How to find information about relatives in the archive. Genealogical search for ancestors. Historical restoration of the pedigree

Searching for relatives and identifying pedigree in the archives is a priority for the Russian Center for Genealogy. Our staff includes 32 practicing genealogists from different regions of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. We also cooperate with European, American and Canadian genealogical companies.

Why is a pedigree study ordered from us? We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the report on the first stage of archival work, which assumes a guaranteed deepening of approximately 200 years. This is 8-10 generations (40 - 80 of your ancestors).

The preservation of various state documents and population censuses (revision tales), which began to be conducted from the time of Peter the Great, allows you to restore the genealogy to the middle of the 17th - early 18th centuries, which is 10-14 generations of your ancestors (2 stages of archival work). Usually we find documents for 60-100 new relatives.

I will try to write in more detail about such services, including those already mentioned.

4. Something similar to address books, but somewhat different in essence - Commemorative books. They were published in pre-revolutionary times every year in almost every province. They indicated all the persons who occupied some position in the province, even a completely insignificant one - for example, a village doctor or some surveyor. Almost all publications have indexes. They are also posted on the website of the Historian (again, a keyword search will help - the names of the provinces) -

5. In general, "library search" is a completely underestimated thing for studying pre-revolutionary genealogy. The names of absolutely different, including "ordinary" people, very often found their way into various kinds of printed publications - reference books, lists, and so on. There was, for example, an annual directory of persons convicted of any crimes, incl. small - these are long lists of first names with links to villages - very useful again for searching for any mention of a rare surname. The catalog of the Russian State Library is very useful for such a search -
Many pre-revolutionary publications are digitized and indexed there (while they are not searched by ordinary search engines) - that is, simply by typing some surname and place, you can accidentally find the mention of ancestors.
Similarly, you can use the Google book search engine:

6. As for open Internet resources for searching archival documents, there are quite a lot of them, but the search for them is quite specific - in order to find something, you need to understand what exactly you are looking for. Archives are not libraries, the data in them is structured according to other principles - regionally, by types of documents, and so on. However, even if you understand little in such documents, you can still find something without even leaving your home.
Many regional archives have a so-called. AIS - automated information systems, in fact, a database of stored documents. The actual monopolist in their creation is the ELAR corporation (which also made the OBD and "Feat of the People" websites mentioned above), so they are almost all similar in terms of the principle of operation: in order to search for something, you must first register, and then use search filters to search documentation.
But not all AISs are the same - it all depends on the specific archive. In some archive, just the names of documents are posted, and in some, these documents are digitized and available for viewing. In some archives there are no auxiliary tools, in some there are, in some archives this or that type of source has been preserved, in some not.

Here are good examples of AISs:
- AIS archives of the Yaroslavl region (many documents have been digitized, in the Yaroslavl province the data of the general census of 1897 has been preserved, which enumerated all the inhabitants of the province - its data is indexed and searched by a search engine on the site):
- AIS of the Voronezh archive -
- AIS of the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg (access to documents is paid, but a large number of parish registers have been digitized for the vast territory of pre-revolutionary provinces neighboring St. Petersburg) -
- AIS of the Samara archive -
- AIS of the Tyumen archive (Tyumen is one of the regions where the 1897 census data is also preserved, which makes it easy to search for information about ancestors, even without special knowledge) -

A separate example of a service similar to AIS is the website of Generations of the Perm Territory:
This is a site where old documents (mainly related to the Perm province) are not only structured and digitized, but also a simple and powerful search by surnames, settlements, and so on. If your ancestors lived in the vicinity of Perm, you are lucky, "without leaving your home" with the skill you can find information about your ancestors immediately for 100-200 years, even without any special skill in reading pre-revolutionary documents.

7. A peculiar, but also useful service for finding information about ancestors - site
This is a catalog of documents created by American Mormons: for their Mormon purposes, they digitize archives around the world, including in Russia and Ukraine. You need to figure it out on the site in order to understand what exactly you are looking for, but I note that there is quite a lot of "indexed" information - that is, the data of archival documents are possible to search for them. The main feature of the site is that many Russian and Ukrainian documents, although digitized, are not available for viewing by non-Mormons (not "from Russia", but in general Russian ones - a proxy will not help). This is due to the official ban of the Russian and Ukrainian archival authorities, but nevertheless, theoretically, they can be obtained.

Anyone who wants to feel part of a huge whole. After all, the history of every family is fraught with an incredible amount of secrets and discoveries, troubles and joys, happy and tragic stories that will make you feel that you have an incredible legacy behind you. And it is not at all necessary to be a distant relative of princes and counts in order to feel like a part of history.

The opportunity to find out who your predecessors were is an invaluable wealth that cannot be measured in material units.

Someone wants to understand who their great-grandmother was, someone wants to find a trace of a relative who disappeared decades ago, and someone wants to find out where the remains of the grandfather who died in the Great Patriotic War are buried.

The goals are different, but one thing unites them - the desire to find answers to exciting questions about the origins of their family in the mists of time. In any case, the process of exploration can turn into a real adventure and be remembered for many years.

