Family tree to know relatives. Genealogical search for ancestors. Historical restoration of the pedigree

The study of family history and the analysis of documents with information about ancestors is a laborious and specific process, but you should not be afraid of it, postponing the search for facts about the development of the genus until retirement age. If you do not understand how to approach the restoration of the pedigree, do not assume how to find your ancestors in the archives and find out the origin of the surname, then a review article from Livemem will help readers understand the nuances and choose the best solution. The preparation of the research plan is based on the initial data about the desired person, which the descendant possesses. Sometimes initial information is not enough to find ancestors from the distant past or meet relatives from the present. The fate of people is different, and the primary information about the origin of each is individual, which is why it is impossible to mention all the options. The authors of the publication will consider the question of how to find out their ancestors, having received authentic data from reliable sources, from the standpoint of two basic areas of search in archives - genealogical and military.

Based on the many years of experience of the active work of the family and military research bureau "Keepers of Family Secrets", readers' applications for the search for ancestors can be divided into two types: "I know that my relative served in ..." and "it is known that a grandmother or grandfather was born in...". In the first part of the article, we will consider the option of how to find ancestors in the archives by last name, if there is information about the person's involvement in the service. In our country, the records of military personnel are carefully kept, which means that in certain documents there are various references to the Red Army, officers of the Red Army, sailors, hussars, Cossacks, employees of special services and other departments or formations. If you look for materials about ancestors responsibly and with attention to detail, then there is a chance to comprehend the truth and reveal the innermost secret of the genealogy. With almost any initial data, military-historical research can be carried out, the only question is what set of measures is required to carry out an effective search for the ancestors of the family and how much working time it will take to find out your origin, as well as find archival information about the surnames present in the branches of the family . Let's move on to the details of this direction.

In our country, there are several federal and departmental archives, the funds and files of which help citizens conduct a military search for relatives. To understand how to know your origin and to find the ancestors of the family in such situations, it is required to clearly formulate the task, and, starting from it, apply to one or another institution. What are research applications? We present in this publication common options. When the reader is interested in the fate of the repressed or dispossessed ancestors of the clan, then it is necessary to contact the Central Archive of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Central Archive of the Federal Security Service), some information about the origin can be found with the help of the territorial departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the scene of the event. The main part of what concerns the fleet is located in the vaults of the RGA VMF (Russian State Archive of the Navy) in St. Petersburg. If the goal is to find your ancestors and facts about the missing, then study the site obd-memorial.ru, but since not all "paper" funds are duplicated by an electronic copy, some of the information can only be found in the Podolsky TsAMO RF (Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense) . Materials about the Great Patriotic War are stored there, and data on awards and merit can be found on the resource podvignaroda.mil.ru, but do not forget about the archive itself in Podolsk, where undigitized documents are located. It would not be superfluous to inform our visitors, who are planning to figure out how to search for their ancestors, about the pamyatnaroda.mil.ru portal, which is useful for finding information.

In which federal archives to look for reliable facts about the surname and where to find ancestors if their involvement in the service dates back to the period before the war between the USSR and Nazi Germany? It will be possible to answer this question correctly, knowing the time the relative was in the army. There are two institutions in Moscow responsible for storing relevant materials: RGVA (Russian State Military Archive) and RGVIA (military history). The first contains surviving documents with authentic information about the ancestors of the family for 1918-1940 - from the moment the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) was created. The second contains the funds of the military department of the Russian Empire from the end of the 18th century until about March 1918. Now visitors to the specialized site site present how to find information about ancestors, having learned their origin based on the results of the study, if information about the pedigree is limited to knowledge along the service line, and you can proceed to explain the genealogical search in the archives.

How to find out your origin and find data about ancestors

In the second part of the article, we will talk about how to recognize your ancestors by last name by studying archival sources containing information about the representatives of the genus and their origin. The authors of the research bureau previously prepared a detailed publication on this topic, in which you can read what is the genealogical search for ancestors, what method achieves a positive result and how to find the desired type of document. And here we will explain the well-structured process of searching for data in archives from the point of view of an integrated approach, based on the available primary information about relatives. If you need an explanation of how to find out your origin through the connection of the generations of your ancestors and find the first bearers of the surname, then we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the following information, issued in the form of a manual.

