Estonia Genealogy

EuropeEstonia Guide to Estonia ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Country Information
Estonians have lived along the Baltic Sea for several thousand years. In the course of the 13th and 14th centuries, large parts of Estonia, together with Latvian areas to the south, came under German domination and was known as Livonia. In 1561 northern Estonia submitted to the protection of the Swedish crown, and Poland gained ascendancy over southern Estonia, including Tartu. In 1710 Peter the Great conquered Estonia. It remained under Russian rule for the next two centuries. An Estonian cultural revival aided by the press and nationalist literature began to emerge at the end of the 19th century. Political movements demanding autonomy sprang up in Estonia after the Russian revolution of 1905. With the demise of imperial Russia, Estonia proclaimed itself independent on February 24, 1918. It enjoyed independence only briefly. In June 1940 Soviet forces occupied Estonia. It was eventually incorporated into the Soviet Union. Estonia responded quickly to the power vacuum caused by the abortive coup of Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev and declared independence on August 20,1991. The last of the Soviet occupation troops left in 1994.

More Estonia Research Strategies
Research strategies give guidance on how to research or what records to search for first. Below are additional research strategy Wiki articles for Estonia.

More Estonia Research Tools
Research tools can include resources that assist in locating correct records to search and determining the correct locality to search in. Below are links and Wiki articles to research tools in Estonia.

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in resourcing your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * Learning Center - Online genealogy courses
 * Historical Records
 * Family History Center locator map