Where to start your kind of research

First, ask the oldest family members about relatives living in other places. What do they remember about their parents, brothers and sisters, when were they born and what were their names, where did they live and where did they move?

Perhaps someone knows the burial places or the house where your great-great-grandfather was born is still preserved. Any information would be valuable. Even what songs they sang in the village when they played a wedding, what clothes they wore and what they ate, how they liked to spend time and what kind of animals they kept in the house. Perhaps this information will not help to find out your family tree to the seventh generation, but it will definitely bring distant times closer to us and help us understand people who lived decades ago. Do not forget to record the conversation on a voice recorder so that you can later decipher the recording and transfer it to paper. Plus, the lively voice of a loved one will definitely remain with you, and important details will not escape your memory.

How to find information about your ancestors in the archives

Before heading to the State Archives, start by clearing out your home shelving.

Pay attention to photographs, documents on marriage or its dissolution, birth and death certificates, documents on graduation from an educational institution. At the same time, look not only at the front, but also at the back of the document or photograph. There may be important notes on it that will help in further searches.

This is especially true for photographs: many people signed the names of the people depicted, as well as the date and place where the picture was taken. And on the photo itself, you can see the name of the station or find out in what rank your great-grandfather ended the war.

How to find the history of your ancestors: ways to organize information

When searching with multiple sources and scraps of information, it is very easy to get confused. Therefore, we advise you to write down all incoming data in a notepad or create a folder on your computer.

How to find your family of ancestors by name and surname: on the Internet and archive

It is logical that those who seek to find data about their roots try to find their relatives using a search by last name. On the Internet, you can find many sites dedicated to the research of experts in the field of family history. You may also be lucky to find a clue that will lead you to the traces of your ancestors.

There are special reference books and dictionaries where you can find a brief history of your last name. Usually, it dates back to ancient times, and is often formed from the nickname, name, profession, nationality, noticeable character traits or appearance, as well as the place of residence of your distant ancestor.

So, the surname Goncharov was built on the principle of "the son of a potter - potters." The surnames of representatives of princely families usually came from the name of the lands where the family's possessions were located. Vyazemsky and Meshchersky are a direct example of this.

Think about how your last name was formed, perhaps it will say a lot about your relatives.

How can you find the roots of your ancestors via the Internet: we are looking for information about relatives on the net

A simple Google search with your relative's first and last name is unlikely to yield any meaningful results. Rather, you should turn to specialized search engines:

Google Books will help you find scans of thousands of books and reference books. Hundreds of digitized publications of the pre-Soviet period cannot be found by ordinary search engines. And with the help of this site, you can simply drive the last name and first name into the search bar and accidentally stumble upon a mention of relatives.

MyHeritage.com is an international service that will allow you to search through countless archival lists, birth records, revision records, burial lists. The site is paid, but there are options for which you do not need to pay. With it, you can both find your ancestors, and there you can simulate an approximate layout of your own family tree based on data about their pedigree.

OBD "Memorial". Almost a starting service for those who know very little about their roots and seek to understand how to find their family by last name. "Memorial" is a service that helps to get information about missing, killed or captured soldiers of the Great Patriotic War. For almost all military personnel, the place of birth and year are written. This makes searching much easier. If you know that your great-great-grandfather died in the war, but you don’t know what village he was from and where to look for data about him, this resource can become a real mine of information. Often, the lists indicate not only the name of a soldier and his place of birth, but also the names of his family members who were informed about the death of a soldier. This is not only a name, but also a note about who the person is to the deceased. Thus, you will not only know the place of birth of your relative, but also the names of his mother, father or wife. This service is also useful for owners of rare surnames. Through the search, you can see the distribution area and find out where its carriers were born and lived. Quite often it turns out that almost all namesakes lived in the same area or even in one small village.

An important help in how to find information about ancestors on the Internet will be the website of the All-Russian Genealogical Tree. There you can find a whole database and a great forum of members who share their stories of finding roots, and can also give valuable advice and suggest in which direction to "dig" further.

You can search more specifically and precisely. If you want to know about the fate of your relative who died during the First or Second World War, we advise you to refer to the resources "In Memory of the Heroes of the Great War of 1914-1918" and "Memory of the People". If you are looking for information about a relative who could be repressed, pay attention to the websites "Personal File of Everyone" and the project "Last Address".

You can view the personal files of relatives who died in the Holocaust on the website of the Yad Vashem Center.

For those who know that their ancestors in Soviet or pre-revolutionary times lived in Moscow or St. Petersburg, the address directories "All Moscow" and "All Petersburg" will become an invaluable assistant. Here you can find information about the address of your relative, and sometimes about his occupation. These directories can be viewed on the Historical Library website.
Something similar to the previous item - Commemorative books. Such collections were published in the pre-Soviet period every year in almost every province. They wrote about all the people who occupied any little position in the province. Starting from a village doctor or land surveyor to the chairman of the noble assembly. Almost all publications have indexes. You can search for memorable books on the website of the same Historical Library.

