Historical Record Collections Added in May 2020

In May 2020 we added five new collections to MyHeritage: three exclusive Greek collections, an exclusive death index from Germany, and a burial index from New Zealand. Together these collections comprise 7.5 million records, bringing the total number of records on MyHeritage to 12.45 billion.

Here are more details about each of the new collections:

Collection	Description	Number of Records	Exclusive to MyHeritage	Link to Search
Greece, Electoral Rolls 1863–1924	An index of males who were eligible to vote throughout Greece from 1863 to 1924.	1,006,594 records	Exclusive	Search collection now
Corfu Vital Records, 1841–1932	Birth, marriage, and death certificates from the island of Corfu, Greece from 1841 to 1932.	646,807 records	Exclusive	Search collection now
Sparta Marriages Collection, 1835–1935	An index of marriages in Sparta, Greece from 1835 to 1935.	179,411 records	Exclusive	Search collection now
Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, Death Index 1874–1938	An index of death records from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia between 1874 and 1938.	2,450,551 records	Exclusive	Search collection now
New Zealand, Index of Burials, 1840–2008	An index of burial records from throughout New Zealand from 1840 to 2008.	3,239,136 records	Not Exclusive	Search collection now

Greek Record Collections

Three exclusive Greek record collections were added to MyHeritage this month: Greece, Electoral Rolls (1863–1924), Corfu Vital Records (1841–1932), and Sparta Marriages (1835–1935). The records in these collections are rich in detail and contain scanned images of the original documents. For the first time ever and exclusive to MyHeritage, these indexes are now searchable in both Greek and English, making them very useful for users who have Greek roots, but do not speak Greek.

Together comprising 1.8 million historical records, these collections are an invaluable genealogy resource for those researching their Greek roots. 

We recognize and thank Carol Petranek and Greg Kontos for their invaluable contributions to the publication of these new collections.

Greece, Electoral Rolls 1863–1924

This collection consists of 1 million records and indexes males aged 21 and up who were eligible to vote throughout Greece. It lists the voter’s given name, surname, father’s name, age, and occupation and is sorted by province, municipality, and town or village. Each record includes the individual’s name in Greek, as well as in English letters. Many of the occupations indexed in the collection have been translated from Greek to English. We’ve also expanded many given names, which are often abbreviated in the original records. 

This new collection is the most extensive index of Greek electoral rolls currently available anywhere.  

From left, Prime Minister of Greece and Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos, with Rene Coty, newly elected as President of France, January, 1954 [National Archives and Records Administration]

The voter registration record of Alexandros Papagos, a former military general and Prime Minister of Greece, can be found in this collection. Born in 1883 into a prominent military family, Alexandros would soon follow in his father’s footsteps. He joined the Hellenic army in 1906, and fought in the Balkan Wars, World War II, and the Greek Civil War, where he led the Greek government army to victory. In 1951, he left military service and founded a new political party called the Greek Rally party. In the General Election of 1952, his party won enough seats in Parliament for him to form a coalition and become the Prime Minister of Greece.

In the voter 1924 registration record below, we can see his full name; his age at the time of registration, 40; his residence is listed as Athens; his father’s name, Leonardo; and his occupation, listed as army officer. 

Voter registration record for Alexandros Papagos [Credit: MyHeritage Greece, Electoral Rolls 1863–1924]

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Corfu Vital Records, 1841–1932

This exclusive collection, which includes scanned images of the original documents, consists of birth, marriage, and death records from Corfu and documents the life events of all residents of the island regardless of their ethnicity or religion.

Birth records from this collection may contain the child’s given name and surname, birthdate and place of birth, name and age of both parents, and the given names of the child’s grandfathers.

A marriage record from this collection may include the first and last name, date of marriage, age, place of birth, residence, and the fathers’ names of the bride and groom. 

Death records include the name of the deceased, date of death, age at death, place of birth, residence, and parents’ names. 

This collection includes the birth records of the children of Savvas and Rosa Israel of Corfu. Savvas was a Jewish tailor who found refuge with 3 of his daughters and a young relative among the Christian community of Erikoussa during World War II.

Savvas with his wife Rosa and their children

Their daughter Victoria’s birth record, seen here, lists her name; her date of birth, October 27, 1921; and her father and mother’s names, Savvatos and Roza Israel, as well as their years of their birth— 1876 and 1886, respectively. There is even a listing of Victoria’s grandfathers: her paternal grandfather, Solomon, and her maternal grandfather, Zacharias.