The algorithm for conducting genealogical research (search in archives) is compiled on the basis of the dates and places of birth of the oldest relatives known to those who wish to know their origin, or based on the profession of a person. To figure it out where to find ancestors, you need to determine the type of institution in which you will study the documents. When the data of the Soviet period is of interest, the pedigree can be found through appeals to the archives of the registry offices (registrations of civil status). They contain books with references to the birth, marriage and death of ancestors. Keep in mind that it is only possible to restore any evidence upon presentation of evidence of kinship with the person you are looking for. If this citizen is alive, then the researcher must have a power of attorney certified by a notary to search for information. When a person dies, it is required to show a certificate of his death. There is information on the Internet that there are deviations from the rules, but these are the rarest exceptions or network fairy tales. Note that there are no reading rooms in the registry offices, cooperation occurs by sending requests to a specific department or a personal visit. Which territorial division should be disturbed in order to clarify the origin and how to find ancestors by last name? The application should be submitted at the place of the event, for example, if there is evidence that your relative is a native of city X, then send a request to the archive department of the registry office of this locality. If there is no such institution in a small village or village, then the truth must be sought in the administrative center. The bureaucratic machine can forward the application within its structure for months or completely ignore it, so the request to the archive about relatives should be clear, try to make the text as concise as possible - employees are interested in facts and specifics about the fate of the ancestor. Follow our recommendations, and this will help you find out the history of your last name.

Readers' attention is worthy of another branch of the archival study of documents of Soviet origin - civil search. How to find your ancestors through this direction to restore the family pedigree? The civilian method refers to the analysis of sources in separate institutions. For example, in our work we periodically refer to RGALI (Russian State Archive of Literature and Art). Its capital storages contain files with information about the activities of the cultural layer from all over the country, whether they are writers, artists, opera house singers or other artists. When you need to know your ancestors who were involved in politics, RGASPI (archive of socio-political history) will be useful. If information about the involvement of a person in the Party is known, then this institution will be indispensable. This specialized archive will also be useful to researchers in other situations that arise when searching for ancestors by surname, as it contains a huge amount of reliable sources about common history. Site visitors have already understood that the main wealth of Russia associated with the origin of people is located in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but you should know that regional archives operate in the centers of the subjects of our state. You will learn how to find your ancestors in the territorial departments in the final part of the article on establishing the roots of the genus.

How to recognize your ancestors and start working in archives

The subjects of our country have their own federal archives, where there is information on the pre-revolutionary era (somewhere there is a chance to find information on the beginning of the Soviet period), which helps to find out their origin and connect the family chains of the relationship of ancestors by the last name of a person. Unfortunately, it is not possible to name the exact date range, but the approximate time frame is as follows: from 1780 to 1930. Documents of earlier origin, for example, for the 17th century, are stored in Moscow in the RGADA (Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts). How to know your ancestors in "local" archives? To solve this problem, it is required to know that these institutions contain all the main genealogical sources for the dates indicated above. These include parish registers with surnames or names of ancestors - an analogue of civil status records for the Russian Empire, revision tales - a kind of census of the population in the yards of a particular settlement, confession sheets - lists with notes on church visits by residents of places located near the parish, and also a couple of dozen other less common document titles. You can read the nuances of a genealogical study of the fate of ancestors by last name in the corresponding manual on the Livemem website, a link to which the authors have already given in this publication, and a description of the types of sources themselves can be found in the "Articles" section.

Now let's touch on the topic of the work itself on searching for ancestors in archives and collecting information. As already mentioned, requests can be sent to government agencies and hired specialists can be sent. For example, you can order an archival search of people by name from us, and the bureau employees will conduct a study as your representatives. Naturally, there is an opportunity to find out your origin and see the cases "with your own hands". Let's take a closer look at this moment. In order to get into the archive and find their ancestors, the user, in most cases, needs to apply in advance, since there are not enough free places. Usually, reading rooms are equipped for 10-20 visitors. In some archives, permission must wait for months. Alas, such a picture scares off citizens and makes it difficult to restore the pedigree. But really experienced and competent researchers have all sorts of legitimate tricks to help speed up the process and find ancestors by last name.

When the appointment has been received and you have arrived at the specified time, the head of the reading room hands over the rules of archival work, which consist in the fact that when searching for ancestors it is forbidden to use mobile phones, cameras, the visitor undertakes to carefully handle sources of information about the origin and receive no more than 5 or 10 cases per day (or 1500 sheets). To save time, try to find them on the archive website. Then, you need to check in the visitor's log, and after following the formalities, the citizen can proceed to genealogical research and search for information. How to find your ancestors and what to take at the beginning of the search? Study the archive guide, find out which funds are stored in it and which of them are suitable for solving the task. Next, order an inventory and analyze the list of cases. If there is something on the list that will help reveal the secret of the pedigree, fill out a special requirement. Then, an employee of the archive writes you down for a certain date to familiarize yourself with the prepared cases containing facts about your ancestors along the family line. The period of "downtime" can be 3 days or 15 - it depends on the optimization of the bureaucracy of the institution. For nonresident users, there are exceptions, and documents can be issued immediately. Again, an experienced genealogist knows the tools to speed up the process. In the course of researching the origin of a kind, it is allowed to leave applications for photocopying or preparing electronic versions of the pages found with references to ancestors by the name of a person. Someone will need a certificate with the seal of the archive if it is necessary to provide an official document.