A somewhat specific, but also extremely useful resource for those who are interested in how to find the biography of their ancestors is familysearch.org. It is a collection of documents prepared by American Mormons. You can search digitized documents from all over the world, including Russia and Ukraine. However, non-Mormons cannot view the data. You can get permission if you make an official request to the administration of the resource.

How else can you find information about the biography of your ancestors

To search for living relatives or descendants of already deceased, write to the website of the program “Wait for me”. You can not only send an application to search for a specific person, but also see if you or your loved ones are being searched for by lost contact relatives and friends.

You can contact the registry office. Provided that you have your own birth certificate (if not, order it in the same place), you can receive documents of already deceased relatives. Using this method, you can find out where your grandmother was born or where your grandfather got married. However, this only works for documents issued after the October Revolution. Papers of the pre-Soviet period must be sought elsewhere.

How to find information about your ancestors in the archives

Population censuses have been conducted in our country since the 18th century. The oldest of them are in the archives and help restore the family tree to the time of Peter I. Many centuries ago, the most important documents: birth and death certificates, marriage certificates were issued in two copies, one of which was kept in the church, and the second - in a special repository.

Cases related to noble families are best looked for in the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg.

Also in the city on the Neva is the Russian State Archive of the Navy - here you can find both information about relatives who lived in pre-Soviet times, and those who were born and lived after the revolution.

The Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts is based in the capital - here you can find documents from the Time of Troubles and an earlier period. Also in Moscow is the Russian State Military Historical Archive. Here it is better to look for information on the time before 1918.

The city of Podolsk is located in the Moscow Region, where the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense is located - here it is possible to find information for the period from the beginning of the Second World War to the present.

You can do the research yourself, but be prepared to face painstaking paperwork and countless hours spent in the archives. Those who, for some reason, cannot spend so much time, but still want to get information about their roots, should seek the help of professionals. "Russian House of Genealogy" will help you conduct a study that will show where, how and when your ancestors lived, loved and died. Our specialists have access to closed archives. They will not only help to draw up a search strategy, but will also carry out archival and search work, verify the authenticity of the data and systematize the information received into a family tree. You can order the design of a genealogy book and a family coat of arms, which will visually present the rich history of your family.

Not every person knows the history of his family name, however, anyone for whom family values and ties of kinship matter seeks to find relatives and establish contact with them. The Family Tree website is happy to help you in this good undertaking. Finding ancestors is not an easy task, for this you will need to dig through the family archive and make all kinds of inquiries, but finding relatives on the Internet is much easier. Family sites operating within the framework of our portal are named after their founder. After reviewing the list, you can find relatives by last name, unless, of course, the history of the last name of the people you are interested in matches yours. "Who were my ancestors?" - you can search for those who will help with the answer for free on the Family Tree, filtering family sites by last name.

With us, the search for ancestors by last name becomes easy and fast, and most importantly, it is always free and available. “I want to find relatives,” new users often write to us. Well, we will definitely help you do it!

Even if the search engine is unable to help you find your ancestors by last name, then the "Family Tree" is at your service! The history of the surname can no longer remain a secret for you! To find the ancestors, it is enough to join us. As you know, whoever seeks will find, and in your case, he will also find it quickly and for free. Communicate, interact, and very soon you will receive an answer to the question: "Who were my ancestors?".

Family ties are the warmest and closest. Friends, buddies, classmates, colleagues come into our lives and then leave. Sooner or later, communication with everyone who enters your daily life at work or school comes to an end. Best friends turn into buddies, and from buddies into acquaintances. Thus, people gradually lose each other. The only exception is the family, which ideally should always be with us. But life is unpredictable. Sometimes it turns out that communication with close relatives is lost. Twenty years ago, a family break could stretch for decades, if not forever. But today, in the age of information technology development search for relatives turns into a completely feasible and even enjoyable task. Our site - "Search for people" is an effective tool that will help you find anyone, anywhere. You do not actually need anything - just fill out an information application. Indicate in it the maximum information about the lost relative or any other person - his name, surname, age and any other data that will help get on the trail. In some cases, even the most insignificant information can become key. So try to be as complete as possible.

The search process is carried out by experienced volunteers who do their work for free. Their main source is the Internet and its resources. The search is carried out through social networks, forums and popular thematic blogs. It was the spread of social networks that made the search relatives by last name an easy process. It is enough to write the name of a relative in the search line, specify the data by age and location, and it is possible that the missing person will be found in a matter of seconds. But social media isn't the only way to search. It is likely that for some reason the person is not registered there. And then the volunteers try alternative options - thematic forums and blogs. Throughout the history of the project, there have been different situations. One day, the father of a lost family was found using a fishing blog. The man was actively interested in fishing and left his contact details for communication with associates. This helped in the final search, since it was not on social networks.

Searching for relatives in archives is another way to find a lost person. There are many websites that help our volunteers in this endeavor.

The Internet is not the only way to search. Volunteers use reference books, both old and new. "Search engines" are trying to find friends of the lost person and interrogate them.

Search for relatives by last name for free It's a great way to restore family ties. You don't have to do anything complicated to do this. All that is required is to simply leave a request with detailed information about the person. And then our volunteers will make every effort to fulfill their goal and find your beloved relative.