The following Russian language directories have been uploaded to the server
at rapidshare.com courtesy of Mark Conrad of Maryland. This is the first
such directory I have been able to locate for Kovno gubernia...

Kovenskaya Pamiatnaia Kniga 1861 part 1
http://rapidshare.com/files/195535126/Kovno1861-1.pdf

I have just gone through this part, and there is nothing there of
genealogical interest unless you suspect an ancestor was a member of the
governing military or civilian Russian power structure. But there is a lot of
info on the geography, climate, vegetation, etc. of Kovno gub.

Kovenskaya Pamiatnaia Kniga 1861 part 2
http://rapidshare.com/files/195529064/Kovno1861-2.pdf

Part 2 finishes the native vegetation section, and then provides the
detailed population statistics that might be most interesting.
The population is divided by religion, of which there are 8,
including 2 Jewish: Karaites and Talmudists [sic]
and 2 Protestant. Every sort of numerical breakdown is
included: Various localities, births (illegitimate only for R.
Orthodox and R.C.), infant mortality at various age points, numbers
of clergy for each religion, weddings, males, females, etc.,
etc. For what it's worth, in 1860 [year before emancipation] there
were 2 landless gentry who owned 20 serfs. Note that this is NOT a
listing of individual inhabitants. This section finishes with a
detailed discussion of the anthropology of indigenous groups (no Jews
here), dress, customs, etc., followed by many details, including
statistics, of agricultural production.

Kovenskaya Pamiatnaia Kniga 1861 part 3
http://rapidshare.com/files/195525357/Kovno1861-3.pdf

Part 3 completes the crime statistics begun at the very end of Pt
2. Then follows a history of the region. The paragraph re
Jews begins with dates of arrival, starting with expulsion >from
Russia in 1113, and citing a tombstone in Eishishkes with a date
of ll70. But there follows a nasty anti-Semitic screed. ("...the
good-for-nothing Jews are more and more a burden on the
population.") Then a chronology of events, and some old documents,
and finally, some miscellaneous statistics.

I hope this information will be useful for those interested in these documents.

Jules Levin
Los Angeles

MODERATOR NOTE: This message is in response to a thread which appeared on
LitvakSig. It has been posted here because of its wider interest.