To find your ancestors by last name, you should not discount local history museums and libraries. Pedigree researchers achieve the best results in establishing the origin of a genus and collecting data with an integrated approach with attention to detail. In the archives of museums, it turns out to come across books of memory, where distinguished people are mentioned, among whom you can find relatives. In libraries, there is a chance to stumble upon survey materials on the locality with a list of local residents by last name for a certain range of time. In fact, there are so many sources containing information about the life of the population that it is impossible to list everything in one article. For the specific purpose of the search, an individual list of effective directions is selected and a unique plan is developed, which allows you to find out the maximum number of facts about the fate of the ancestors. There are, for example, such institutions as GARF (State Archive of the Russian Federation) or the notorious RGAE (archive of the economy), filled with large amounts of information. We hope that after reading this publication on how to find your lineage, visitors to our website of the Bureau of Family Research have got an idea of the big picture and outlined for themselves ways to achieve success in finding ancestors and restoring family history.

If you have additions - let us know in the comments, we will make a useful resource together!

Thanks to the personal qualities and genetic characteristics of our ancestors, a new personality is born.

Plunging into the family's origin story seems like a crazy adventure. Read how to find out the pedigree by last name.

Each country has an archival fund that collects and stores documents, collects the history of mankind.

In the age of information technology, they try to create and store such materials in electronic form.

Important! They say that not only DNA, but also fate is inherited, so it is important for a person to know about family history.

The Center for Genealogical Research is engaged in the search for relatives, ancestors, helps to compile a genealogical tree of the family.

The All-Russian archive stores information about more than 3 million people. The base is constantly updated.

Important! The Internet version of the archive helps to find roots from the times of pre-revolutionary Russia.

To find the roots, you need to go to the site and register. The first click will be the beginning of the path to collect the necessary information. A simple click will help you find relatives who lived more than a century ago.

To search, you need to enter a minimum of data:

Surname.
Place of residence, residence.

A big plus is the information that you heard from family stories. Any documented incident such as arrest, medical records, etc. help you quickly find information about a person.

Is it possible to find out the pedigree of a family on the Internet?

On websites or just on the Internet, advertisements often pop up, in which a promise is made to help build a family tree.

Is it possible to learn everything about the history of a family for 100 years in 5 minutes? Even the writer Garcia Marquez could not describe the history of one family in less than 600 pages.

But what do they promise for sending a message to a short number? In return, you will receive information about the origin of your personal surname.

Such information is not enough, because there are a lot of namesakes even in one city not to mention the country and the world.

Even the All-Russian Foundation will not provide all the information that is in the archive in one click.

The globalization and structuring of electronic media still cannot help to quickly and completely put the entire print archive on the net. For more detailed and accurate information, it is better to contact professionals.

Advice! Only a geneticist will help to compile a family tree. But the history of the family takes time, an infinite number of examinations and financial costs.

Genealogical tree of the family: the history of a kind

The first step to revealing family secrets is easy - just turn on the computer and go to the Internet. If a search on the World Wide Web did not give anything, then proceed to the next step.

Follow the step-by-step instructions described in the table:

It is worth writing down all the smallest details and details. For reliability, you can keep a voice recorder.

Do not be discouraged if elderly relatives live far away. In the 21st century, you can easily contact your ancestors via Skype

Important! Never throw away things of grandparents, keep old photos, take the memory of your roots.

In order not to forget or miss important information during an archive request or a home interview, you should always have a memo with important questions at hand.

Be sure to ask your parents:

Maiden name of mother, grandmother.
Change of residence over the years.
Write down all the names and surnames, even distant relatives.
Consider education, place of work, religion.
Write down any important achievements of the ancestors.
Do not neglect information about young relatives and their young children.

It is better to classify all the received data in a table, draw graphs and drawings. It's easy to get confused by the amount of information.

To avoid mistakes, descriptions of each person and family ties with him should be done on a separate sheet.

Where can I find out the pedigree of a cat, a puppy?

Even animals have parents. Pedigree is especially important for cats and dogs. Many cynologists even hunt purebreds. Aristocratic cats are considered the most successful prey for an animal breeder.

Important! The pedigree of a dog or cat helps to calculate the color, height, weight and abilities of future offspring.

The pedigree of an animal is a document that contains information about the breed, the parents of the puppy or kitten, and all the details about health. Such paper can be obtained from the Russian Cynological Federation.

Be careful! When buying an animal, ask the seller to document the purity of the blood of the breed. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to prove that an animal of noble blood will be very difficult.

If the documents have been lost and the dog shows that it is a pure representative of the breed, you can find out the information in the kennel where the animal was purchased.