Birth record of Victoria Israel [MyHeritage Corfu Vital Records, 1841–1932]

In a pro bono initiative from 2015, our Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet traced Savvas’s descendants and reunited them with the descendants of the Erikousan families that saved Savvas and his family. The extraordinary story of the “The Secret of Erikoussa” culminated in the community of Erikoussa receiving the “House of Light” award from the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. 

Search Corfu Vital Records, 1841–1932

Sparta Marriages, 1835–1935

This collection includes images of the couple’s marriage license and their listing in the marriage register. The records in this collection list the full names of the bride and groom, the date of marriage, their fathers’ names, the birthplace of the bride and groom, and occasionally the names of witnesses to the marriage. The images in this collection were photographed, digitized, and indexed by MyHeritage from the original paper documents, in cooperation with the Metropolis of Monemvasia and Sparta.

The collection includes the marriage record of the parents of the noted Greek poet, Nikiforos Vrettakos. Born in the village of Krokees, near Sparta, his family was originally from the Mani peninsula, an area belonging to the descendants of the ancient Spartans.

In Nikiforos’s parents’ marriage document, you can find the date of their marriage, November 2, 1909, and the name of the church in which they got married, Agios Nikolaos. The record also contains Nikiforos’s father’s name, Konstantinos Vretakos, his father’s birthplace of Koulountzi, along with Nikiforos’s paternal grandfather’s name, Vretakos. Also listed are Nikiforos’s mother’s full name, Eygeneia Panteleaki, her birthplace, Levetsova, and her father’s full name, Michail Panteleaki.

Marriage Record of Konstantinos Vretakos and Eygeneia Panteleaki [MyHeritage Sparta Marriages Collection, 1835–1935]

Search Sparta Marriages, 1835–1935

Learn more about the Greek collections and see more examples in our blog post, MyHeritage Adds Three Historical Record Collections From Greece. 

Search all three Greek collections on MyHeritage

Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, Death Index 1874–1938

This exclusive collection of 2.4 million records is from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, from 1874 through 1938. The collection includes beautiful scanned images that have been fully indexed by MyHeritage for the first time, making the information more readily accessible than ever before. The records may include the first and last names of the individual, the date and place of birth and death, age at death, residence, name of spouse, and the names of the individual’s parents.

Millions more records will be indexed and added to this collection in the future, in a series of updates planned with the Landesarchiv NRW Department Ostwestfalen-Lippe. 

In this collection, is the death record of the daughter of German mathematician Ernst Kummer, Helene Kummer Cauer. 

In the record below, you can find key details about her life. Her given name and maiden name: Helene Kummer; her birth place: Breslau, Poland; and her last place of residence, Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Also included are her gender; the date of her death, March 30, 1920; her age at the time of death, 65; her father’s and mother’s names, Ernst Eduard and Berta Kummer; and her husband’s name, Paul Cauer.

Death Record of Helene Kummer Cauer [Credit: MyHeritage Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, Death Index 1874–1938]

Search the Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, Death Index 1874–1938

New Zealand, Index of Burials, 1840–2008 

This collection of 3.2 million records is an index of burial records from throughout New Zealand. Records may contain the first and last name of the deceased, age at death, and year and place of burial. Information about the origin of the records may also appear.

This collection includes the burial record of the 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand, Richard Seddon. 

Richard John Seddon, circa 1905 [Credit: Alexander Turnbull Library]

During his 13 years in office, Seddon instituted pensions for the elderly, annexed the Cook Islands, and helped make New Zealand become the first country to grant women suffrage in 1893.

In this record below, you can find his full name, place of burial, and date of death, as well as the source of this information.

Burial Record of Richard John Seddon  [Credit: MyHeritage New Zealand, Index of Burials, 1840–2008]

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Summary

We hope these valuable collections offer new avenues for your family history research. Searching these collections on MyHeritage is free. To view these records or to save records to your family tree, you’ll need a Data or Complete subscription.

If you have a family tree on MyHeritage, our Record Matching technology will notify you automatically if records from these collections match your relatives. You’ll then be able to review the record and decide if you’d like to add the new information to your tree.

Enjoy the new collections!