Estonia Church Books and Synagogue Registers - FamilySearch Historical Records

Estonia

What is in This Collection?
This collection includes baptism, marriage, and burial/death records for various churches, such as Orthodox, Old Believer, Roman Catholic, and Baptist. The collection includes records from 1835 to 1940.

Estonia’s religious picture is influenced by the Soviet occupation and secularization. Estonia remains a Christian-shaped country, but only 23% of the population are members of Christian Churches. About 11% of the population belongs to the predominantly protestant religion, the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, and 10% to the Orthodox Church, the second largest faith. Other religious communities (Roman Catholics, Baptists, Jews, Methodists, Muslims, Buddhists and others) are much smaller.

In most churches, the sacramental ordinances of baptisms, marriages, and burials were performed by an authorized ecclesiastical officer. These registers were generally kept in the parish archive, but later these were sent to the churches largest archive for preservation.

This collection includes records from the following religions:
 * Evangelical Lutheran
 * Old Believers (Eastern Orthodox)
 * Estonian Orthodox
 * Roman Catholic

Reading These Records
These records are written in German, Russian and Estonian. For help reading them see:
 * German Word List
 * German Language and Languages
 * Germany Handwriting
 * Russian Genealogical Word List
 * Russia Language and Languages
 * Russia Handwriting
 * Translator

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The information in these records usually include the following:

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Name
 * Date of the event
 * Place of the event
 * Other identifying information such as the names of the parents or the spouse

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
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct
 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in populations registers
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate land records
 * Use the parents’ birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify

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

 * Consult the Estonia Record Finder to find other records
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties
 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another
 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in Estonia.
 * Estonia Record Finder
 * Estonia Research Tips and Strategies
 * Estonia Finding Town of Origin

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.