You can send a request to the cynological association, providing at least a minimum of information:

Animal breed.
Age.
Parents' names.

Useful video

Looking back at the events of our country's past, one can understand why many of us have finally lost touch with our forefathers. In the cycle of historical events, people either lost contact with their blood relatives, or deliberately refused any relationship with them. And today you can’t blame anyone: in an effort to save their children, many families deliberately changed and destroyed old documents in order to avoid repression and execution.

Nowadays, the presence of venerable ancestors in the pedigree is very much appreciated: belonging to a family with important (from a historical point of view) surnames will give your person a certain weight in a cultural society. But even if you are sure that the names of your great-grandparents and their parents are not known in public history, it is still very important to know your roots, because this knowledge is an integral part of the spiritual, religious and cultural aspects of the modern personality.

Options for finding information about your ancestors

For those wishing to take the shortest path, we inform you that today there are a lot of specialized services on the virtual market of services on the net that guarantee for a certain amount of money to “dig up” the history of your family in the archives and ultimately make up your family for you. You will become the owner of an officially certified certificate, where all representatives of your family will be listed in detail - with surnames, professions and dates of life. However, it is necessary to mention the disadvantages of this type of investigation: no one will give you a guarantee that they will find your blood relatives, and not their namesakes. True, MirSovetov offers another time-consuming, but reliable option - to find information about your ancestors on your own.

Independent searches of a kind: draw up a plan of action

To get the necessary information yourself, be prepared:

interview your relatives;
to systematize the received data;
use search queries;
get ownership status.

Conversations with family and friends.

The first and easiest stage of the search begins with a survey of relatives. At the same time, do not miss the opportunity to communicate with close friends of their families and neighbors if relatives live in one place for a long time. The older the history of your family, the more difficult it is to put together the pieces of the puzzle that it consists of. All data obtained must be carefully recorded in order to systematize it later.

Features of data classification.

Systematization of the collected information is the next important step on the way to your own. The search for a person involves not only getting acquainted with historical information about him, but also studying photographs that may be related to him. So, on an old photo card, you can find a clue (background, clothing style, strangers) that will tell you in which direction to move on.

Without a clear systematization, it is not possible to compile a family tree of a kind, because you must know for sure which names were in the string of your ancestors, who and by whom brought each other and you. With a large amount of knowledge, you can find out and prove the significance of the surname, if any, in your family. In addition, systematization will indicate gaps in the family chain. To make up for them, you may have to ask relatives more than once about what interests you.

How to submit a search query.

All data about your alleged relatives, which will be of some value to you, need official confirmation.

For example, if a woman was married more than once, then her last name changed several times. To know about this reliably, you need to write a request to the archives of the registry office. Information about distant ancestors is sought in church archives.

If the person you want to know something about was a military man, and you only have his first name, last name and photo, don't think that all is lost. It happened that ammunition and uniforms added missing details to the image of a stranger. In such cases, a written request is sent to the military archive. The task is greatly facilitated if the military has received an award: all orders are registered in a special journal, where they must note when, to whom and for what merits the order was issued. In this way, you can find out which military unit your ancestor served in and then send a request to the military archive - as a result, you can get information about rank, belonging to a famous family, or whether this person is your namesake.

Please note that in addition to information from the military archive, you can also study the census lists or fox books from the 15th century from the registry office. All written requests to official organizations, as a rule, are paid.

List of subdivisions of Russian archives

To search for information quickly and productively, you must clearly understand where to look for certain information. All domestic historical archives have subdivisions:

The State Archive of Socio-Political History - contains data on employees and members of youth organizations.
The State Archive of the Navy - it contains all the documentary information of the Naval Ministry, starting from 1827.
The State Archive of Contemporary History - this organization stores the personal files of members of the Communist Party.
State Military Archive - contains data on the military since 1920. There is a rich archive of the Red Army, as well as foreign hostilities of the Second World War.
The State Military Historical Archive - information from the pre-revolutionary period starting from 1797 is stored here.
The State Archive of Ancient Acts contains documents from various archives. Among them are documentation belonging to the imperial court from 1869 to 1920, ancient manuscripts for the period 1 1854 to 1882, records of old deeds (1782 - 1852) and a repository of patrimonial deeds (1768 - 1852).
Departmental archive - in it you can find comprehensive data about the people of the Soviet period, their labor awards and orders.

Do not neglect local libraries and local museums, where you can get access to various search literature, archival documents, newspapers and other information and reference publications. Do not forget that you can use the services of archivists, historians and bibliographers.

