Russia, Samara Church Books - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection will include records of births and baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials from the Orthodox Church in Samara Province from 1748 to 1934. Register transcripts usually contain multiple parishes for a year, with separate sections for the baptisms, marriages, and burials of a single parish. The volumes cover a district (uezd) and often are very large. Original registers may contain multiple years for a single parish.

The Church acted as both a religious and civil agent in recording vital events and church sacraments such as baptism and burial. Peter the Great mandated the keeping of Russian Orthodox books in 1722. The format was standardized in 1724. Printed forms were introduced in 1806. In 1838 a format was introduced that prevailed until the 1930s. The priests made a transcript for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction over the parish. This is usually the version that has been preserved. The register covers 70% of the population for early periods, 90% after 1800.

Church registers were created and kept by priests to record the baptisms, marriages, and burials performed for their parishioners. These were considered an official record and are normally very reliable. Earlier registers may not be equally reliable. In 1825 the Holy Synod,the governmental body over the Orthodox Church, ordered bishops to eradicate bribery of priests to falsify the books, suggesting that this problem existed.

A common idea in the West is that metrical books (Russian parish registers) were destroyed by the Soviet regime in its campaign against religion. On the contrary, Soviet archives preserved them. Cut off by political circumstance, or unresponsive to genealogical inquires, these sources remained untouched for most of the twentieth century.

As of September 2019 this collection contains records from these oblasts:
 * Казань (Kazan)
 * Оренбург (Orenburg)
 * Самара (Samara)
 * Саратов (Saratov)
 * Симбирск (Simbirsk)

Reading These Records
These records are in Russian. For help reading them see: FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Russia Language and Languages
 * Russian Genealogical Word List
 * Russia Handwriting
 * Reading Russian Documents: The Russian Alphabet
 * Russian Alphabet, Language and Handwriting, part 1
 * Russian Alphabet, Language and Handwriting, part 2

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Baptism
 * Child's date and place of baptism
 * Child's name and gender (usually an infant)
 * Child's age or date of birth
 * Names of parents and their residence
 * Father's occupation
 * Parents' religion
 * Names of godparents
 * Sometimes names of grandparents
 * Witnesses

Marriage
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Ages of bride and groom
 * Names of parents
 * Religion of all involved
 * Residence of all involved
 * Witnesses

Death or Burial
 * Date and place of burial
 * Name of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Age of deceased
 * Cause of death
 * Residence
 * Sometimes, parents may be listed

Coverage Table
A coverage table for this collection is available at Russia, Samara Church Books, Coverage Table - FamilySearch Historical Records.

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * Use the age of the citizen to find an approximate birth year to begin your search in church or civil records
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have moved, been recruited, or lived nearby
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * The person may be recorded with an abbreviated or variant form of their name
 * Try searching by surname only
 * Remember that spelling was generally not standardized until the early part of the 20th century

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in Russia.
 * Russia Record Finder
 * Russia Research Tips and Strategies

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

Россия, Самарская Православная Консистория Дубликаты Метрических Книг, 1748-1934 Rússia, Samara, Livros da Igreja (Registros Históricos do FamilySearch)