Digging up Russian Roots
Author: Barbra Krasner-Khait
Publication: Russian Life
Date:
July/Aug 2001
Page: 57
Number of pages: 5
Summary: There are nearly three million persons of Russian ancestry in the US today. With the opening of state archives and the removal of taboos on genealogical research in Russia (to say nothing of the online explosion), these Russian-Americans can now more easily excavate the roots of their family trees. Genealogical expert Barbra Krasner-Khait shows how it is done.
The usefulness of the web to research genealogy cannot be overstated. Here are some of the most useful links.*
Getting Professional Help
Check the website for the Association of Professional Genealogists In Moscow. If you do not read Russian, click on the Association name in English. It will bring you to a list of professional genealogists.
You can find a list of individual researchers at the website Researching Russian Roots: The Gateway to Genealogy in Russia. It is an excellent introductory site as well. Just click on any of the options: Welcome, How-to, Russian Archives, Useful Links, Ukraine and Belarus, Message Boards, Emigre Search, Family Sites, My Family and Contact Me listed on this page.
Professional Service Firms
Blitz Information Center. This is a small part of the larger website sponsored by the Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies.
Miriam Weiner’s Routes to Roots: Tracing Jewish Roots in Poland, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus.
General Sites
All Russia Family Database Search the free database for your surnames. It's helpful to be able to read Russian for this site, even if accessing the English language version.
Federation of Eastern European Family History A central site for Eastern European genealogy that includes the former Russian Empire.
American Family Immigration History Center If your family came to America between 1892 and 1924 through Ellis Island, you can use this site to find their passenger records and view copies of the actual ship manifests. The long-anticipated site can tremendously boost your search and beats sitting in a dark room perusing microscopic print on a microfilm reader. You should also check stevemorse.org. This is Stephen P. Morse's site. It's a key website for Ellis Island, but also includes other ports of entry. Browse other sections as well. There is a lot of genealogical information here.
Germans from Russia
Germans from Russia Heritage Society
Germans from Russia Heritage CollectionIf your heritage is ethnic German, accessing this site is a must. It provides "one-stop-shopping" for resources and links.
Einwanderungszentralstelle (EWZ) Antraege One of the most important document sources for Germans from Russia is this collection of more than 400,000 applications of ethnic Germans living outside Germany during 1939-1945. The actual records were kept in the Berlin Document Center and filmed by the National Archives. The second website to check is http://www.odessa3.org/collections/articles/berlin.html. These two sites describe what's available.
German Russian Genealogy Says Brosz, "Here's a site that everyone should visit if they are researching German Russians."
Online Discussion Groups Choose from several distinctive listservs to ask questions and exchange information with others from the same geographic area: Bessarabian Germans, Glueckstal Colonies, Crimea Germans, and Volga Germans. In addition, two groups provide forums on genealogy and family research as well as heritage and culture.
St. Petersburg Archives Access surname lists from the St. Petersburg holdings on Germans from Russia. (Click on Collections. Then click on St. Petersburg.)
Jews from Russian Lands
JewishGen The ultimate site for Jewish genealogy.
JewishGen Family Finder Allows you to enter a surname or place name and find other researchers with similar interests. Enter your own names so others can find you.
Family Tree of the Jewish People Contains family trees submitted by 1,500 Jewish researchers around the world. Armed with a researcher code and password (which you get through an e-mail request), you can access this database and you can upload your own tree. The database also enables you to contact the submitter - you may even find new family connections! Fox, for example, found connections with a recent emigre from Moscow through the Family Tree of the Jewish People. They share a great-grandmother.
All Belarus Database A compilation of more than 100,000 records from sources such as vital records, voter lists, business directories, tax lists, and ghetto inventories. Just enter the names you wish to search.
All Latvia Database Similar to the All Belarus Database, this consolidated index contains 50,000 entries referring to more than 80,000 individuals.
All Lithuania Database Sponsored by the Litvak Special Interest Group, this database contains more than 200,000 entries.
Vsia Rossia Database An index to more than 30,000 entries from the 1895, 1899, 1903, and 1911 All Russia business directories, representing Chernigov, Poltava, Kiev, Volhynia, Minsk, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Odessa, Berdichev, Zhitomir, Slonim, Volkovysk, and Tiraspol.
Yizkor Book Necrology Database After the Holocaust, survivors from a particular town banded together to write and memorialize their annihilated town and friends and family. This site provides easy, English-language access to the names contained in many of these books covering the geographic areas of Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Special Interest Groups Researchers share common interests in groups covering Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. These SIGs also feature online discussion groups.
Nobility
Association of the Belarusian Nobility A fee-based society headquartered in Minsk open to descendants of nobility from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Russian Nobility Search a database of 11,000 names.
Belarus
Belarusian Genealogy Offers links to maps, researchers, documents.
Belarus Genealogy Forum Join this newsgroup if you're looking to network with others researching their Belarusan roots.
Additional Websites
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN This site has a great deal of general information that may be useful to the genealogist. Of special interest are the sections on History and Libraries and Archives. Most entries list websites.
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Click on CATNYP Online Catalog for the Research (non-circulating) Library on the far right. Enter "Russia--Genealogy" as a subject heading. If you read transliterated Russian in the Roman alphabet, you will find a number of items.
FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY, SALT LAKE CITY Use their online catalog to find a wealth of resources, both printed material and microfilmed records. You can request that microfilm can be sent to the Family History Center branch closest to you. To find yours, click on Library on the homepage above. Then click on Family History Library and scroll to the bottom.
[* Originally compiled by Barbara Krasner-Khait. Revisions and updates supplied by Ginny Audet, Newton Free Library: 10 May 2006]