Additional sources of information search

Check out a few free virtual services that you can use to design and build your personal family tree:

Tree of Life - genery.com. The site provides an opportunity to compile a family tree, determine the degree of kinship with ancestors, as well as store photos, videos and other information about the life and occupation of relatives;
Family Chronicle - the-family-chronicle.com. On this site you will create a large colorful tree of your kind. You can also store photos, videos and various documents.
GenoPro - genopro.com. You can display your family tree in the form of a graphical table.

In the investigation of the origin of the surname, the following libraries can come to the rescue:

russian-family.ru;
petergen.com;
bookfund.ru.

Finding your genealogical roots is a laborious, time-consuming job. After officially confirming your direct relationship to a noble family, you must decide what to do with the result of your labors. Some apply for an inheritance, and if they are lucky, they also enjoy certain material benefits.

If you managed to find some relatives, but their names are of no historical value, do not be discouraged. On the contrary, you can be proud of yourself, because you not only made every effort to find out your origin, but also made a wonderful gift to your children and grandchildren (present or future). Knowing and honoring your ancestors is the key to mental health and well-being of the whole family.

Along with the growing interest in their pedigrees, the number of people who want to “help” in this and even sell their noble origin is also growing. Doctor of Historical Sciences Alexei Mosin told how to avoid mistakes.

Knowledge of the past of a kind helps not only to determine the place of the family name in history, but can even save from premature death. Having learned what they were sick with, from what and at what age the ancestors died, it is possible to identify “risk zones” and maintain health, says professional historian Alexei Mosin, who in ten years restored his family tree from the time of Ivan IV the Terrible and formulated a number of incentives to study their roots .

Why know your family?

First of all, to be able to have the most complete self-identification. And also - to know the genetic predispositions to diseases or addictions. It is also important to be able to pass on all this knowledge to your descendants.

Once you start studying a family name, it's hard to stop later, Mosin said. “It's addictive, it's such an adrenaline rush, you don't have to climb rocks and jump with a parachute. Studying the roots, you understand to what extent we are all not strangers to each other. The statement that we are all brothers and sisters is close to the truth. Purely mathematically, it looks like this: in the second generation of ancestors there are two (parents), in the third - four, in the fourth - eight, in the 21st - more than a million, in the 31st - for a billion. Given the average distance between generations (about 30 years), each of us in the 11th century should have more than a billion ancestors. In fact, there cannot be such a number of ancestors, just the same people are our ancestors in two or more ancestral lines, ”says Mosin.

Source: RIA Novosti

Kadzhana Kantemirova is a representative of the famous dynasty of Ossetian circus equestrian riders, which was founded by the People's Artist of the RSFSR Alibek Kantemirov (1882−1975) - master of the equestrian circus, founder of the school of circus equestrianism. The Kantemirovs are a big family: Alibek's brothers - Ibrahim and Sultanbek, sons - Hasanbek, Irbek and Mukhtarbek, grandchildren - Alibek, Anatoly, Mairbek and Kadzhan's granddaughter.

Kajana's father Khasanbek kept and actively replenished archival documents and materials on the history of the Kantemirov family. “At home we had a whole museum of circus art with the rarest materials not only about our family. My brothers and I continue this tradition,” says Kadzhana.

“I well remember my father’s stories about my great-great-great-grandfather Bakhta Kantemirov, who served as a cavalry leader for the progressive Georgian king George XIII. A royal charter has been preserved confirming this fact, this is the middle of the 18th century,” continues Kadzhana.

The Kantemirovs know that in their family, especially in the male line, almost no one suffered from heart disease.

The ancestors were distinguished by longevity, I found my grandfather's uncle, who was 114 years old. My dad had a favorite saying: "Genes are a great thing!" — Kadzhana Kantemirova

“On tour in the highlands of Mexico City, all the artists of our program suffered from a lack of oxygen and often breathed it from cylinders standing backstage. Everything except our horsemen. Still, the life of our ancestors in the highlands affected us today, ”explains Kantemirova.

Where to start searching for your ancestors?

You need to start by fixing the living memory of the family, talking with older people in the family - parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, their brothers and sisters. The main questions: what were the names of the ancestors, where did they live, what did they do, their social status, time and place of birth and death, ethnic and religious affiliation, participation in historical events. All this will help determine the direction of the search.

According to Mosin's experience, the main difficulty at this stage is people's reluctance to talk about their past. “People are leaving these conversations because some had a very hard life, others are the children of enemies of the people, someone was dispossessed. At the genetic level, we have a historical fear for the fate of our loved ones, because before it was impossible to take home conversations out of the family. But we must patiently explain that the family must preserve its memory, ”the historian notes.

Alexander Seravin, president of the Association of Electronic Electoral Politics of Russia from St. Petersburg, learned the family legend from his great-uncle, professor of biology Lev Seravin, at the age of 11. From him, Alexander received a family tree handwritten in 1954 and an order to preserve the legend of the family. This story happened in 1837 in the Kharovsky district of the Vologda region.

