, the Rabbi, the bride, the groom, and two witnesses all went. Sometimes the fathers of the bride and groom were also the witnesses. This usually happened the same day, after the Synagogue ceremony. For a Death, usually relatives came with one witness, or, sometimes, only witnesses appeared to report the death. Divorce was not included. Suwalki records were written in Polish or Russian. Suwalki records are usually very
