Russia, Tatarstan Church Books - FamilySearch Historical Records

Image Visiblity
Whenever possible, FamilySearch makes images available for all users. However, ultimate rights to view images on our website are granted by the record custodians. The Russia, Tatarstan Church Books, 1721-1935 collection is available only to members of the supporting organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These images are available on microfilm for viewing at a FamilySearch Center for instructions, see Ordering Microfilm or Microfiche.

Record Description
This collection covers various church denominations and their records, such as baptisms/births, marriages, and burials/deaths for the area now belonging to Tatarstan. Places are identified by their historical name and jurisdiction when it was part of the Russian Empire. The collection includes records from 1850 to 1935. The text of the records is in Russian. Most churches priests created the records in registers that were kept at the local church archive, and a duplicate copy was sent, at a later time, to a higher level church archive for preservation.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.

Record Content
Baptismal records may include:


 * Date and place of baptism
 * Name of principal (usually an infant)
 * Age or date of birth of principal
 * Names of parents and their residence
 * Names of godparents
 * Sometimes names of grandparents
 * Witnesses

Marriage records may include:


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

Burials/death records may include:


 * Place and date of burial
 * Names of the deceased
 * Place and date of death
 * Age of the deceased
 * Cause of death
 * Residence
 * Sometimes parents may be listed

How to Use the Record
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to baptisms, marriages, and death or burials make it possible to access a specific record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

To search the collection image by image, ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "Province" ⇒Select the appropriate "District" ⇒Select the appropriate "Place/Parish" ⇒Select the appropriate "Year/Vol/Event" which takes you to the images.

Look at the images one by one comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:


 * The place where the event occurred
 * The name and surname of the person
 * The approximate date of the event
 * The name of the parents or spouse

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

For example:


 * 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 census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment or military records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Keep in mind:


 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:


 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Related Websites
Republic of Tatarstan – Religion

Related Wiki Articles
Russia Church Records

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
Citations for individual image records are available for this collection. Browse through images in this collection and click on the "Show Citation" box: Tatarstan Church Books, 1721-1935

When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found it. This will help you or others to find the same record again. Keep track of records where you did not find information about your ancestor so you and others will not waste time looking through these records in the future. A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.