The daughter of the landowner fell in love with the son of the peasant blacksmith Ivan Zakharovich, but he did not reciprocate. However, the girl was persistent. The blacksmith was put in a pit, and then completely chained to a pole and began to torture, forcing him to agree with the claims of the girl. In the end, the distant ancestor gave up.

“The brother of the landowner answered “se la vie”, and the local serfs heard “seravin”. This is how our surname came about, ”says Alexander Seravin.

It took Alexander 27 years to discover evidence of the legend. Together with a professional historian, he found documents confirming these events, wrote a book about the history of the family from the 17th century, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the founder of the family, he gathered the Seravins through social networks and arranged a family holiday in the village where this story took place.

“It was amazing to read about these events in documents after 180 years. What surprised me most of all was that almost a third of the modern Seravins are engaged in blacksmithing, not knowing that their ancestors had been blacksmiths for 400 years. I myself forged armor, and the Seravins from the Murmansk region even organized their own blacksmithing. In addition, during the revolution, my great-grandfather destroyed the church in his homeland. Not knowing about it, 100 years later my namesake Alexander Seravin built a stone church in his native area. It turns out that the karma of the clan was corrected, ”the political scientist notes.

How useful is a family archive?

When you sort through the materials of the home archive - certificates, award lists, certificates, work books, autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, letters, old photographs, books with dedicatory inscriptions - you learn new family stories and names. All this needs to be identified, studied and used in further searches.

“You need to pull all the strings, the clues that you have in sight,” advises Mosin.

It is useful to turn photographs into “talking documents” - on the back, sign with a pencil who and under what circumstances is depicted in the picture, otherwise they will not tell anyone about anything soon - Alexey Mosin, Historian

Leonid Sevastyanov from Moscow, executive director of the St. Gregory the Theologian Charitable Foundation, recognized his ancestry from the 18th century thanks to two surviving photographs of his grandfather, a white Cossack, participant in the Civil War, Stefan Sevastyanov. “I didn’t even know when he was born exactly, only two of his photos were preserved in the family album, I posted them on social networks. One of my acquaintances, the creator of the Don Cossack Guard Museum, Nikolai Novikov from Rostov-on-Don, told previously unknown information about him from the picture, uniform, stripes - my grandfather served in His Majesty's Life Guards Cossack regiment, ”says Sevastyanov .

Can the internet help?

If on the Web you are offered to learn the history of your family in three minutes and a couple of clicks, these are charlatans. You need to search the Internet yourself by the names of your ancestors, their places of residence, work and service, participation in a historical event, in social networks. “It is more difficult for Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov, but there are quite rare surnames. You can find namesakes and try to contact them,” says the expert.

There are firms that make money on the Web by selling data from cemeteries. “They walk on them, take pictures of tombstones and monuments, create databases. In fact, this is very important information, which is often not duplicated anywhere else. If the price for this service suits you, then you can use it,” Mosin said. Particular attention is given to archive sites, portals of genealogical and historical-pedigree societies in your city and region.

Thanks to these data, he found an ancestor's military ID in the Russian State Military Historical Archive. “I found out that he was born in 1872 in the village of Esaulovskaya (now the Volgograd region), he served in the Fifth Cossack Regiment in Poland and extra duty in His Majesty’s Life Guards Cossack Regiment in St. Petersburg,” says Sevastyanov.

He played the clarinet in the regimental band and was even acquainted with Nicholas II. — Leonid Sevastyanov — Executive Director of the St. Gregory the Theologian Charitable Foundation

While working in the archive, he also came across the memoirs of his great-uncle, which contained information about the history of the family from the 18th century. “So I learned that my ancestors were Cossacks, Old Believers, lived on the Upper Don. My great-great-grandfather died in Georgia during the Russian-Turkish war, was awarded an order. All relatives of my grandfather, my great-grandfather were killed by the Reds in the Civil War,” adds Sevastyanov.

Ivan Kalinin, a postgraduate student at the Department of History of Journalism at St Petersburg University, thanks to the Internet and social networks, was able to find one and a half thousand of his relatives from different regions of Russia, Europe and North America.

“Neglect of the Internet hinders the development of a bloodline at any stage. Not everyone knows how to work in archives, the Internet at the first stage is the most effective and understandable. I started looking on websites for information about my relatives - St. Petersburg nobles, on one of the forums I came across information about the house of my ancestors and received a response from my relative from Kaliningrad. At that time, she had already turned to the archives, was engaged in our roots for about seven years, at the beginning of my searches, I used her materials, ”recalls Kalinin.

Why go to a genealogical society and a library?

Personal acquaintance with the local ancestral community reduces the risk of stumbling upon scammers and usually greatly reduces the search time. “Try to enter their environment, it is open. I have often witnessed how a person quickly receives help there. You can find information on already found genealogies, which may include your last name. And you don’t have to do the work already done by someone for years. For example, I met the chairman of the Ural Historical and Genealogical Society, Mikhail Elkin, and we found out that in the 17th century we had a common ancestor from the Abakumov family, I am his eleventh cousin, ”says the historian.

Come to meetings of local genealogical societies, at their conferences, use their literature - these are reliable sources. Experienced ancestors, as a rule, also conduct free consultations.

Many publications are not digitized, they can only be found in the library. These are monographs and collections of articles on genealogy and local history, periodicals, dictionaries of surnames and geographical names. Particular attention is paid to the funds of local history departments of regional libraries, as well as to the libraries of genealogical societies. All this will help prepare you for working with archives.

Today he is a professional genealogist and knows his ancestors along one of the lines from the 10th century. “I found out that my great-great-grandfather Alexei Pavlovich Kuznetsov was a merchant of the second guild. Born in St. Petersburg, and lived in the city of Mologa, Yaroslavl Region ( flooded by the Rybinsk reservoir - approx. TASS). He had several factories, and he represented the Russian shoe industry at the world exhibition in Paris in 1900,” says Kalinin.
Last fall, he visited the Yaroslavl region with his uncle from Canada. “Unlike many genealogists who are only engaged in excavating archives, I myself strive and help others find their living relatives in order to unite people,” Kalinin adds.

Nina Barkhatova, a teacher of mathematics and physics from the village of Reftinsky, Sverdlovsk Region, conducted a unique study of the Ural village of Bichur, formed in the 17th century, in depth. “Much was possible due to the fact that, having become interested in the roots back in the 1990s, I immediately applied and joined the Ural Historical and Genealogical Society. It helped me a lot, I received advice and advice from professional historians, access to archive materials,” she shares.

The research, now published in a book, reflects the history of her native village over 300 years. In addition to Barkhatova's ancestors, it tells about the family past of 12 surnames of her fellow villagers - Antonovs, Vyatkins, Kozlovs, Kostromins, Kuvaldins, Lebedkins, Malygins, Trusovs, Uporovs, Chepurins, Shirshovs and Shirshevs. It mentions more than six thousand names, contains family documents, memories of local residents about their ancestors, and describes the customs of the Ural peasants. “It turned out that everyone living in this village is relatives. I myself studied the materials in the archives of the Sverdlovsk region. Today, other novice researchers use the book,” says Barkhatova.

How to choose the right archive?

Knowledge about the names of your ancestors, where and when they lived, what they did will help you. If a person lived in Soviet times, then information about him can be requested from the archive of the registry office of the region. If before the revolution, then it is important to know in which region he lived at that time. For example, the modern Sanchursky district of the Kirov region in pre-revolutionary times was the Tsarevo-Sanchursky district of the Kazan province, that is, the materials should be sought not in Kirov, but in Kazan. Archives of enterprises, universities, institutes are often kept in regional state archives.

Make a request to the archive, make sure that the information you need is there. “In case of a positive answer, fill out an application for issuing a document and copying it. Please note that there is no single price tag for the provision of services in Russian archives, each institution has its own price list,” Mosin shares.

The stage of working with archives is the most difficult. It is during this period that people turn to professionals for help. “Sometimes you have to go to another city, and in the archive itself you have to be able to work with guidebooks, inventories of funds, read texts written in illegible handwriting of the 17th-19th centuries. You can do it faster if you order the work of a specialist. It is better to choose him among familiar genealogists.

Such services can cost from several tens to many hundreds of thousands of rubles - Independent work in the archives will take a lot of time, the main thing is to move from later materials (registers of birth, confession lists, revision tales) to earlier ones,” the expert recommends.

Semyon Eselson, head of the board of the International Institute for Existential Counseling from Rostov-on-Don, searched for many years and, thanks to the archives, found a place and witnesses to the death of his grandfather, a military doctor of the third rank Semyon Veksler, who for a long time was considered missing. “My grandmother and I regularly went to the military registration and enlistment office, where she received an answer that there was no information about grandfather. We only knew that the hospital in which he served was surrounded, the army was leaving, and there were many seriously wounded in the hospital. Part of the medical staff decided to leave, but grandfather decided to stay. And without waiting for an answer, in 1983 my grandmother died, ”recalls Yeselson.

The family turned to the archive of the Ministry of Defense in Podolsk, where they were sent to the Military Medical Archive in St. Petersburg, but no one answered the request. “In 2000, I was in St. Petersburg, went into this archive and found out that in the 1990s they did not answer letters, because they were not given money for envelopes. I left them envelopes and soon began to receive answers. It turned out that grandfather served in the 67th mobile field hospital assigned to the 26th Army of the Southwestern Front. It was one of those armies that were surrounded after the fall of Kyiv. And it was the only army that managed to get out of the encirclement,” he says.

Is it possible to buy noble roots?

You can buy noble roots only from scammers. “There are firms that offer to choose ancestors. But for the most part, we are the descendants of peasants, and there is no need to be ashamed of this. For example, I helped restore the genealogies of some peasant families that are now on the Forbes list. There were few nobles, only 1%. In the 20th century, they were deliberately exterminated, many of them emigrated,” recalls Mosin.

The opinion that there is little information about peasants in the archives is a myth. “As a professional historian, when I first came to the archive in the hope of finding at least something, I was amazed at how much information there was. Information about a simple peasant in the 17th century is recorded in dozens of documents - he came to the county, received a plot, is on benefits, pays taxes and taxes, delivers bread to the sovereign's mill - all this is recorded and stored, ”the historian notes.

Many are afraid to learn something criminal about their ancestors.

“People are scared to know the truth, because there were repressions, which means that there were executioners and informers. What if they were my ancestors? We cannot cancel this, and we still carry it in some form. You need to know and accept your history as it is,” the expert emphasizes.

Eselson also received a list of the hospital's locations in the archive and went to find out the fate of his grandfather along this route. “Everywhere, by a miracle, old people with a clear memory turned out to be alive - witnesses of those events. Once, in the Ukrainian village of Voznesenskoye, Cherkasy region, I was introduced to a lonely woman of 85 years old, full of strength and with an excellent memory. She said with tears that, apparently, she lives to tell me this story. In the autumn of 1941, the Germans entered the village, the SS division “Reich”, in front of the school they shot the doctor, nurses, the wounded and drove on. Residents buried everyone in a mass grave. After the war, this small cemetery was closed and a park was laid out there. I took the earth from there and transferred it to my grandmother's grave. So she waited for him,” he adds.

Yuri Konovalov - ancestor, member of the board of the Russian Genealogical Federation from Yekaterinburg, is engaged in private genealogical orders and is faced with the actions of crooks. “Most often they play on the pride of people. After all, you can buy anything, the question is how seriously this information is taken. A couple of times, customers frankly offered me to find non-existent noble ancestors for them. I refuse, reputation is more expensive, ”says the historian.

Many deliberately invent and embellish family legends. So, according to the ancestor, the Ermakovs sometimes associate themselves with the conqueror of Siberia, Ermak.

“A lie invented in the 17th century does not cease to be a lie today. Small estate nobles were often fastened to high-profile surnames. Historians have refuted many such impostors. Recently, such a revelation has occurred at the level of DNA. Experts studying the descendants of Rurik have established that the name Karpov has nothing to do with him. In this sense, peasant surnames are more fortunate, since they are not burdened with well-established legends, ”Konovalov notes.

Once he was asked to make a pedigree as a gift, but the result offended the hero of the day. “We debunked the family myth that the Alimpievs' ancestor was a rich Greek who dealt in gold and who ran away from the Turks from the islands of the Aegean Sea, and spoiled the gift,” says Konovalov.

According to him, compiling a simple pedigree in the Middle Urals before 1800 can cost 20-40 thousand rubles. “The coverage of the earlier period is the same for every century. According to my information, the most expensive genealogy in Russia, including a deluxe edition and a movie, cost 2 million rubles, ”adds the pedigree.

Instruction

If you remember the full last name, first name and patronymic, date of birth and approximate place of residence of your lost relative, try entering this data into any search engine. You may be lucky, and in just a few minutes a loved one will be found.

There are all kinds of family tree sites on the Internet, some of which are absolutely free to use. One of these servers is the site of the All-Russian genealogical tree (http://www.vgd.ru/), equipped with a convenient search and forum. Do not neglect any means to find a dear person. The more sites you visit, the more effective the result can be.

You can also use the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (http://www.mvd.ru/). One of the most important missions of this state structure is to help people and search for citizens. In addition, you can call by phone or go to the police station. Believe that law enforcement officers will not remain indifferent to your problem.

Be sure to visit the website of the TV program "Wait for me" (http://poisk.vid.ru/). Over the years of its existence, this TV show has helped to reunite many close people. It is possible that they will help you too.

Try to find a relative in various social networks, on mail servers, in instant messaging programs. It is especially convenient to search for people on the Vkontakte website (http://vk.com/). Knowing the approximate age, place of birth or residence, the number of the school or university in which the person studied, or the name of the organization in which he worked, you can quickly find him and reconnect. If you make a certain amount of effort and spend a considerable amount of time, the relationship with the lost relative will certainly be restored. The main thing is not to lose hope for success and stop the search that has begun.